Neural Computations of Threat

Overview

Journal Trends Cogn Sci

Date 2021 Jan 1

PMID 33384214

Citations 32

Authors

Ifat Levy

Daniela Schiller

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

A host of learning, memory, and decision-making processes form the individual's response to threat and may be disrupted in anxiety and post-trauma psychopathology. Here we review the neural computations of threat, from the first encounter with a dangerous situation, through learning, storing, and updating cues that predict it, to making decisions about the optimal course of action. The overview highlights the interconnected nature of these processes and their reliance on shared neural and computational mechanisms. We propose an integrative approach to the study of threat-related processes, in which specific computations are studied across the various stages of threat experience rather than in isolation. This approach can generate new insights about the evolution, diagnosis, and treatment of threat-related psychopathology.

Citing Articles

Person-centered analyses reveal that developmental adversity at moderate levels and neural threat/safety discrimination are associated with lower anxiety in early adulthood.

Sisk L, Keding T, Ruiz S, Odriozola P, Kribakaran S, Cohodes E Commun Psychol. 2025; 3(1):31.

PMID: 40044923 PMC: 11882445. DOI: 10.1038/s44271-025-00193-x.

Hooking the Self Onto the Past: How Positive Autobiographical Memory Retrieval Benefits People With Social Anxiety.

Moscovitch D, White K, Hudd T Clin Psychol Sci. 2024; 12(5):882-902.

PMID: 39309219 PMC: 11415290. DOI: 10.1177/21677026231195792.

Independence Threat or Interdependence Threat? The Focusing Effect on Social or Physical Threat Modulates Brain Activity.

Wang G, Ma L, Wang L, Pang W Brain Sci. 2024; 14(4).

PMID: 38672018 PMC: 11047893. DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14040368.

Distributed neural representations of conditioned threat in the human brain.

Wen Z, Pace-Schott E, Lazar S, Rosen J, Ahs F, Phelps E Nat Commun. 2024; 15(1):2231.

PMID: 38472184 PMC: 10933283. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-46508-0.

Integration of Prior Expectations and Suppression of Prediction Errors During Expectancy-Induced Pain Modulation: The Influence of Anxiety and Pleasantness.

Tsai H, Lapanan K, Lin Y, Huang C, Lin W, Lin M J Neurosci. 2024; 44(17).

PMID: 38453467 PMC: 11044194. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1627-23.2024.

References

de Berker A, Rutledge R, Mathys C, Marshall L, Cross G, Dolan R . Computations of uncertainty mediate acute stress responses in humans. Nat Commun. 2016; 7:10996. PMC: 4820542. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10996. View

Charpentier C, Aylward J, Roiser J, Robinson O . Enhanced Risk Aversion, But Not Loss Aversion, in Unmedicated Pathological Anxiety. Biol Psychiatry. 2017; 81(12):1014-1022. PMC: 5466268. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.12.010. View

Faraji M, Preuschoff K, Gerstner W . Balancing New against Old Information: The Role of Puzzlement Surprise in Learning. Neural Comput. 2017; 30(1):34-83. DOI: 10.1162/neco_a_01025. View

Brown V, Zhu L, Wang J, Frueh B, King-Casas B, Chiu P . Associability-modulated loss learning is increased in posttraumatic stress disorder. Elife. 2018; 7. PMC: 5760201. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.30150. View

Gershman S . A Unifying Probabilistic View of Associative Learning. PLoS Comput Biol. 2015; 11(11):e1004567. PMC: 4633133. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1004567. View

Bland A, Schaefer A . Different varieties of uncertainty in human decision-making. Front Neurosci. 2012; 6:85. PMC: 3370661. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2012.00085. View

McGuire J, Nassar M, Gold J, Kable J . Functionally dissociable influences on learning rate in a dynamic environment. Neuron. 2014; 84(4):870-81. PMC: 4437663. DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.10.013. View

Golkar A, Haaker J, Selbing I, Olsson A . Neural signals of vicarious extinction learning. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2016; 11(10):1541-9. PMC: 5040909. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsw068. View

Gershman S, Jones C, Norman K, Monfils M, Niv Y . Gradual extinction prevents the return of fear: implications for the discovery of state. Front Behav Neurosci. 2013; 7:164. PMC: 3831154. DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00164. View

10.

Pearce J, Hall G . A model for Pavlovian learning: variations in the effectiveness of conditioned but not of unconditioned stimuli. Psychol Rev. 1980; 87(6):532-52. View

11.

Admon R, Milad M, Hendler T . A causal model of post-traumatic stress disorder: disentangling predisposed from acquired neural abnormalities. Trends Cogn Sci. 2013; 17(7):337-47. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2013.05.005. View

12.

Diehl M, Bravo-Rivera C, Quirk G . The study of active avoidance: A platform for discussion. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2019; 107:229-237. PMC: 6936221. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.010. View

13.

Olsson A, Phelps E . Social learning of fear. Nat Neurosci. 2007; 10(9):1095-102. DOI: 10.1038/nn1968. View

14.

Boeke E, Moscarello J, LeDoux J, Phelps E, Hartley C . Active Avoidance: Neural Mechanisms and Attenuation of Pavlovian Conditioned Responding. J Neurosci. 2017; 37(18):4808-4818. PMC: 5426570. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3261-16.2017. View

15.

Levy D, Glimcher P . Comparing apples and oranges: using reward-specific and reward-general subjective value representation in the brain. J Neurosci. 2011; 31(41):14693-707. PMC: 3763520. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2218-11.2011. View

16.

Bach D, Seymour B, Dolan R . Neural activity associated with the passive prediction of ambiguity and risk for aversive events. J Neurosci. 2009; 29(6):1648-56. PMC: 2688025. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4578-08.2009. View

17.

Lamba A, Frank M, FeldmanHall O . Anxiety Impedes Adaptive Social Learning Under Uncertainty. Psychol Sci. 2020; 31(5):592-603. DOI: 10.1177/0956797620910993. View

18.

Haubrich J, Bernabo M, Baker A, Nader K . Impairments to Consolidation, Reconsolidation, and Long-Term Memory Maintenance Lead to Memory Erasure. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2020; 43:297-314. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-091319-024636. View

19.

Moscarello J, LeDoux J . Active avoidance learning requires prefrontal suppression of amygdala-mediated defensive reactions. J Neurosci. 2013; 33(9):3815-23. PMC: 3607300. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2596-12.2013. View

20.

LeDoux J, Daw N . Surviving threats: neural circuit and computational implications of a new taxonomy of defensive behaviour. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2018; 19(5):269-282. DOI: 10.1038/nrn.2018.22. View