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Brouwer AM, van Beers JJ, Sabu P, Stuldreher IV, Zech HG, Kaneko D. Measuring Implicit Approach-Avoidance Tendencies towards Food Using a Mobile Phone outside the Lab. Foods 2021; 10:1440. [PMID: 34206278 PMCID: PMC8305314 DOI: 10.3390/foods10071440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2021] [Revised: 06/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Implicit ('unconscious') approach-avoidance tendencies towards stimuli can be measured using the Approach Avoidance Task (AAT). We recently expanded a toolbox for analyzing the raw data of a novel, mobile version of the AAT (mAAT), that asks participants to move their phone towards their face (pull) or away (push) in response to images presented on the phone. We here tested the mAAT reaction time and the mAAT distance in a study with 71 Dutch participants that were recruited online and performed an experiment without coming to the laboratory. The participants used both the mAAT and (explicit) rating scales to respond to photographic images of food. As hypothesized, the rated wanting, rated valence and mAAT reaction time indicated a preference for palatable over unpalatable food, and for Dutch over Asian food. Additionally, as expected, arousal was rated higher for unpalatable than for palatable food, and higher for Dutch than for Asian food. The mAAT distance indicated that the unpalatable food images were moved across larger distances, regardless of the movement direction (pull or push), compared to the palatable food images; and the Dutch food images were moved across larger distances than the Asian food images. We conclude that the mAAT can be used to implicitly probe approach-avoidance motivation for complex images in the food domain. The new measure of mAAT distance may be used as an implicit measure of arousal. The ratings and the mAAT measures do not reflect the exact same information and may complement each other. Implicit measures, such as mAAT variables, are particularly valuable when response biases that can occur when using explicit ratings are expected.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Marie Brouwer
- Department of Human Performance, TNO, 3769 DE Soesterberg, The Netherlands; (J.J.v.B.); (P.S.); (I.V.S.)
| | - Jasper J. van Beers
- Department of Human Performance, TNO, 3769 DE Soesterberg, The Netherlands; (J.J.v.B.); (P.S.); (I.V.S.)
| | - Priya Sabu
- Department of Human Performance, TNO, 3769 DE Soesterberg, The Netherlands; (J.J.v.B.); (P.S.); (I.V.S.)
| | - Ivo V. Stuldreher
- Department of Human Performance, TNO, 3769 DE Soesterberg, The Netherlands; (J.J.v.B.); (P.S.); (I.V.S.)
| | - Hilmar G. Zech
- Department of Psychology and Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany;
| | - Daisuke Kaneko
- Kikkoman Europe R&D Laboratory B.V., 6709 PA Wageningen, The Netherlands;
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Bramson B, Folloni D, Verhagen L, Hartogsveld B, Mars RB, Toni I, Roelofs K. Human Lateral Frontal Pole Contributes to Control over Emotional Approach-Avoidance Actions. J Neurosci 2020; 40:2925-2934. [PMID: 32034069 PMCID: PMC7117901 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.2048-19.2020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2019] [Revised: 01/17/2020] [Accepted: 01/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Regulation of emotional behavior is essential for human social interactions. Recent work has exposed its cognitive complexity, as well as its unexpected reliance on portions of the anterior PFC (aPFC) also involved in exploration, relational reasoning, and counterfactual choice, rather than on dorsolateral and medial prefrontal areas involved in several forms of cognitive control. This study anatomically qualifies the contribution of aPFC territories to the regulation of prepotent approach-avoidance action tendencies elicited by emotional faces, and explores a possible structural pathway through which this emotional action regulation might be implemented. We provide converging evidence from task-based fMRI, diffusion-weighted imaging, and functional connectivity fingerprints for a novel neural element in emotional regulation. Task-based fMRI in human male participants (N = 40) performing an emotional approach-avoidance task identified aPFC territories involved in the regulation of action tendencies elicited by emotional faces. Connectivity fingerprints, based on diffusion-weighted imaging and resting-state connectivity, localized those task-defined frontal regions to the lateral frontal pole (FPl), an anatomically defined portion of the aPFC that lacks a homologous counterpart in macaque brains. Probabilistic tractography indicated that 10%-20% of interindividual variation in emotional regulation abilities is accounted for by the strength of structural connectivity between FPl and amygdala. Evidence from an independent replication sample (N = 50; 10 females) further substantiated this result. These findings provide novel neuroanatomical evidence for incorporating FPl in models of control over human action tendencies elicited by emotional faces.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Successful regulation of emotional behaviors is a prerequisite for successful participation in human society, as is evidenced by the social isolation and loss of occupational opportunities often encountered by people suffering from emotion regulation disorders, such as social-anxiety disorder and psychopathy. Knowledge about the precise cortical regions and connections supporting this control is crucial for understanding both the nature of computations needed to successfully traverse the space of possible actions in social situations, and the potential interventions that might result in efficient treatment of social-emotional disorders. This study provides evidence for a precise cortical region (lateral frontal pole) and a structural pathway (the ventral amygdalofugal bundle) through which a cognitively complex form of emotional action regulation might be implemented in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bob Bramson
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EN Nijmegen, The Netherlands,
| | - Davide Folloni
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom, and
| | - Lennart Verhagen
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SR, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom, and
| | - Bart Hartogsveld
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, 6229 ER Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Rogier B Mars
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EN Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom, and
| | - Ivan Toni
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EN Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Karin Roelofs
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 EN Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Behavioral Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 HR Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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Bramson B, Jensen O, Toni I, Roelofs K. Cortical Oscillatory Mechanisms Supporting the Control of Human Social-Emotional Actions. J Neurosci 2018; 38:5739-49. [PMID: 29793973 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3382-17.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2017] [Revised: 04/17/2018] [Accepted: 05/11/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
The human anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) is involved in regulating social-emotional behavior, presumably by modulating effective connectivity with downstream parietal, limbic, and motor cortices. Regulating that connectivity might rely on theta-band oscillations (4-8 Hz), a brain rhythm known to create overlapping periods of excitability between distant regions by temporally releasing neurons from inhibition. Here, we used MEG to understand how aPFC theta-band oscillations implement control over prepotent social-emotional behaviors; that is, the control over automatically elicited approach and avoidance actions. Forty human male participants performed a social approach-avoidance task in which they approached or avoided visually displayed emotional faces (happy or angry) by pulling or pushing a joystick. Approaching angry and avoiding happy faces (incongruent condition) requires rapid application of cognitive control to override prepotent habitual action tendencies to approach appetitive and to avoid aversive situations. In the time window before response delivery, trial-by-trial variations in aPFC theta-band power (6 Hz) predicted reaction time increases during emotional control and were inversely related to beta-band power (14-22 Hz) over parietofrontal cortex. In sensorimotor areas contralateral to the moving hand, premovement gamma-band rhythms (60-90 Hz) were stronger during incongruent than congruent trials, with power increases phase locked to peaks of the aPFC theta-band oscillations. These findings define a mechanistic relation between cortical areas involved in implementing rapid control over human social-emotional behavior. The aPFC may bias neural processing toward rule-driven actions and away from automatic emotional tendencies by coordinating tonic disinhibition and phasic enhancement of parietofrontal circuits involved in action selection.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Being able to control social-emotional behavior is crucial for successful participation in society, as is illustrated by the severe social and occupational difficulties experienced by people suffering from social motivational disorders such as social anxiety. In this study, we show that theta-band oscillations in the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC), which are thought to provide temporal organization for neural firing during communication between distant brain areas, facilitate this control by linking aPFC to parietofrontal beta-band and sensorimotor gamma-band oscillations involved in action selection. These results contribute to a mechanistic understanding of cognitive control over automatic social-emotional action and point to frontal theta-band oscillations as a possible target of rhythmic neurostimulation techniques during treatment for social anxiety.
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Loh E, Kurth-Nelson Z, Berron D, Dayan P, Duzel E, Dolan R, Guitart-Masip M. Parsing the Role of the Hippocampus in Approach-Avoidance Conflict. Cereb Cortex 2018; 27:201-215. [PMID: 27993819 PMCID: PMC5939226 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2016] [Accepted: 11/11/2016] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The hippocampus plays a central role in the approach-avoidance conflict that is central to the genesis of anxiety. However, its exact functional contribution has yet to be identified. We designed a novel gambling task that generated approach-avoidance conflict while controlling for spatial processing. We fit subjects' behavior using a model that quantified the subjective values of choice options, and recorded neural signals using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Distinct functional signals were observed in anterior hippocampus, with inferior hippocampus selectively recruited when subjects rejected a gamble, to a degree that covaried with individual differences in anxiety. The superior anterior hippocampus, in contrast, uniquely demonstrated value signals that were potentiated in the context of approach-avoidance conflict. These results implicate the anterior hippocampus in behavioral avoidance and choice monitoring, in a manner relevant to understanding its role in anxiety. Our findings highlight interactions between subregions of the hippocampus as an important focus for future study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor Loh
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1n 3BG, UK
| | - Zeb Kurth-Nelson
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1n 3BG, UK.,Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - David Berron
- Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke University, D-39120 Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Peter Dayan
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London, London W1T 4JG, UK
| | - Emrah Duzel
- Institute of Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research, Otto-von-Guericke University, D-39120 Magdeburg, Germany.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, UK
| | - Ray Dolan
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, University College London, London WC1n 3BG, UK.,Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK
| | - Marc Guitart-Masip
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London WC1B 5EH, UK.,Ageing Research Centre, Karolinska Institute Stockholm, SE-11330 Stockholm, Sweden
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Abstract
Neural oscillations in hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are a hallmark of rodent anxiety models that build on conflict between approach and avoidance. Yet, the function of these oscillations, and their expression in humans, remain elusive. Here, we used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate neural oscillations in a task that simulated approach–avoidance conflict, wherein 23 male and female human participants collected monetary tokens under a threat of virtual predation. Probability of threat was signaled by color and learned beforehand by direct experience. Magnitude of threat corresponded to a possible monetary loss, signaled as a quantity. We focused our analyses on an a priori defined region-of-interest, the bilateral hippocampus. Oscillatory power under conflict was linearly predicted by threat probability in a location consistent with right mid-hippocampus. This pattern was specific to the hippocampus, most pronounced in the gamma band, and not explained by spatial movement or anxiety-like behavior. Gamma power was modulated by slower theta rhythms, and this theta modulation increased with threat probability. Furthermore, theta oscillations in the same location showed greater synchrony with mPFC theta with increased threat probability. Strikingly, these findings were not seen in relation to an increase in threat magnitude, which was explicitly signaled as a quantity and induced similar behavioral responses as learned threat probability. Thus, our findings suggest that the expression of hippocampal and mPFC oscillatory activity in the context of anxiety is specifically linked to threat memory. These findings resonate with neurocomputational accounts of the role played by hippocampal oscillations in memory. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We use a biologically relevant approach–avoidance conflict test in humans while recording neural oscillations with magnetoencephalography to investigate the expression and function of hippocampal oscillations in human anxiety. Extending nonhuman studies, we can assign a possible function to hippocampal oscillations in this task, namely threat memory communication. This blends into recent attempts to elucidate the role of brain synchronization in defensive responses to threat.
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Abstract
Peer victimization is a known risk factor for various forms of maladjustment; however, the specific type of maladjustment may depend on individual differences in youth. This 2-wave longitudinal study examined the hypothesis that social approach-avoidance motivation, together with sex, would moderate the contribution of 3rd-grade victimization to 4th-grade maladjustment. Children (N = 574, M age = 8.94, SD = 0.37) reported on their victimization exposure, social approach-avoidance motivation, and depressive symptoms. Teachers reported on students' victimization exposure and aggressive behavior. Victimization predicted aggressive behavior only in boys with moderate to high approach motivation; victimization predicted depressive symptoms only in girls with moderate to high avoidance motivation. This research elucidates the diverse consequences associated with peer victimization and informs efforts to address these consequences in a targeted manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicole Llewellyn
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
| | - Karen D Rudolph
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Calcott RD, Berkman ET. Attentional flexibility during approach and avoidance motivational states: the role of context in shifts of attentional breadth. J Exp Psychol Gen 2014; 143:1393-408. [PMID: 24294866 PMCID: PMC4081535 DOI: 10.1037/a0035060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In the present studies, we aimed to understand how approach and avoidance states affect attentional flexibility by examining attentional shifts on a trial-by-trial basis. We also examined how a novel construct in this area, task context, might interact with motivation to influence attentional flexibility. Participants completed a modified composite letter task in which the ratio of global to local targets was varied by block, making different levels of attentional focus beneficial to performance on different blocks. Study 1 demonstrated that, in the absence of a motivation manipulation, switch costs were lowest on blocks with an even ratio of global and local trials and were higher on blocks with an uneven ratio. Other participants completed the task while viewing pictures (Studies 2 and 3) and assuming arm positions (Studies 2 and 4) to induce approach, avoidance, and neutral motivational states. Avoidance motivation reduced switch costs in evenly proportioned contexts, whereas approach motivation reduced switch costs in mostly global contexts. Additionally, approach motivation imparted a similar switch cost magnitude across different contexts, whereas avoidance and neutral states led to variable switch costs depending on the context. Subsequent analyses revealed that these effects were driven largely by faster switching to local targets on mostly global blocks in the approach condition. These findings suggest that avoidance facilitates attentional shifts when switches are frequent, whereas approach facilitates responding to rare or unexpected local stimuli. The main implication of these results is that motivation has different effects on attentional shifts depending on the context.
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Dulawa SC, Grandy DK, Low MJ, Paulus MP, Geyer MA. Dopamine D4 receptor-knock-out mice exhibit reduced exploration of novel stimuli. J Neurosci 1999; 19:9550-6. [PMID: 10531457 PMCID: PMC6782928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/14/2023] Open
Abstract
The involvement of dopamine neurotransmission in behavioral responses to novelty is suggested by reports that reward is related to increased dopamine activity, that dopamine modulates exploratory behavior in animals, and that Parkinson's disease patients report diminished responses to novelty. Some studies have reported that polymorphisms of the human dopamine D4 receptor (D4R) gene are associated with personality inventory measures of the trait called "novelty-seeking". To explore a potential role for the D4R in behavioral responses to novelty, we evaluated D4R-knock-out (D4R-/-) and wild-type (D4R+/+) mice in three approach-avoidance paradigms: the open field, emergence, and novel object tests. These three paradigms differ in the degree to which they elicit approach, or exploratory behavior, and avoidance, or anxiety-related behavior. Thus, we used these three tests to determine whether the D4R primarily influences the exploratory or the anxious component of responses to approach-avoidance conflicts. D4R-/- mice were significantly less behaviorally responsive to novelty than D4R+/+ mice in all three tests. The largest phenotypic differences were observed in the novel object test, which maximizes approach behavior, and the smallest phenotypic differences were found in the open field test, which maximizes avoidance behavior. Hence, D4R-/- mice exhibit reductions in behavioral responses to novelty, reflecting a decrease in novelty-related exploration.
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Affiliation(s)
- S C Dulawa
- Department of Neuroscience, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0804, USA
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