Pouliot Jourdan J, Ward Richard T, Traiser Caitlin M, Chiasson Payton, Gilbert Faith E, Keil Andreas
Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention, University of Florida; Department of Psychology, University of Florida.
bioRxiv. 2024 Jun 4:2024.04.16.589830. doi: 10.1101/2024.04.16.589830.
Survival in dynamic environments requires that organisms learn to predict danger from situational cues. One key facet of threat prediction is generalization from a predictive cue to similar cues, ensuring that a cue-outcome contingency is applied beyond the original learning environment. Generalization has been observed in laboratory studies of aversive conditioning: behavioral and physiological processes generalize responses from a stimulus paired with threat (the CS+) to unpaired stimuli, with response magnitudes varying with CS+ similarity. In contrast, work focusing on sensory responses in visual cortex has found a sharpening pattern, in which responses to stimuli closely resembling the CS+ are maximally suppressed, potentially reflecting lateral inhibitory interactions with the CS+ representation. Originally demonstrated with simple visual cues, changes in visuocortical tuning have also been observed in threat generalization learning across facial identities. It is unclear to what extent these visuocortical changes represent transient or sustained effects and if generalization learning requires prior conditioning to the CS+. The present study addressed these questions using EEG and pupillometry in an aversive generalization paradigm involving hundreds of trials using a gradient of facial identities. Visuocortical ssVEP sharpening occurred after dozens of trials of generalization learning without prior differential conditioning, but diminished as learning continued. By contrast, generalization of alpha power suppression, pupil dilation, and self-reported valence and arousal was seen throughout the experiment. Findings are consistent with threat processing models emphasizing the role of changing visucocortical and attentional dynamics when forming, curating, and shaping fear memories as observers continue learning about stimulus-outcome contingencies.
在动态环境中生存要求生物体学会根据情境线索预测危险。威胁预测的一个关键方面是从预测线索到相似线索的泛化,确保线索-结果的偶联关系适用于原始学习环境之外的情况。在厌恶条件作用的实验室研究中已经观察到泛化现象:行为和生理过程会将对与威胁配对的刺激(条件刺激+,CS+)的反应泛化到未配对的刺激上,反应强度会随CS+的相似性而变化。相比之下,专注于视觉皮层感觉反应的研究发现了一种锐化模式,即对与CS+非常相似的刺激的反应被最大程度地抑制,这可能反映了与CS+表征的侧向抑制相互作用。最初是用简单的视觉线索证明的,在跨面部识别的威胁泛化学习中也观察到了视觉皮层调谐的变化。目前尚不清楚这些视觉皮层变化在多大程度上代表短暂或持续的影响,以及泛化学习是否需要事先对CS+进行条件作用。本研究在一个涉及数百次试验、使用面部识别梯度的厌恶泛化范式中,利用脑电图和瞳孔测量法解决了这些问题。在没有事先差异条件作用的情况下,经过几十次泛化学习试验后,视觉皮层稳态视觉诱发电位(ssVEP)出现了锐化,但随着学习的继续而减弱。相比之下,在整个实验过程中都观察到了α波功率抑制、瞳孔扩张以及自我报告的效价和唤醒水平的泛化。这些发现与威胁处理模型一致,该模型强调在观察者持续了解刺激-结果偶联关系时,不断变化的视觉皮层和注意力动态在形成、整理和塑造恐惧记忆中的作用。