Performing under pressure: The impact of realistic, imminent, and uncertain threats on human cognition and the brain

在压力下表现：现实的、迫在眉睫的和不确定的威胁对人类认知和大脑的影响

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-05515
• 负责人: Mitchell, Derek
• 金额: $ 2.91万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=743451
• 关键词: Performing; under; pressure; impact; realistic

Our long-term goal is to define how the human brain manages emotionally salient information and stress to optimize performance. We have found that not all aspects of human cognition respond to emotion and stress the same way. Some skills are improved by emotion, others are disrupted, and still others are unaffected. Although we know how some cognitive functions respond to stress or emotion, there are many more that we have not examined. It is important to understand how the brain and mind operates under emotional stress because error in emotional contexts (e.g., air-traffic control, emergency response, military) can have particularly grave consequences. The objective of this study is to determine how the introduction of potential threats influence different aspects of cognition and perception in humans. We will take a cognitive neuroscience approach, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain function, psychophysiological techniques to measure arousal, and behavioural techniques to measure performance and cognitive function. We will pursue 3 specific aims: Aim 1: Contrast the impact of realistic 2- and 3- dimensional threatening stimuli on emotional responding, perception, habituation and adaptation. In order to assess the impact of threats on the human brain it is important to have realistic stimuli. It has recently been shown that 3D stimuli influence brain and behaviour in fundamentally different ways than 2D stimuli. Yet, almost everything we know about how the human brain responds to threatening stimuli has been conducted using 2D stimuli. We have developed 3D images of threatening species and will examine the impact they have on human performance and the brain.Aim 2: Determine the opposing effects of auditory versus visual threatening stimuli on cognition and perception. Recently, we have shown that whereas presenting threatening visual stimuli (e.g., snakes) during an object detection task disrupts performance, presenting threatening sounds can actually improve performance for reasons that are poorly understood. We will use fMRI and behavioural experiments to determine the neurocognitive basis behind these and other poorly understood effects. Aim 3: Delineate the impact of fear and anxiety on dissociable cognitive functions. Fear and anxiety are distinct emotions that are mediated by slightly different brain mechanisms. Both can be provoked through the use of shocks: unpredictable shocks (for anxiety) or predictable shocks (for fear). We will determine the impact of each on different cognitive functions that we hypothesize vary in their susceptibility to the distracting effects of stress and emotion.

我们的长期目标是定义人脑如何管理情感上的显着信息和压力以优化性能。我们发现，并非人类认知的所有方面都以同样的方式对情感产生反应和压力。某些技能通过情感提高了，其他技能受到了破坏，而另一些技能则不受影响。尽管我们知道某些认知功能如何响应压力或情感，但还有更多我们尚未检查的。重要的是要了解大脑和思想如何在情绪压力下运作，因为情绪上下文（例如，空中交通控制，紧急响应，军事）的错误可能会带来特别严重的后果。这项研究的目的是确定潜在威胁的引入如何影响人类认知和感知的不同方面。我们将使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）采用认知神经科学方法，以测量脑功能，心理生理技术来测量唤醒和行为技术，以衡量性能和认知功能。我们将追求3个具体目标：目标1：对比现实的2和3维威胁刺激对情感反应，感知，习惯和适应的影响。为了评估威胁对人脑的影响，具有现实的刺激很重要。最近已经显示，3D刺激以与2D刺激的根本不同方式影响大脑和行为。然而，我们几乎所有关于人脑对威胁刺激的反应的一切都使用了2D刺激。我们已经开发了威胁性物种的3D图像，并将检查它们对人类表现和大脑的影响。2：确定听觉与视觉威胁刺激对认知和感知的相反影响。最近，我们已经表明，尽管在对象检测任务中提出威胁性视觉刺激（例如蛇）会破坏性能，但出于不理理解的原因，提出威胁性的声音实际上可以改善性能。我们将使用功能磁共振成像和行为实验来确定这些效果和其他知之甚少的影响背后的神经认知基础。目标3：描述恐惧和焦虑对可分离的认知功能的影响。恐惧和焦虑是由大脑机制略有不同的不同情绪。两者都可以通过使用冲击来激发：不可预测的冲击（用于焦虑）或可预测的冲击（出于恐惧）。我们将确定每个人对不同认知功能的影响，我们假设我们对压力和情感的分心影响的敏感性有所不同。