Project Details
Projekt
Dynamic belief updating in the anxiety phenotype: developmental aspects and salience context
Subject Area
Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Term
since 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461947532
Background: Learning is key to survival when facing dynamically changing environmental threats. Many environments are characterized by uncertainty due to (1) irreducible outcome variability, e.g., when the location of an attacking predator can only approximately be predicted, and (2) uncertainty arising from systematic changes, e.g., when the location in which a predator appears, changes systematically. An adequate consideration of these types of uncertainty requires dynamic belief updating (DynBU), promoting survival by balancing explorative vs. defensive behaviors. This pertains particularly to internal models of threats. Aims: We provide an in-depth behavioral and neural analysis of statistical learning, particularly DynBU, as a function of the anxiety phenotype across the lifespan. Further, the project examines if individual differences in DynBU in anxiety disorder (AD) patients can be related to intervention-driven changes (cognitive behavioral therapy) in threat expectations. Hypotheses: (1) We hypothesize an overestimation of how much should be learned from new outcomes (learning rate) in the anxiety phenotype, shaped by defensive reactions. This effect will particularly be dependent on the presence of expected uncertainty. We further assume a correlation between anxiety and learning-rate-related activity in the prefrontal and parietal cortex as well as a stronger involvement of the periaqueductal gray (PAG) in higher anxiety levels. (2) We hypothesize a negative correlation between age and the tendency to show overly high learning rates under expected uncertainty, as well as a moderation of this effect by the anxiety phenotype. On an exploratory level, (3) we will test the applicability of clinical and experimental paradigms in a younger group of children (aged 8 to 9 years), and (4) target the relation between DynBU and threat expectations during exposure treatment. Planned methods: Participants will report on relevant clinical information (see clinical backbone). They will further complete the common Confetti-Cannon-Task (comparison across all projects) and a salience context sensitive Predator-Task (comparison with project 5). Finally, an adult subsample will complete the Predator-Task in the MRI scanner, which will offer important insights into the neural systems of statistical learning under heightened defensive reactivity in the anxiety phenotype. Expected impact: The current project will enrich the RU’s goals, mainly aim 2 (developmental and environmental context influences) and aim 3 (clinical manifestations of DynBU). We will extend the RU’s clinical focus by including the anxiety phenotype from childhood to adulthood. A shared paradigm allows comparability across development (projects 6 & 7) and psychopathology (projects 2 & 9). This will allow for developing and testing innovative treatments focusing on uncertainty processing for the prevention and early intervention of AD during a putative second funding period.
DFG Programme
Research Units
