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Social threat avoidance depends on action-outcome predictability.

Matteo Sequestro1, Jade Serfaty2, Julie Grèzes3

  • 1Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience Laboratory (LNC 2), Inserm U960, Department of Cognitive Studies, École Normale Supérieure, PSL University, 29 rue d'Ulm, 75005, Paris, France. matteo.sequestro@gmail.com.

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|October 27, 2024
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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Social threat avoidance involves goal-directed processes and stimulus-response associations. Predictability influences avoidance, with distinct individual strategies identified through physiological and computational measures.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology
  • Decision Science

Background:

  • Social adaptation relies on avoiding threatening individuals.
  • The role of goal-directed processes versus stimulus-response associations in threat avoidance is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether social threat avoidance is mediated by goal-directed processes.
  • To differentiate between goal-directed and stimulus-response mechanisms in threat avoidance behavior.
  • To explore the physiological and computational underpinnings of these avoidance strategies.

Main Methods:

  • Three virtual reality experiments manipulating outcome predictability during approach/avoidance decisions.
  • Analysis of behavioral avoidance rates, cardiac deceleration, and muscular activity.
  • Latent class analysis to identify distinct participant groups.
  • Computational modeling of decision-making processes (drift-diffusion models).

Main Results:

  • Participants exhibited increased avoidance when outcomes were predictable, supporting goal-directed processes.
  • A significant portion of avoidance occurred even with unpredictable outcomes, indicating stimulus-response associations.
  • Two distinct classes emerged: a 'goal-directed class' sensitive to predictability and a 'stimulus-response class' with higher overall avoidance.
  • The goal-directed class showed enhanced cardiac deceleration and computational evidence of value integration, while the stimulus-response class displayed heightened threat responsiveness.

Conclusions:

  • Goal-directed processes play a central role in social threat avoidance.
  • Both goal-directed and stimulus-response mechanisms contribute to threat avoidance, with individual differences in their reliance.
  • Physiological (cardiac) and computational (drift-rate) measures correlate with distinct avoidance strategies and decision-making processes.