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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 6, 2025

Investigating Pain-Related Avoidance Behavior using a Robotic Arm-Reaching Paradigm

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Adaptive behaviour under conflict: Deconstructing extinction, reversal, and active avoidance learning.

Elizabeth E Manning¹, Laura A Bradfield², Mihaela D Iordanova³

¹Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Suite 223, 450 Technology Drive, Pittsburgh, PA, 15224, USA; School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle, MS306, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.

Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews

|October 9, 2020

Summary

Organisms must adapt their behavior when faced with conflicting cues and outcomes. Overlapping neural circuits are key for flexibly responding to changing environmental demands, crucial for survival.

Keywords:

Active avoidance Amygdala Conflict Extinction Prefrontal cortex Reversal

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Behavioral Science
Ecology

Background:

Organisms in complex environments frequently encounter conflicting information.
Natural environments rarely present consistent cue-outcome or response-outcome pairings.
Adaptive behavioral adjustment is essential for survival and prosperity.

Purpose of the Study:

To review the behavioral and brain mechanisms underlying adaptive responses to conflict.
To highlight the importance of learning to adjust responses in inconsistent situations.

Main Methods:

Focus on three established behavioral procedures: extinction, reversal learning, and active avoidance.
Review of existing literature on the neural circuits involved in these behaviors.

Main Results:

Extinction involves adapting to a change from reinforcement to non-reinforcement.
Reversal learning requires adapting to swapped cue-response-outcome associations.
Active avoidance involves response strategies to prevent aversive outcomes, potentially conflicting with other defenses.

Conclusions:

Extinction, reversal learning, and active avoidance engage overlapping neural circuits.
These shared neural substrates suggest a general mechanism for responding appropriately under conflict.