| Reference code: | PT/FB/BL-2020-047.09 |
| Location: | BF-GMS
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Title:
| How the motor system learns threat timing
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| Publication year: | 2023
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URL:
| https://www.sins.it/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PhD_meeting_congress_book.pdf
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| Abstract/Results: | ABSTRACT:
To maximize survival, defensive responses should be precisely timed (Kirkpatrick & Balsam, 2016; Mobbs et al., 2020). In this study, we investigate the involvement of the motor system in learning the timing of an upcoming threat, by probing the excitability of the primary motor cortex during the time course of threat anticipation. To do so, participants completed a Pavlovian threat learning task, in which two of three intrinsically neutral stimuli were associated with the delivery of an aversive electrical shock (CS+), while the third stimulus was never paired with shock (CS-). The two CSs+ differed in the timing of shock delivery, such that one of them was paired with shock delivery 1750 ms after its onset (i.e., CS+early: CS+e), while the other was paired with shock delivery 5500 ms after its onset (i.e., CS+late: CS+l). Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was administered on the primary motor cortex to probe corticospinal excitability (CSE) 1690 ms or 5440 ms after the CS onset, i.e., immediately before the early and late shock delivery, or long after/before the early/late shock delivery. The amplitude of motor-evoked potentials (MEP) elicited during the presentation of CS+e, CS+l and CS- was then compared. Results showed a decrease in MEPs’ amplitude immediately before the shock delivery predicted by both CS+e and CS+l. Crucially, inhibition was found not only immediately before shock delivery, but also long before the late shock delivery (i.e., at 1690ms) in CS+l trials. This result suggests a sustained, rather than phasic, inhibition of the motor system during threat anticipation, which may be maintained from the onset of an aversive stimulus until the time of threat occurrence. Overall, our results show that the motor system encodes threat timing, by modulating its activity during threat anticipation according to the temporal characteristics of the threat.
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| Accessibility: | Document exists in file
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Language:
| eng
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Author:
| Dalbagno, D.
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Secondary author(s):
| Betti, S., Starita, F., Badioli, M., Danti, C., di Pellegrino, G.
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Document type:
| Abstract book
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Number of reproductions:
| 1
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Reference:
| Dalbagno, D., Betti, S., Starita, F., Badioli, M., Danti, C, & di Pellegrino, G. (2023). How the motor system learns threat timing. Abstract book of the SINS PhD Meeting 2023 (p. 37). Turin, Italy.
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| Indexed document: | No
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| Keywords: | Motor system / Learning / Threat
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How the motor system learns threat timing |