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Cognitive Avoidance Is Associated with Decreased Brain Responsiveness to Threat Distractors under High Perceptual
Vivien Günther1, Mariia Strukova1, Jonas Pecher1
1Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig Medical Center, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Brain Sciences
|May 16, 2023
Summary
Cognitive avoidance, a strategy to inhibit threat processing, is linked to reduced neural responses to fearful stimuli. This suggests cognitive avoidance may enhance threat resilience by dampening automatic brain reactions to distress.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- Cognitive coping strategies impact mental and physical health.
- Dispositional vigilance involves analyzing threats, while cognitive avoidance inhibits threat processing.
- Neuroimaging studies on coping styles' neural underpinnings are limited and show inconsistent results.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neural mechanisms of cognitive coping styles using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- To examine automatic brain responsiveness to threat-related stimuli based on individual coping styles.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a perceptual load paradigm with fearful and contemptuous faces as distractors.
- Assessed cognitive avoidance and vigilance using the Mainz Coping Inventory.
- Analyzed brain activity via fMRI in 43 healthy participants.
Main Results:
- Cognitive avoidance correlated with reduced processing of fearful and contemptuous faces under high perceptual load.
- This reduced processing was observed in a broad neural network, including the amygdala, thalamus, cingulate gyrus, insula, and frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital areas.
- Findings suggest cognitive avoidance predicts diminished automatic neural responses to threat.
Conclusions:
- Cognitive avoidance is associated with reduced automatic neural responses to distressing stimuli.
- This diminished processing in emotion and attention-related brain regions may confer threat resilience.
- Cognitive avoidance may be a protective mechanism against anxiety-provoking events.
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