Striosomes Mediate Value-Based Learning Vulnerable in Age and a Huntington's Disease Model.

Learning valence-based responses to favorable and unfavorable options requires judgments of the relative value of the options, a process necessary for species survival. We found, using engineered mice, that circuit connectivity and function of the striosome compartment of the striatum are critical for this type of learning. Calcium imaging during valence-based learning exhibited a selective correlation between learning and striosomal but not matrix signals. This striosomal activity encoded discrimination learning and was correlated with task engagement, which, in turn, could be regulated by chemogenetic excitation and inhibition. Striosomal function during discrimination learning was disturbed with aging and severely so in a mouse model of Huntington's disease. Anatomical and functional connectivity of parvalbumin-positive, putative fast-spiking interneurons (FSIs) to striatal projection neurons was enhanced in striosomes compared with matrix in mice that learned. Computational modeling of these findings suggests that FSIs can modulate the striosomal signal-to-noise ratio, crucial for discrimination and learning.

Ventral Pallidum and Amygdala Cooperate to Restrain Reward Approach under Threat.

Foraging decisions involve assessing potential risks and prioritizing food sources, which can be challenging when confronted with changing and conflicting circumstances. A crucial aspect of this decision-making process is the ability to actively overcome defensive reactions to threats and focus on achieving specific goals. The ventral pallidum (VP) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) are two brain regions that play key roles in regulating behavior motivated by either rewards or threats. However, it is unclear whether these regions are necessary in decision-making processes involving competing motivational drives during conflict. Our aim was to investigate the requirements of the VP and BLA for foraging choices in conflicts involving overcoming defensive responses. Here, we used a novel foraging task and pharmacological techniques to inactivate either the VP or BLA or to disconnect these brain regions before conducting a conflict test in male rats. Our findings showed that BLA is necessary for making risky choices during conflicts, whereas VP is necessary for invigorating the drive to obtain food, regardless of the presence of conflict. Importantly, our research revealed that the connection between VP and BLA is critical in controlling risky food-seeking choices during conflict situations. This study provides a new perspective on the collaborative function of VP and BLA in driving behavior, aimed at achieving goals in the face of dangers.

Emotion recognition and regulation in males: Role of sex and stress steroids.

Understanding emotions in males is crucial given their higher susceptibility to substance use, interpersonal violence, and suicide compared to females. Steroid hormones are assumed to be critical biological factors that affect and modulate emotion-related behaviors, together with psychological and social factors. This review explores whether males' abilities to recognize emotions of others and regulate their own emotions are associated with testosterone, cortisol, and their interaction. Higher levels of testosterone were associated with improved recognition and heightened sensitivity to threatening faces. In contrast, higher cortisol levels positively impacted emotion regulation ability. Indirect evidence from neuroimaging research suggested a link between higher testosterone levels and difficulties in cognitive emotion regulation. However, this notion must be investigated in future studies using different emotion regulation strategies and considering social status. The present review contributes to the understanding of how testosterone and cortisol affect psychological well-being and emotional behavior in males.

Motivated with joy or anxiety: Does approach-avoidance goal framing elicit differential reward-network activation in the brain?

Psychological research on human motivation repeatedly observed that approach goals (i.e., goals to attain success) increase task enjoyment and intrinsic motivation more strongly than avoidance goals (i.e., goals to avoid failure). The present study sought to address how the reward network in the brain-including the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex-is involved when individuals engage in the same task with a focus on approach or avoidance goals. Participants reported stronger positive emotions when they focused on approach goals, but stronger anxiety and disappointment when they focused on avoidance goals. The fMRI analyses revealed that the reward network in the brain showed similar levels of activity to cues predictive of approach and avoidance goals. In contrast, the two goal states were associated with different patterns of activity in the visual cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum during success and failure outcomes. Representation similarity analysis further revealed shared and different representations within the striatum and vmPFC between the approach and avoidance goal states, suggesting both the similarity and uniqueness of the mechanisms behind the two goal states. In addition, the distinct patterns of activation in the striatum were associated with distinct subjective experiences participants reported between the approach and the avoidance conditions. These results suggest the importance of examining the pattern of striatal activity in understanding the mechanisms behind different motivational states in humans.

Developmental shift in testosterone influence on prefrontal emotion control.

A paradox of testosterone effects is seen in adolescents versus adults in social emotional approach-avoidance behavior. During adolescence, high testosterone levels are associated with increased anterior prefrontal (aPFC) involvement in emotion control, whereas during adulthood this neuro-endocrine relation is reversed. Rodent work shows that, during puberty, testosterone transitions from a neuro-developmental to a social-sexual activating hormone. In this study, we explored whether this functional transition is also present in human adolescents and young adults. Using a prospective longitudinal design, we investigated the role of testosterone on neural control of social emotional behavior during the transitions from middle to late adolescence and into young adulthood. Seventy-one individuals (tested at ages 14, 17, and 20 years) performed an fMRI-adapted approach-avoidance (AA) task involving automatic and controlled actions in response to social emotional stimuli. In line with predictions from animal models, the effect of testosterone on aPFC engagement decreased between middle and late adolescence, and shifted into an activational role by young adulthood-impeding neural control of emotions. This change in testosterone function was accompanied by increased testosterone-modulated amygdala reactivity. These findings qualify the testosterone-dependent maturation of the prefrontal-amygdala circuit supporting emotion control during the transition from middle adolescence into young adulthood.

Social approach and avoidance in language: N400-like ERP negativity indexes congruency and theta rhythms the conflict.

Motivational congruency has been examined using tasks where participants perform approach or avoidance movements towards socially positive or negative faces. Language is tightly intertwined with interpersonal cognition. Thus, similar situations could be represented by means of language in interpersonal contexts: adjectives furnish valence to people (e.g. someone is cordial or arrogant), and attitudinal verbs define direction to relationship-actions: approach-avoidance (e.g. accept vs. reject). In an Electroencephalography (EEG) study, 40 participants were presented with sentences where a character was valenced (e.g. "Arthur is cordial/arrogant") before being the target of a relationship-actions ("Grisela welcomed/ignored Arthur at the party"). We analyzed both Event-related potential (ERP) amplitude and time-frequency power in response to the attitudinal verb. For ERP amplitudes, we found a significant cluster between 280 and 370 ms, covering part of the development of a N400-like ERP component. This cluster reflects an interaction driven by congruency between motivational direction and target valence. Likewise, time-frequency power analysis revealed an enhancement of theta rhythms under incongruent conditions, most likely indexing conflict processing. Results support that relationship-actions are represented as approach and avoidance and thus involve conflict processing and resolution of incongruent situations. Implications for the interweaving of affective language and social cognition within Embodiment Simulation Theory are discussed.

Elucidating medial temporal and frontal lobe contributions to approach-avoidance conflict decision-making using functional MRI and the hierarchical drift diffusion model.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) has long been associated with arbitrating between approach and avoidance in the face of conflicting and uncertain motivational information, but recent work has also highlighted medial temporal lobe (MTL) involvement. It remains unclear, however, how the contributions of these regions differ in their resolution of conflict information and uncertainty. We designed an fMRI paradigm in which participants approached or avoided object pairs that differed by motivational conflict and outcome uncertainty (complete certainty vs. complete uncertainty). Behavioral data and decision-making parameters estimated using the hierarchical drift diffusion model revealed that participants' responding was driven by conflict rather than uncertainty. Our neural data suggest that PFC areas contribute to cognitive control during approach-avoidance conflict by potentially adjusting response caution and the strength of evidence generated towards either choice, with differential involvement of anterior cingulate cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The MTL, on the other hand, appears to contribute to evidence generation, with the hippocampus linked to evidence accumulation for stimuli. Although findings within perirhinal cortex were comparatively equivocal, some evidence suggests contributions to perceptual representations, particularly under conditions of threat. Our findings provide evidence that MTL and PFC regions may contribute uniquely to arbitrating approach-avoidance conflict.

Memory as a foundation for approach and avoidance decisions: A fertile area for research.

Scant research has directly measured the extent episodic memory serves as the basis for decisions, particularly decisions to approach or avoid other people (i.e., social targets). In this theoretical paper, we survey the limited work showing the relationship between episodic memory and subsequent approach or avoidance decisions about social targets, including descriptions of significant limitations of past work. We then describe three important areas for future work in this domain (explicit memory, implicit memory, diagnosticity) as a framework to generate new foundational knowledge about the extent memory influences approach and avoidance decisions. Overall, the framework proposed in this work should lead to better understanding of the connection between memory and decision-making, especially decisions to approach or avoid social targets (i.e., other people).

Approach-avoidance tendencies in proactive and reactive aggression.

Aggressive behaviors have been related to approach/avoidance tendencies. In our current study, we investigated whether approach/avoidance tendencies for angry versus fearful emotional expressions were differentially predictive of children's reactive and proactive aggression. A total of 116 children (58 girls, Mage = 10.90, standard deviation SDage = 0.98) completed an approach/avoidance task (AAT) and a stimulus-response compatibility task (SRCT), both measuring the extent to which they tended to approach or avoid angry and fearful facial expressions relative to neutral facial expressions. Children also completed a self-report scale of reactive and proactive aggression. Although none of the approach/avoidance tendency scores correlated significantly with either of the aggression scores, stronger approach tendencies for angry faces and stronger avoidance tendencies for fearful faces in the AAT predicted more reactive aggression. Similar yet nonsignificant results were found for proactive aggression, but no effects were replicated in the SRCT. Our results thus invite the conclusion that reactive aggression is characterized by a tendency to approach angry faces and a tendency to avoid fearful faces. However, the poor discrimination between both types of aggression as well as the lack of convergence between the results of our two measures of approach/avoidance tendencies indicates that further research is needed to establish the role of approach/avoidance tendencies for emotional faces as markers for childhood aggression.

Think positive! Resolving human motion ambiguity in the presence of disease threat.

Recently, approach-avoidance tendencies and visual perception biases have been increasingly studied using bistable point-light walkers (PLWs). Prior studies have found a facing-the-viewer bias when one is primed with general threat stimuli (e.g. angry faces), explained by the "error management theory", as failing to detect a threat as approaching is riskier than the opposite. Importantly, no study has explored how disease threat - linked to the behavioural immune system - might affect this bias. This study aimed to explore whether disease-signalling cues can alter how we perceive the motion direction of ambiguous PLWs. Throughout 3 experiments, participants indicated the motion direction of a bistable PLW previously primed with a control or disease-signalling stimuli - that is, face with a surgical mask (Experiment 1), sickness sound (Experiment 2), or face with a disease cue (Experiment 3). Results showed that sickness cues do not significantly modulate the perception of approach-avoidance behaviours. However, a pattern emerged in Experiments 2 and 3, suggesting that sickness stimuli led to more facing away percepts. Unlike other types of threat, this implies that disease-related threat stimuli might trigger a distinct perceptual bias, indicating a preference to avoid a possible infection source. Nonetheless, this finding warrants future investigations.

Interoceptive sensitivity and perception of others' emotions: an investigation based on a two-stage model.

Recent research shows that sensitivity to interoceptive sensitivity is associated with a more granular experience of emotions. These studies suggest that individuals sensitive to their interoceptive signals can better perceive somatic physiological changes as compared to their counterparts. Therefore, they discriminate among a wide and subtle range of emotions. Further, the perception of others' emotions could be based on our own emotional experiences. However, whether interoceptive sensitivity is related to the perception of others' emotions remains unclear. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between interoceptive sensitivity and emotional perception. Considering the model that emotion perception comprises two processes, categorization of facial expressions and approach-avoidance responses, this study examined both categorizations of facial expressions and approach-avoidance responses. The results showed no relationship between interoceptive sensitivity and the perception of emotion, which suggests that interoceptive sensitivity is related to the experience of emotion but does not affect the granularity of emotional perception. Future studies should diversely and empirically examine the role of the body in emotional perception from the perspective of interoceptive sensitivity.

You don't know why you (don't) exercise: The relationship between automatic processes and physical activity (or sedentary behavior): A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: This meta-analysis aimed to examine the relationship between automatic processes and behavior as well as their moderators. METHODS: There were 126 effect sizes (Fisher's Z) extracted from 55 independent research studies involving 10,432 participants. Meta-analyses were conducted using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis Version 3.3. Univariate meta-regression models were used to analyze underlying moderators. RESULTS: Meta-analysis after correction found that automatic processes could significantly and positively predict behavior, but the effect size was small (Fisher's Z = 0.057, p < 0.001, 95% CI [0.043, 0.070]). CONCLUSIONS: Different components of automatic processes, task reliability, and study design moderated the relationship between automatic processes and behavior. Future research could explore automatic measures at a neurophysiological level or use population-matched stimuli for specific populations to improve measure validity. In addition, future research should accumulate evidence on how to reduce sedentary behavior.

Developing digital interventions for a post-Covid world: A smartphone-based approach-avoidance training to reduce alcohol craving.

Harmful alcohol use is a major public health issue. In-person treatment has been hindered by the restrictions necessary during the Covid-19 pandemic. This study examined the effects of an at-home smartphone-based cognitive bias modification training in heavy drinkers. Experiment 1 tested the effect of a short 20-30-min smartphone-based approach-avoidance training (AAT) on image-induced craving at a 1-day follow-up. Sixty-two participants consuming 14+ units of alcohol/week were allocated to either the training or waitlist group. Experiment 2 used an updated version of the same short AAT intervention with a sample of n = 107 participants who consumed 20+ units of alcohol/week. Training effects at 1-week follow-up were compared to an active control group. Experiment 1 showed a significant reduction in image-induced craving for the training group at 1-day follow-up. Experiment 2 found that AUDIT weekly scores were significantly reduced at 1-week follow-up for the training group, all the while craving for soft drinks remained unchanged. Experiment 1 served as a first proof of concept for the efficacy of the new smartphone-based AAT training, and experiment 2 suggested that training effects on problem alcohol use hold at 1-week follow-up.

How pre-processing decisions affect the reliability and validity of the approach-avoidance task: Evidence from simulations and multiverse analyses with six datasets.

Reaction time (RT) data are often pre-processed before analysis by rejecting outliers and errors and aggregating the data. In stimulus-response compatibility paradigms such as the approach-avoidance task (AAT), researchers often decide how to pre-process the data without an empirical basis, leading to the use of methods that may harm data quality. To provide this empirical basis, we investigated how different pre-processing methods affect the reliability and validity of the AAT. Our literature review revealed 108 unique pre-processing pipelines among 163 examined studies. Using empirical datasets, we found that validity and reliability were negatively affected by retaining error trials, by replacing error RTs with the mean RT plus a penalty, and by retaining outliers. In the relevant-feature AAT, bias scores were more reliable and valid if computed with D-scores; medians were less reliable and more unpredictable, while means were also less valid. Simulations revealed bias scores were likely to be less accurate if computed by contrasting a single aggregate of all compatible conditions with that of all incompatible conditions, rather than by contrasting separate averages per condition. We also found that multilevel model random effects were less reliable, valid, and stable, arguing against their use as bias scores. We call upon the field to drop these suboptimal practices to improve the psychometric properties of the AAT. We also call for similar investigations in related RT-based bias measures such as the implicit association task, as their commonly accepted pre-processing practices involve many of the aforementioned discouraged methods. HIGHLIGHTS: • Rejecting RTs deviating more than 2 or 3 SD from the mean gives more reliable and valid results than other outlier rejection methods in empirical data • Removing error trials gives more reliable and valid results than retaining them or replacing them with the block mean and an added penalty • Double-difference scores are more reliable than compatibility scores under most circumstances • More reliable and valid results are obtained both in simulated and real data by using double-difference D-scores, which are obtained by dividing a participant's double mean difference score by the SD of their RTs.

Midfrontal Theta Activity Is Sensitive to Approach-Avoidance Conflict.

Midfrontal theta (FMθ) in the human EEG is commonly viewed as a generic and homogeneous mechanism of cognitive control in general and conflict processing in particular. However, the role of FMθ in approach-avoidance conflicts and its cross-task relationship to simpler stimulus-response conflicts remain to be examined more closely. Therefore, we recorded EEG data while 59 healthy participants (49 female, 10 male) completed both an approach-avoidance task and a flanker task. Participants showed significant increases in FMθ power in response to conflicts in both tasks. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show a direct relationship between FMθ and approach-avoidance conflicts. Crucially, FMθ activity was task dependent and showed no cross-task correlation. To assess the possibility of multiple FMθ sources, we applied source separation [generalized eigendecomposition (GED)] to distinguish independent FMθ generators. The activity of the components showed a similar pattern and was again task specific. However, our results did not yield a clear differentiation between task-specific FMθ sources for each of the participants. Overall, our results show FMθ increases in approach-avoidance conflicts, as has been established only for more simple response conflict paradigms so far. The independence of task-specific FMθ increases suggests differential sensitivity of FMθ to different forms of behavioral conflict.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT FMθ is well established as an indicator for cognitive conflict in tasks involving simple stimulus-response conflicts. However, we do not yet know about its role in more complex forms of goal ambivalence, such as approach-avoidance conflicts. Thus, we implemented an approach-avoidance task and a flanker task to investigate FMθ in response to simple as well as more complex response conflicts. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show a direct relationship between FMθ and approach-avoidance conflicts. Although the transient FMθ increase is similar to that induced in a simple response conflict task, individual FMθ responsiveness to these two forms of conflict were independent of each other, suggesting intraindividual differences in the sensitivity of FMθ to different forms of behavioral conflict.

Neural correlates of changing food choices while bypassing values.

Current theories suggest that altering choices requires value modification. To investigate this, normal-weight female participants' food choices and values were tested before and after an approach-avoidance training (AAT), while neural activity was recorded during the choice task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During AAT, participants consistently approached low- while avoiding high-calorie food cues. AAT facilitated low-calorie food choices, leaving food values unchanged. Instead, we observed a shift in indifference points, indicating the decreased contribution of food values in food choices. Training-induced choice shifts were associated with increased activity in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). In contrast, the medial PFC activity was not changed. Additionally, PCC gray matter density predicted individual differences in training-induced functional changes, suggesting anatomic predispositions to training impact. Our findings demonstrate neural mechanisms underlying choice modulation independent of valuation-related processes, which has substantial theoretical significance for decision-making frameworks and translational implications for health-related decisions resilient to value shifts.

The Role of the Dorsal-Lateral Prefrontal Cortex in Reward Sensitivity During Approach-Avoidance Conflict.

Approach-Avoidance conflict (AAC) arises from decisions with embedded positive and negative outcomes, such that approaching leads to reward and punishment and avoiding to neither. Despite its importance, the field lacks a mechanistic understanding of which regions are driving avoidance behavior during conflict. In the current task, we utilized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and drift-diffusion modeling to investigate the role of one of the most prominent regions relevant to AAC-the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). The first experiment uses in-task disruption to examine the right dlPFC's (r-dlPFC) causal role in avoidance behavior. The second uses single TMS pulses to probe the excitability of the r-dlPFC, and downstream cortical activations, during avoidance behavior. Disrupting r-dlPFC during conflict decision-making reduced reward sensitivity. Further, r-dlPFC was engaged with a network of regions within the lateral and medial prefrontal, cingulate, and temporal cortices that associate with behavior during conflict. Together, these studies use TMS to demonstrate a role for the dlPFC in reward sensitivity during conflict and elucidate the r-dlPFC's network of cortical regions associated with avoidance behavior. By identifying r-dlPFC's mechanistic role in AAC behavior, contextualized within its conflict-specific downstream neural connectivity, we advance dlPFC as a potential neural target for psychiatric therapeutics.

Placing Approach-Avoidance Conflict Within the Framework of Multi-objective Reinforcement Learning.

Many psychiatric disorders are marked by impaired decision-making during an approach-avoidance conflict. Current experiments elicit approach-avoidance conflicts in bandit tasks by pairing an individual's actions with consequences that are simultaneously desirable (reward) and undesirable (harm). We frame approach-avoidance conflict tasks as a multi-objective multi-armed bandit. By defining a general decision-maker as a limiting sequence of actions, we disentangle the decision process from learning. Each decision maker can then be identified as a multi-dimensional point representing its long-term average expected outcomes, while different decision making models can be associated by the geometry of their 'feasible region', the set of all possible long term performances on a fixed task. We introduce three example decision-makers based on popular reinforcement learning models and characterize their feasible regions, including whether they can be Pareto optimal. From this perspective, we find that existing tasks are unable to distinguish between the three examples of decision-makers. We show how to design new tasks whose geometric structure can be used to better distinguish between decision-makers. These findings are expected to guide the design of approach-avoidance conflict tasks and the modeling of resulting decision-making behavior.

Approach avoidance training versus Sham in veterans with alcohol use disorder: protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is highly prevalent and commonly co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders among Veterans. Provisional evidence supports the use of Approach Avoidance Training (AAT) - a form of computer-delivered cognitive bias modification designed to target implicit approach bias for alcohol-related cues - as an adjunctive program to treat AUD. However, the extent to which AAT is effective for improving AUD recovery outcomes in outpatient Veteran samples and those with psychiatric comorbidities has been understudied to date. Here we describe a double-blind randomized controlled trial of AAT versus a comparison condition (Sham) being conducted in Veterans with comorbid psychiatric conditions completing outpatient standard care. METHODS: One hundred thirty-six Veterans currently receiving outpatient treatment for AUD will be recruited for this randomized controlled trial with parallel group assignment. Participants will be randomized to either 6 weeks of AAT (n = 68) or Sham (n = 68) training in conjunction with usual care. Assessments will occur at baseline and 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months post-baseline. Primary outcome variables will include functional consequences of drinking. Secondary outcome variables will include alcohol consumption, and behavioral indicators of alcohol approach bias. A subset of participants (n = 51) will also complete functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess neural response during an alcohol approach bias assessment. DISCUSSION: This study is the first randomized controlled trial of AAT administered as an adjunctive treatment to standard care in Veterans with AUD and comorbid psychiatric disorders. Additionally, behavioral and neuroimaging data will be used to determine the extent to which AAT targets approach bias for alcohol cues. If effective, AAT may be a promising low-cost adjunctive treatment option for individuals with AUD. REGISTRY NAME: AAT for Alcohol Use Disorder in Veterans. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05372029; Date of Registration: 5/9/2022.

Easy to get, difficult to avoid: Behavioral tendencies toward high-calorie and low-calorie food during a mobile approach-avoidance task interact with body mass index and hunger in a community sample.

In recent years, different studies highlighted the importance of assessing behavioral tendencies toward different food stimuli in healthy and pathological samples. However, heterogeneities in experimental approaches and small sample sizes make this literature rather inconsistent. In this study, we used a mobile approach-avoidance task to investigate the behavioral tendencies toward healthy and unhealthy foods compared to neutral objects in a large community sample. The role of some contextual and stable subjective variables was also explored. The sample included 204 participants. The stimuli comprised 15 pictures of unhealthy foods, 15 pictures of healthy foods, and 15 pictures of neutral objects. Participants were required to approach or avoid stimuli by respectively pull or push the smartphone toward or away from themselves. Accuracy and reaction time of each movement were calculated. The analyses were conducted using a generalized linear mixed-effect model (GLMMs), testing the two-way interaction between the type of movement and the stimulus category and the three-way interactions between type of movement, stimulus, and specific variables (BMI, time passed since the last meal, level of perceived hunger). Our results evidenced faster approaching movement toward food stimuli but not toward neutrals. An effect of BMI was also documented: as the BMI increased, participants became slower in avoiding unhealthy compared to healthy foods, and in approaching healthy compared to unhealthy stimuli. Moreover, as hunger increased, participants became faster in approaching and slower in avoiding healthy compared to unhealthy stimuli. In conclusion, our results show an approach tendency toward food stimuli, independent from caloric content, in the general population. Furthermore, approach tendencies to healthy foods decreased with increasing BMI and increased with perceived hunger, indicating the possible influence of different mechanisms on eating-related behavioral tendencies.