Bridging neuroscience and psychiatry: experimental and computational models of anxiety

old_uid14190
titleBridging neuroscience and psychiatry: experimental and computational models of anxiety
start_date2017/06/30
schedule12h
onlineno
location_infosalle 01/02
detailsHosted by Jean Daunizeau
summaryNeuroscience has little impact on treatment of anxiety disorders. A possible reason is that anxiety models in basic neuroscience are defined by specific animal behaviours and thus depart from psychiatric assessment based on patients' verbal reports: this represents both a species and a conceptual gap. In my talk, I will present two steps to bridge these gaps. The first is the creation of virtual reality experiments that elicit specific anxiety behaviours in humans. I will present data to support the validity of this cross-species translation, and examples for the development of novel pharmacological treatment strategies building on this approach. Next, I will present a more formal (decision-theoretic) framework to reconcile our understanding of various phenomena associated with anxiety. Non-human animal data tentatively suggest a control architecture that heavily relies on tailored algorithms for specific threat scenarios. I will present two examples for such algorithms in humans, in the context of learning to predict threat, and to control behavioural inhibition. I will highlight boundary conditions for the normativity of these behaviours and suggest possible neural implementations.
responsiblesOliviero