title: Healthy individuals maintain adaptive stimulus evaluation under predictable and unpredictable threat.
abstract: The anxiety inducing paradigms such as the threat-of-shock paradigm have provided ample data on the emotional processing of predictable and unpredictable threat, but little is known about the processing of aversive, threat-irrelevant stimuli in these paradigms. We investigated how the predictability of threat influences the neural visual processing of threat-irrelevant fearful and neutral faces. Thirty-two healthy individuals participated in an NPU-threat test, consisting of a safe or neutral condition (N) and a predictable (P) as well as an unpredictable (U) threat condition, using audio-visual threat stimuli. In all NPU-conditions, we registered participants' brain responses to threat-irrelevant faces via magnetoencephalography. The data showed that increasing unpredictability of threat evoked increasing emotion regulation during face processing predominantly in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex regions during an early to mid-latency time interval. Importantly, we obtained only main effects but no significant interaction of facial expression and conditions of different threat predictability, neither in behavioral nor in neural data. Healthy individuals with average trait anxiety are thus able to maintain adaptive stimulus evaluation processes under predictable and unpredictable threat conditions.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Muenster, D-48149 Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany. Electronic address: i.klinkenberg@uni-muenster.de.
authors.forename: Isabelle A G
authors.initials: IA
authors.lastname: Klinkenberg
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Muenster, D-48149 Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
authors.forename: Maimu A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rehbein
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Muenster, D-48149 Muenster, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Steinberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Mood and Anxiety Disorders Research Unit, University Hospital Muenster, D-48149 Muenster, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna Luisa
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Klahn
authors.affiliation: kbo-Inn-Salzach-Klinikum, D-83512 Wasserburg am Inn, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zwanzger
authors.affiliation: Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany; Institute of Psychology, University of Muenster, D-48149 Muenster, Germany.
authors.forename: Pienie
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zwitserlood
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Muenster, D-48149 Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Junghöfer
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D059031:Anticipation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Electroencephalography (EEG); Fronto-parietal network; MEG; Phasic fear; Sustained anxiety; dlPFC