Adaptation of Threat Responses Within the Negative Valence Framework

Nancy J Smith; Sara Y Markowitz; Ann N Hoffman; Michael S Fanselow

doi:10.3389/fnsys.2022.886771

Adaptation of Threat Responses Within the Negative Valence Framework

Front Syst Neurosci. 2022 May 26:16:886771. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2022.886771. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Nancy J Smith^{1

2}, Sara Y Markowitz^{1

2}, Ann N Hoffman^{1

2

3}, Michael S Fanselow^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
² Staglin Center for Brain and Behavioral Health, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Abstract

External threats are a major source of our experience of negatively valanced emotion. As a threat becomes closer and more real, our specific behavior patterns and our experiences of negative affect change in response to the perceived imminence of threat. Recognizing this, the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Negative Valence system is largely based around different levels of threat imminence. This perspective describes the correspondence between the RDoC Negative Valence System and a particular neurobiological/neuroecological model of reactions to threat, the Predatory Imminence Continuum (PIC) Theory. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an illustration, we describe both adaptive and maladaptive behavior patterns from this perspective to illustrate how behavior in response to a crisis may get shaped. We end with suggestions on how further consideration of the PIC suggests potential modifications of the negative valence systems RDoC.

Keywords: COVID-19; RDoC; anxiety disorders; defensive behavior; fear; threat imminence.