title: Experimental public speaking: contributions to the understanding of the serotonergic modulation of fear.
abstract: Public speaking is widely used as a model of experimental fear and anxiety. This review aimed to evaluate the effects of pharmacological challenges on public speaking responses and their implications for the understanding of the neurobiology of normal and pathological anxiety, specifically panic disorder. We also describe methodological features of experimental paradigms using public speaking as an inducer of fear and stress. Public speaking is a potent stressor that can provoke significant subjective and physiological responses. However, variations in the manners in which public speaking is modelled can lead to different responses that need to be considered when interpreting the results. Results from pharmacological studies with healthy volunteers submitted to simulated public speaking tests have similarities with the pharmacological responses of panic patients observed in clinical practice and panic patients differ from controls in the response to the public speaking test. These data are compatible with the Deakin and Graeff hypothesis that serotonin inhibits fear, as accessed by public speaking tasks, and that this inhibition is likely related to the actions of serotonin in the dorsal periaqueductal grey matter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: cybelegleal@terra.com.br.
authors.forename: Cybele
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Garcia-Leal
authors.affiliation: Institute of Behavioral Neuroscience (INeC), University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; Neurobiology of Emotion Research Center (NuPNE), University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Frederico Guilherme
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Graeff
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience and Behavior, Medical School of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Cristina Marta
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Del-Ben
mesh_terms: D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000378:metabolism*; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013060:Speech; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D012701:Serotonin
keywords: Anxiety; Fear; Human experimental models; Panic disorder; Public speaking; Serotonin