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Social exclusion influences conditioned fear acquisition and generalization : a mediating effect from the medial prefrontal cortex

Year of publication

2020

Authors

Haoran, Dou; Yi, Lei; Xiaojun, Cheng; Jinxia, Wang; Leppänen, Paavo H.T.

Abstract

Fear acquisition and generalization play key roles in promoting the survival of mammals and contribute to anxiety disorders. While previous research has provided much evidence for the repercussions of social exclusion on mental health, how social exclusion affects fear acquisition and generalization has received scant attention. In our study, participants were divided into two groups according to two Cyberball paradigm conditions (exclusion/inclusion). Both groups underwent a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and skin conductance response (SCR) assessments. We aimed to determine the effects of social exclusion on fear acquisition and generalization and whether modulation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) mediates this relationship. Our results showed that socially excluded participants featured significantly higher and lower shock risk scores to safety stimuli (conditioned stimulus, CS-) and threatening stimuli (CS+), respectively, than did socially included subjects during fear acquisition. The exclusion group had increased skin conductance responses (SCRs) to CS and exhibited heightened shock risk and increased SCRs to generalized stimuli compared with the inclusion group. The fNIRS results demonstrated that the CS + evoked larger oxy-Hb changes in the mPFC in the inclusion group than in the exclusion group during fear acquisition. Furthermore, the oxy-Hb of left mPFC of CS + mediated the effect on the association between social exclusion and perceived risk of CS+ in the fear acquisition. Our results indicate that social exclusion impairs fear acquisition and generalization via the mediation of the mPFC and that social exclusion increases susceptibility to anxiety disorders through bias processing of fear discrimination in fear acquisition and generalization. By studying the role of social relationship in fear acquisition and generalization, our research provides new insights into the pathological mechanisms of anxiety disorder.
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Organizations and authors

University of Jyväskylä

Leppänen Paavo H.T. Orcid -palvelun logo

Dou Haoran

Publication type

Publication format

Article

Parent publication type

Journal

Article type

Original article

Audience

Scientific

Peer-reviewed

Peer-Reviewed

MINEDU's publication type classification code

A1 Journal article (refereed), original research

Publication channel information

Publisher

Elsevier

Volume

218

Article number

116735

​Publication forum

63888

​Publication forum level

2

Open access

Open access in the publisher’s service

Yes

Open access of publication channel

Fully open publication channel

Self-archived

Yes

Other information

Fields of science

Neurosciences; Psychology

Keywords

[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Publication country

Netherlands

Internationality of the publisher

International

Language

English

International co-publication

Yes

Co-publication with a company

No

DOI

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116735

The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection

Yes