Investigation Of The Neural Mechanisms Underlying Return Of Fear And Their Relation To Individual Differences

"The goal of this volume is to bring together the most recent empirical and theoretical developments in the basic science of fear learning and to translate these developments to the clinical understanding and treatment of fears and phobias. A major impetus for the volume was the recognition that basic science in fear learning is advancing far more rapidly than the clinical application of this knowledge. The book is structured to cover three main areas. The first presents the history of fear learning theory and fear measurement. The second area examines the acquisition and maintenance of fear, including neural circuitry, associative pathways, and cognitive mechanisms; the role of avoidance; and individual differences in fear learning. The third area covers the extinction, renewal, and reinstatement of fear, including neural circuitry and context dependency. The volume developed out of the Special Interest Meeting on Fear and Learning in Lignely, Belgium (May 2003), sponsored by the Fund for Scientific Research in Flanders, Belgium, and inspired by Paul Eelen. This volume is intended for both basic scientists and clinical scientists at undergraduate, graduate, and more advanced levels, as well as practicing clinicians who are interested in gaining an in-depth understanding of learning theory as it applies to fear and anxiety"--Preface. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved)

This engaging book provides a novel examination of the nature of addiction, suggesting that by exploring akrasia—the tendency to act against one’s better judgement—we can better understand our addictive behaviors. It offers an alternative to the dominant biomedical model of addiction as a chronic brain disease by looking at the nature of how we make decisions and proposing the idea that biased choice is central to addiction. The book looks at both classic substance use disorders and newer “addictions” to smartphones, meat and fossil fuels. It discusses current perspectives on free will in philosophy, psychology and neuroscience, and the questions surrounding free will versus determinism, including our ability to steer our behaviors guided by the promise of future outcomes. Different perspectives on addiction and choice are presented in an eloquent style, and illustrated by personal stories. Through a lively discussion of the key scientific and philosophical issues surrounding addiction, this book is valuable for students in psychology, criminology, sociology and social work, as well as health care professionals and general readers interested in the nature of our free will.

This book aims to provide the reader a neuroscientific understanding surrounding a very simple question: how do we learn not to fear? Exploring answers to this question is very important for two reasons. First, learning about the neural mechanisms of fear extinction is of relevance to everyone’s life - it is such a basic yet relevant question to our daily experiences. Therefore, understanding brain mechanisms of fear and its regulation is essential from a basic neuroscience point of view. Second, excessive fear and the inability to regulate its expression is one of the hallmarks of fear-, anxiety-, trauma-, and stressor-related psychopathologies. And as such, learning about how fear is acquired, stored, expressed, and regulated could help advance our understanding of the etiology of psychopathology, the maintenance of symptoms pertaining to failure to regulate fear, and could help us develop novel therapeutics to equip providers and patients with the tools to better quell their fears. The contributions contained in this book are provided by experts in the fields of basic and clinical neuroscience, experimental and clinical psychology, and neuropsychiatry. The contributions are organized to start the reader with basic definitions of how we define fear, how we study its neural circuits at the molecular and cellular levels, how to study human behavior and the brain using state-of-the art experimental and statistical tools, to how much fear contributes to psychopathology. This volume ends with current advances aimed to enhance the capacity to extinguish fear; a clinical result that would aid in the treatment of multiple psychiatric disorders, followed by a discussion on future directions of this highly important and relevant field.

This cutting-edge book offers a theoretical account of the evolution of multiple memory systems of the brain. The authors conceptualize these memory systems from both behavioral and neurobiological perspectives, guided by three related principles. First, that our understanding of a wide range of memory phenomena can be advanced by breaking down memory into multiple forms with different operating characteristics. Second, that different forms of memory representation are supported by distinct brain pathways with circuitry and neural coding properties. Third, that the contributions of different brain systems can be compared and contrasted by distinguishing between dedicated (or specific) and elaborate (or general) memory systems. A primary goal of this work is to relate the neurobiological properties of dedicated and elaborate systems to their neuropsychological counterparts, and in so doing, account for the phenomenology of memory, from conditioning to conscious recollection.

Fischer uses evolutionary psychology to explain why people's personality and values are both similar and different across cultures worldwide.

Throughout their lifetime, animals learn to associate stimuli with their consequences. Following memory acquisition and consolidation, circumstances may arise that necessitate that initially learned behaviour is no longer relevant. The ensuing process is called extinction learning and involves a novel and complex learning procedure that involves a large number of neural entities. While the neural fundaments of the initial acquisition are well studied, our understanding of the behavioural and neural basis of extinction is still limited and derives mostly from rodent data acquired through fear conditioning paradigms. Fear conditioning and extinction in rodents is a spectacularly successful paradigm within behavioral neuroscience. However, in recent years, new approaches have been emerging that examine the mechanisms of extinction learning in different setting that also involve appetitive models, a broader comparative perspective, a focus on other brain systems, an examination of hormonal factors, and conditioning of immune responses. Only a broader analysis of the neural fundaments of extinction learning will finally uncover shared and distinct mechanisms that underlie extinction learning in different functional systems. The papers compiled in this Research Topic offer new and valuable insights into the mechanisms and functional implementation of extinction learning at its different levels of complexity, and form the basis for new concepts and research ideas in this field.

The study of emotions has rapidly expanded in recent decades, incorporating interdisciplinary research on the genetic underpinnings and neural mechanisms of emotion. This has involved a wide range of methods from as varied fields as behavioral genetics, molecular biology, and cognitive neuroscience, and has allowed researchers to start addressing complex multi-level questions such as: what is the role of genes in individual differences in emotions and emotional vulnerability to psychopathology, and what are the neural mechanisms through which genes and experience shape these emotion? Genes, Brain, and Emotions: Interdisciplinary and translational perspectives offers a comprehensive account of this interdisciplinary field of research, bridging psychology, genetics, and neuroscience, with rich sections dedicated to methods, cognitive and biological mechanisms, and psychopathology. Written by leading researchers who have each inspired new research directions and innovated methods and concepts, this book will be of interest to anyone working or studying in the field of affective science, whether they be behavioural geneticists, psychologists and psychiatrists, or cognitive neuroscientists.