Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 24 August 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5841, pp. 1079 - 1083
DOI: 10.1126/science.1144298
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

When Fear Is Near: Threat Imminence Elicits Prefrontal-Periaqueductal Gray Shifts in Humans

Dean Mobbs,* Predrag Petrovic, Jennifer L. Marchant, Demis Hassabis, Nikolaus Weiskopf, Ben Seymour, Raymond J. Dolan, Christopher D. Frith

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.

Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging, Functional Imaging Laboratory, University College London, London WC1N 3BG, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: d.mobbs{at}fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
The brainstem and mental health tribunals in Scotland.
F. Corrigan (2009)
Psychiatr. Bull. 33, 116-117
   Full Text »    PDF »
Following One's Heart: Cardiac Rhythms Gate Central Initiation of Sympathetic Reflexes.
M. A. Gray, K. Rylander, N. A. Harrison, B. G. Wallin, and H. D. Critchley (2009)
J. Neurosci. 29, 1817-1825
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Decision ecology: Foraging and the ecology of animal decision making.
D. W. Stephens (2008)
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci 8, 475-484
   Abstract »    PDF »
Mammalian choices: combining fast-but-inaccurate and slow-but-accurate decision-making systems.
P. C Trimmer, A. I Houston, J. A.R Marshall, R. Bogacz, E. S Paul, M. T Mendl, and J. M McNamara (2008)
Proc R Soc B 275, 2353-2361
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Stathmin reveals dissociable roles of the basolateral amygdala in parental and social behaviors.
G. Martel, A. Nishi, and G. P. Shumyatsky (2008)
PNAS 105, 14620-14625
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Perspectives on Neuroscience and Behavior.
(2008)
Neuroscientist 14, 232-233
   PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)