When Fear Is Near: Threat Imminence Elicits Prefrontal-Periaqueductal Gray Shifts in Humans
Abstract
Humans, like other animals, alter their behavior depending on whether a threat is close or distant. We investigated spatial imminence of threat by developing an active avoidance paradigm in which volunteers were pursued through a maze by a virtual predator endowed with an ability to chase, capture, and inflict pain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that as the virtual predator grew closer, brain activity shifted from the ventromedial prefrontal cortex to the periaqueductal gray. This shift showed maximal expression when a high degree of pain was anticipated. Moreover, imminence-driven periaqueductal gray activity correlated with increased subjective degree of dread and decreased confidence of escape. Our findings cast light on the neural dynamics of threat anticipation and have implications for the neurobiology of human anxiety-related disorders.
Additional Information
© 2007 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 26 April 2007; accepted 10 July 2007.Attached Files
Accepted Version - ukmss-3684.pdf
Supplemental Material - Mobbs.SOM.pdf
Files
Name | Size | Download all |
---|---|---|
md5:e952071752884cd7af538fa4fa288bd4
|
1.0 MB | Preview Download |
md5:46fb8d9b53abdffd9430e6cbacd0d2fa
|
1.4 MB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- PMCID
- PMC2648508
- Eprint ID
- 85074
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20180302-151125026
- Created
-
2018-03-02Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field