An integration of attachment theory and reinforcement sensitivity theory

This thesis examined how relationship experiences shape people\u27s sensitivity to detect threat and reward in romantic relationships and substance use scenarios. Findings indicated that anxious individuals experienced difficulty in distinguishing between threat and reward. In contrast, avoidant individuals were quick to detect threat either fleeing or confronting the problem aggressively

An integration of attachment theory and reinforcement sensitivity theory

This thesis examined how relationship experiences shape people\u27s sensitivity to detect threat and reward in romantic relationships and substance use scenarios. Findings indicated that anxious individuals experienced difficulty in distinguishing between threat and reward. In contrast, avoidant individuals were quick to detect threat either fleeing or confronting the problem aggressively

Preclinical and clinical evidence on the approach-avoidance conflict evaluation as an integrative tool for psychopathology

The approach-avoidance conflict (AAC), i.e. the competing tendencies to undertake goal-directed actions or to withdraw from everyday life challenges, stands at the basis of humans' existence defining behavioural and personality domains. Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory posits that a stable bias toward approach or avoidance represents a psychopathological trait associated with excessive sensitivity to reward or punishment. Optogenetic studies in rodents and imaging studies in humans associated with cross-species AAC paradigms granted new emphasis to the hippocampus as a hub of behavioural inhibition. For instance, recent functional neuroimaging studies show that functional brain activity in the human hippocampus correlates with threat perception and seems to underlie passive avoidance. Therefore, our commentary aims to (i) discuss the inhibitory role of the hippocampus in approach-related behaviours and (ii) promote the integration of functional neuroimaging with cross-species AAC paradigms as a means of diagnostic, therapeutic, follow up and prognosis refinement in psychiatric populations

How Do I Love Thee? Adult Attachment and Reinforcement Sensitivity

This thesis aimed to examine the nature of the relations between individual differences in adult attachment patterns and the sensitivity of motivational systems – the Behavioural Approach System (BAS), the Fight-Flight-Freeze System (FFFS), and the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS) – proposed by the revised reinforcement sensitivity theory (r-RST). In Study 1, psychology undergraduates (N=225) completed self-reported measures of adult attachment and reinforcement sensitivity. Both attachment dimensions were significantly related to BIS sensitivity, which suggests that sensitivity to motivational ambivalence is a central feature of attachment insecurity. In Study 2, psychology undergraduates (N=200) experienced virtual separation and reunion scenarios with a ‘virtual spouse,’ and subsequently completed adult attachment and reinforcement sensitivity questionnaires. Adult attachment, but not reinforcement sensitivity, were predictive of behavioural and emotional responses to separation and reunion. This suggests that adult attachment has unique predictive power to dyadic behaviour. Finally, Study 3 (N=63) examined the links between self-reported adult attachment and reinforcement sensitivity and neurobiological markers of approach and avoidance motivation (8 minutes of resting EEG). Neither adult attachment nor reinforcement sensitivity exhibited robust associations with the resting EEG indices. This may reflect the construct heterogeneity of the attachment dimensions and reinforcement sensitivity, such that they do not neatly map onto neural correlates of approach and avoidance. Together, the studies reported in this thesis suggest modest overlaps between individual differences in adult attachment and reinforcement sensitivities at the self-report level, but the two domains are largely independent in relation to attachment behaviour and neural correlates of approach-avoidance

The Cognitive Architecture of Anxiety-Like Behavioral Inhibition

The combination of reward and potential threat is termed approach/avoidance conflict and elicits specific behaviors, including passive avoidance and behavioral inhibition (BI). Anxiety-relieving drugs reduce these behaviors, and a rich psychological literature has addressed how personality traits dominated by BI predispose for anxiety disorders. Yet, a formal understanding of the cognitive inference and planning processes underlying anxiety-like BI is lacking. Here, we present and empirically test such formalization in the terminology of reinforcement learning. We capitalize on a human computer game in which participants collect sequentially appearing monetary tokens while under threat of virtual “predation.” First, we demonstrate that humans modulate BI according to experienced consequences. This suggests an instrumental implementation of BI generation rather than a Pavlovian mechanism that is agnostic about action outcomes. Second, an internal model that would make BI adaptive is expressed in an independent task that involves no threat. The existence of such internal model is a necessary condition to conclude that BI is under model-based control. These findings relate a plethora of human and nonhuman observations on BI to reinforcement learning theory, and crucially constrain the quest for its neural implementation

Modeling trait anxiety:from computational processes to personality

Computational methods are increasingly being applied to the study of psychiatric disorders. Often, this involves fitting models to the behavior of individuals with subclinical character traits that are known vulnerability factors for the development of psychiatric conditions. Anxiety disorders can be examined with reference to the behavior of individuals high in “trait” anxiety, which is a known vulnerability factor for the development of anxiety and mood disorders. However, it is not clear how this self-report measure relates to neural and behavioral processes captured by computational models. This paper reviews emerging computational approaches to the study of trait anxiety, specifying how interacting processes susceptible to analysis using computational models could drive a tendency to experience frequent anxious states and promote vulnerability to the development of clinical disorders. Existing computational studies are described in the light of this perspective and appropriate targets for future studies are discussed

The development of sensitivity to threat among children and adolescents

Several theories of adolescent brain development suggest that adolescence is a sensitive period of development characterized by the onset of internalizing problems, such as anxiety. Sensitivity to threat, a heightened responsiveness to aversive situations, has been suggested to be a precursor to anxiety, highlighting the importance of understanding sensitivity to threat among children and adolescents. Yet relatively little is known about the development of sensitivity to threat. Further, identifying the neural indicators that are associated with heightened sensitivity to threat would help classify which youth are most at risk for anxiety. The primary goals of my dissertation were: 1) to explore whether adolescents, compared to children, have heightened sensitive to threat, 2) assess which neural indicators are associated with heightened sensitivity to threat, and 3) assess whether individual differences (e.g., in consistency of sensitivity to threat across time and situation) help predict which youth are most at risk for anxiety-related problems. Study 1 of my dissertation examined, with concurrent data, whether adolescents have greater neural sensitivity to negative feedback compared to children. Study 2 examined whether children and adolescents differ in their longitudinal trajectories of sensitivity to threat (e.g., consistency across time). I also was interested in whether these trajectories were associated with frontal asymmetry, a neural indicator associated with avoidance motivations. Study 3 extended the findings from Study 2 to examine consistency across threatening situations. While Studies 1 through 3 investigated whether adolescence is a period of heightened sensitivity to threat, Study 4 of my dissertation used a latent class analysis to investigate whether individual differences in sensitivity to threat, impulsivity, and emotion dysregulation are associated with anxiety and/or risk taking. Results indicated that adolescence (especially when defined by pubertal status), may be a normative period for sensitivity to threat. At the same time, not all youth who are sensitive to threat go on to develop anxiety; thus, it may be that for many adolescents, sensitivity to threat is an adolescent-limited phenomenon, meaning that threat sensitivity may peak in adolescence, but then tapers off into adulthood. Importantly, neural indicators associated with threat sensitivity helped identify which youth may have the highest levels of threat sensitivity. Overall, my dissertation shows that while some level of sensitivity to threat is normative, it is less common for youth to be consistently sensitive to threats and importantly, these youth who are consistently sensitive appear to be most at risk. Taken together, the four studies of my dissertation incorporate EEG, longitudinal designs, multiple indicators of development (age and pubertal status), and self-report data to gain a holistic understanding of sensitivity to threat from childhood to adolescence

Attentional Bias for Threat and Anxiety: An Extended Research Program

The association between attentional bias for threat (ABT) and anxiety has conventionally been studied from the information-processing approach, via research traditions adapted from the field of cognitive psychology. While ABT is thought to play a causal role in anxiety, the tendency to orient more quickly to negative compared to neutral stimuli can also represent an adaptive habit which facilitates survival by preparing the organism to respond swiftly to danger. The latter notion bears implications for the design of research on the ABT-anxiety link which are not well reflected within the information- processing approach. Specifically, given the adaptive aspects of ABT, the pathway between ABT is not likely to be direct, nor does the expression of ABT unmask underlying anxiety in all instances. However, led by the dominant information-processing approach, a significant proportion of studies on the ABT-anxiety link has focused on characterizing ABT in anxiety via methodologically rigorous experimental paradigms, where ABT is investigated as an isolated process involved in anxiety. The present thesis sought to study the ABT-anxiety link in the context of a research program extending from that of the information-processing approach, specifically one where the adaptive aspects of ABT are taken on board in study design by considering ABT as an indirect or component predictor of anxiety. The end goal was to identify theoretically-relevant mediators and/or moderators of the ABT-anxiety link which may ultimately serve to refine the design of attentional bias modification programs, in which significant effort has been invested in the search for novel ways to treat and prevent anxiety

The behavioral Inhibition system in childhood and adolescent anxiety: an analysis from the information processing perspective

Iedereen kent wel kinderen met een angstig temperament: kinderen die snel schrikken, moeilijk te troosten zijn, of verlegen en teruggetrokken zijn. De meesten van die kinderen groeien daar uit. Anderen blijven angstig en bang. Sommigen krijgen zelfs last van echte angststoornissen, die hen hinderen in hun dagelijks leven. Leentje Vervoort onderzocht het verband tussen een angstig temperament en angststoornissen. Ze deed dat door te kijken naar de manier waarop kinderen met en zonder angstproblemen omgaan met informatie uit de buitenwereld. Vervoort concludeert dat kinderen met een angststoornis sneller hun bezigheden staken dan kinderen zonder angstproblemen wanneer ze geconfronteerd worden met enge dingen. Daarnaast vond ze dat kinderen met een angststoornis enge dingen beduidend negatiever evalueren dan kinderen zonder angststoornissen De laatste groep vindt enge dingen niet negatiever dan gewoon negatieve dingen. Ten slotte keek Vervoort hoe de aandacht voor enge dingen verschilt tussen kinderen met en zonder angstproblemen. Hoewel vaak gedacht wordt dat temperament iets is wat we niet kunnen veranderen, lijkt het er toch op dat kinderen met een angstig temperament ‘beschermd' kunnen worden tegen angstproblemen door de manier waarop kinderen omgaan met informatie uit de buitenwereld aan te pakken