Muehlberger, Andreas and Andreatta, Marta and Ewald, Heike and Glotzbach-Schoon, Evelyn and Troeger, Christian and Baumann, Christian and Reif, Andreas and Deckert, Juergen and Pauli, Paul (2014) The BDNF Va166Met Polymorphism Modulates the Generalization of Cued Fear Responses to a Novel Context. NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY, 39 (5). pp. 1187-1195. ISSN 0893-133X, 1740-634X
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has a crucial role in activity-dependent synaptic plasticity and learning and memory. The human functional single-nucleotide BDNF rs6265 (Va166Met) polymorphism has been found to be associated with alteration in neural BDNF release and function correlating with altered emotional behavior. Here, we investigated for the first time the hypothesis that this polymorphism in humans modulates the context dependency of conditioned fear responses. Applying a new paradigm examining generalization of cued fear across contexts, 70 participants stratified for BDNF Va166Met polymorphism were guided through two virtual offices (context) in which briefly illuminated blue and yellow lights served as cues. In the fear context, one light (conditioned stimulus, CS +) but not the other light (CS-) was associated with an electric shock (unconditioned stimulus, US). In the safety context, both lights were presented too, but no US was delivered. During the test phase, lights were presented again both in learning contexts and in a novel generalization context without any US. All participants showed clear fear conditioning to the CS + in the fear context as indicated by potentiation of startle responses and reports of fear. No fear reactions were found for the CS + in the safety context. Importantly, generalization of fear responses indicated by the potentiation of startle response to the CS + compared with the CS- in the novel context was evident only in the Met-carrying group. These are the first results to provide evidence in humans that BDNF modulates the generalization of fear responses. Such context-dependent generalization processes might predispose Met carriers for affective and anxiety disorders.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | VIRTUAL-REALITY ENVIRONMENT; LEARNING-THEORY PERSPECTIVE; NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR; CONDITIONED FEAR; MESSENGER-RNA; ANXIETY DISORDERS; PREFRONTAL CORTEX; PANIC DISORDER; EXTINCTION; BRAIN; BDNF; startle reflex; cue conditioning; context conditioning; virtual reality |
| Subjects: | 100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology |
| Divisions: | Psychology and Pedagogy > Institut für Psychologie |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 15 Nov 2019 10:36 |
| Last Modified: | 15 Nov 2019 10:36 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/10409 |
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