Dispositional Negativity and the Pavlovian Control of Active and Passive Defensive Behavior

PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE:

Dispositional negativity is a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology defined by a heightened reactivity to threat and punishment that manifests in the form of frequent and intense negative affect. The present application leverages the capabilities of modern computational neuroscience to examine the latent decision processes that contribute to maladaptive threat responding in individuals with elevated dispositional negativity. Understanding the neurocomputational basis of dispositional negativity will help to facilitate the development of behavioral and computational indices that can be targeted for modification in novel transdiagnostic interventions.

PROJECT SUMMARY:

Neuroticism, or the tendency to experience frequent and intense negative affect, is a core feature of psychopathology that is thought to reflect a hyperresponsiveness to uncertainty, threat, and punishment. While neuroticism is responsible for tremendous personal, social, and economic burden, little is currently known about its underlying neurocomputational mechanisms.

Computationally, responses to threat and punishment are guided by multiple learning systems. A Pavlovian mechanism generates rapid, fixed responses to specific stimuli, whereas an instrumental mechanism uses the outcome of previous behavioral responses to flexibly guide future decision-making. In the PANDA study, we explore the possibility that elevated neuroticism reflects a Pavlovian predominance over instrumental behavior in aversive contexts, leading to disadvantageous defensive responses.

To investigate this question, we integrate behavioral experiments, physiological measures, computational modeling, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods to interrogate the processes that govern decision-making in aversive contexts. Ultimately, the goals of this work are to generate novel insights into the mechanisms that drive individual differences in neuroticism and identify clinical targets for transdiagnostic interventions aimed at reducing negative affect.