title: Corticolimbic catecholamines in stress: a computational model of the appraisal of controllability.
abstract: Appraisal of a stressful situation and the possibility to control or avoid it is thought to involve frontal-cortical mechanisms. The precise mechanism underlying this appraisal and its translation into effective stress coping (the regulation of physiological and behavioural responses) are poorly understood. Here, we propose a computational model which involves tuning motivational arousal to the appraised stressing condition. The model provides a causal explanation of the shift from active to passive coping strategies, i.e. from a condition characterised by high motivational arousal, required to deal with a situation appraised as stressful, to a condition characterised by emotional and motivational withdrawal, required when the stressful situation is appraised as uncontrollable/unavoidable. The model is motivated by results acquired via microdialysis recordings in rats and highlights the presence of two competing circuits dominated by different areas of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex: these are shown having opposite effects on several subcortical areas, affecting dopamine outflow in the striatum, and therefore controlling motivation. We start by reviewing published data supporting structure and functioning of the neural model and present the computational model itself with its essential neural mechanisms. Finally, we show the results of a new experiment, involving the condition of repeated inescapable stress, which validate most of the model's predictions.
authors.affiliation: Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Institute of Neurology, UCL, 12 Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK, vincenzo.g.fiore@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vincenzo G
authors.initials: VG
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mannella
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirolli
authors.forename: Emanuele Claudio
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Latagliata
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valzania
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cabib
authors.forename: Raymond J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Dolan
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Puglisi-Allegra
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baldassarre
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000378:metabolism; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D017551:Microdialysis / Q000379:methods; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009042:Motivation; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D009714:Nucleus Accumbens / Q000378:metabolism*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000378:metabolism / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D002395:Catecholamines; D004298:Dopamine