Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Department of Neuropsychology & Psychopharmacology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Eur J Neurosci. 2022 May;55(9-10):2542-2557. doi: 10.1111/ejn.15155. Epub 2021 Mar 15.
Acute stress has been found to impair the flexible updating of stimulus - outcome associations. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the effect of acute stress on the flexible updating of stimulus-response associations, like active avoidance responses. The current study used an avoidance reversal learning paradigm to address this question. Sixty-one participants learned that a red dot was associated with an aversive sound, whereas a green dot was not (Pavlovian Acquisition phase). Next, they were trained to avoid the aversive stimulus by selectively pressing a button in response to the red, but not the green, dot (Avoidance Acquisition phase). Subsequently, participants either underwent a stress induction task or a no-stress control task. The flexible updating of expectancies of the US and avoidance responses were assessed after reversal of the original contingencies (Reversal Test). Acute stress did not impair the flexible updating of avoidance responses during the Reversal Test. In contrast, results showed that in the stress group the expectancies of the aversive sound were more in accordance with the reversed contingencies compared to the ratings of control participants. Additionally, cortisol responders avoided less often in comparison to cortisol non-responders. Increased noradrenergic activity in stressed participants was related to impairments in the flexible updating of avoidance responses after contingency reversal, while this association was absent in the control participants. In conclusion, our results suggest that the autonomic response might account for shifting the balance toward inflexible updating of stimulus-outcome awareness while stress does not impair flexible updating of avoidance responses.
急性应激被发现会损害刺激-结果关联的灵活更新。然而，目前缺乏研究调查急性应激对刺激-反应关联的灵活更新的影响，例如主动回避反应。本研究使用回避反转学习范式来解决这个问题。61 名参与者学习到红色圆点与令人不愉快的声音相关联，而绿色圆点则不相关联（巴甫洛夫习得阶段）。接下来，他们通过选择性地按下按钮来对红色圆点做出反应，而不是对绿色圆点做出反应，从而接受回避刺激的训练（回避习得阶段）。随后，参与者接受应激诱导任务或非应激对照任务。在原始条件反转后评估 US 和回避反应的期望的灵活更新（反转测试）。急性应激并未在反转测试中损害回避反应的灵活更新。相比之下，结果表明，在应激组中，与控制组参与者的评分相比，对不愉快声音的期望更符合反转的条件。此外，皮质醇反应者比皮质醇非反应者回避的次数更少。在应激组中，去甲肾上腺素能活动的增加与在条件反转后回避反应的灵活更新受损有关，而在对照组参与者中则没有这种关联。总之，我们的结果表明，自主反应可能导致对刺激-结果意识的更新转向不灵活，而应激不会损害回避反应的灵活更新。
