title: Effect of anxiety on behavioural pattern separation in humans.
abstract: Behavioural pattern separation (BPS), the ability to distinguish among similar stimuli based on subtle physical differences, has been used to study the mechanism underlying stimulus generalisation. Fear overgeneralisation is often observed in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders. However, the relationship between anxiety and BPS remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of anxiety (threat of shock) on BPS, which was assessed across separate encoding and retrieval sessions. Images were encoded/retrieved during blocks of threat or safety in a 2 × 2 factorial design. During retrieval, participants indicated whether images were new, old, or altered. Better accuracy was observed for altered images encoded during periods of threat compared to safety, but only if those images were also retrieved during periods of safety. These results suggest that overgeneralisation in anxiety may be due to altered pattern separation.
authors.affiliation: a Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety , National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Balderston
authors.affiliation: a Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety , National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Ambika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathur
authors.affiliation: a Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety , National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adu-Brimpong
authors.affiliation: a Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety , National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Hale
authors.affiliation: a Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety , National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.affiliation: a Section on Neurobiology of Fear and Anxiety , National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grillon
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013216:Reflex, Startle; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Pattern separation; anxiety; generalisation; startle; threat of shock