Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80303, USA.
Neuron. 2018 Nov 21;100(4):994-1005.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2018.10.047.
Imagination is an internal simulation of real-life events and a common treatment tool for anxiety disorders; however, the neural processes by which imagination exerts behavioral control are unclear. This investigation tests whether and how imagined exposures to a threatening stimulus, conditioned in the real world, influence neural and physiological manifestations of threat. We found that imagined and real extinction are equally effective in the reduction of threat-related neural patterns and physiological responses elicited upon re-exposure to real-world threatening cues. Network connectivity during the extinction phase showed that imagined, like real, extinction engaged the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) as a central hub. vmPFC, primary auditory cortex, and amygdala activation during imagined and real extinction were predictive of individual differences in extinction success. The nucleus accumbens, however, predicted extinction success in the imagined extinction group alone. We conclude that deliberate imagination can attenuate reactions to threat through perceptual and associative learning mechanisms.
想象是对现实生活事件的内部模拟，也是治疗焦虑症的常用工具；然而，想象发挥行为控制作用的神经过程尚不清楚。本研究旨在检验想象中对现实世界中条件化的威胁刺激的暴露是否以及如何影响威胁相关神经模式和重新暴露于现实世界威胁线索时引起的生理反应。我们发现，想象和真实的消退在减少与威胁相关的神经模式和重新暴露于现实世界威胁线索时引起的生理反应方面同样有效。消退阶段的网络连接表明，想象中的消退像真实的消退一样，将腹内侧前额叶皮层（vmPFC）作为中心枢纽。想象和真实消退过程中 vmPFC、初级听觉皮层和杏仁核的激活可以预测个体在消退成功方面的差异。然而，伏隔核仅能预测想象中消退组的消退成功。我们的结论是，有意想象可以通过知觉和联想学习机制来减轻对威胁的反应。
