Both distance change and movement goal affect whole-body approach-avoidance behavior.

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 156-172
Author(s):  
Daniëlle Bouman ◽  
John F. Stins ◽  
Peter J. Beek
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
Distance Change

scholarly journals Preprint: Embodiment of approach-avoidance behavior

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas B Eder ◽  
Anand Krishna ◽  
Albrecht Sebald ◽  
Wilfried Kunde
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Body Movements ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Aversive Stimuli ◽  
Approach Avoidance

Previous studies showed that humans can flexibly reconfigure manual reactions to motivational stimuli in order to produce compatible changes in visual environments (i.e., approach appetitive and avoid aversive stimuli). Using a virtual reality headset, we examined whether analogous flexibility is observed with whole-body movements in forward and backward directions that produced (non-)corresponding visual movements in a virtual environment. Two experiments showed that forward movements were initiated faster in response to a (pleasant) flower and backward movements in response to an (unpleasant) spider, even when the movements resulted in reverse visual motions towards the spider and away from the flower. In contrast, visual motions were more important when these motions were controlled manually and after strategic preparation of producing body steps. Overall, results suggest that there is a highly overlearned connection between locomotion and approach/avoidance that is difficult to override. Implications in regard to the embodiment of approach-avoidance motivation are discussed.

scholarly journals Assessing Automatic Approach-Avoidance Behavior in an Immersive Virtual Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliane Degner ◽  
Lea Steep ◽  
Susanne Schmidt ◽  
Frank Steinicke
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Approach And Avoidance ◽  
Stimulus Response ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Behavioral Tendencies ◽  
Approach Avoidance ◽  
And Behavior

The use of virtual reality (VR) promises enormous potential for studying human behavior. While approach and avoidance tendencies have been explored in various areas of basic and applied psychology, such as attitude and emotion research, basic learning psychology, and behavior therapy, they have rarely been studied in VR. One major focus of this research is to understand the psychological mechanisms underlying automatic behavioral tendencies towards and away from positively or negatively evaluated stimuli. We implemented a whole-body movement stimulus-response compatibility task to explore approach-avoidance behavior in an immersive virtual environment. We chose attitudinal stimuli—spiders and butterflies—on which people widely agree in their general evaluations (in that people evaluate spiders negatively and butterflies positively), while there is still substantial inter-individual variance (i. e., the intensity in which people dislike spiders or like butterflies). We implemented two parallel approach-avoidance tasks, one in VR, one desktop-based. Both tasks revealed the expected compatibility effects that were positively intercorrelated. Interestingly, however, the compatibility effect in the VR measure was unrelated to participants’ self-reported fear of spiders and stimulus evaluations. These results raise important implications about the usage of VR to study automatic behavioral tendencies.

scholarly journals The effects of cortisol administration on approach–avoidance behavior: An event-related potential study

2007 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacobien M. van Peer ◽  
Karin Roelofs ◽  
Mark Rotteveel ◽  
J. Gert van Dijk ◽  
Philip Spinhoven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Potential Study ◽  
Approach Avoidance

scholarly journals Fronto-striatal projections regulate approach-avoidance conflict

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrienne C. Loewke ◽  
Adelaide R. Minerva ◽  
Alexandra B. Nelson ◽  
Anatol C. Kreitzer ◽  
Lisa A. Gunaydin
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
D1 Receptor ◽  
Projection Neurons ◽  
Medium Spiny Neurons ◽  
Neural Pathways ◽  
Spiny Neurons ◽  
Striatal Projection Neurons ◽  
Neural Computations ◽  
Approach Avoidance

ABSTRACTThe dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) has been linked to approach-avoidance behavior and decision-making under conflict, key neural computations thought to be altered in anxiety disorders. However, the heterogeneity of efferent prefrontal projections has obscured identification of the specific top-down neural pathways regulating these anxiety-related behaviors. While the dmPFC-amygdala circuit has long been implicated in controlling reflexive fear responses, recent work suggests that this circuit is less important for avoidance behavior. We hypothesized that dmPFC neurons projecting to the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) represent a subset of prefrontal neurons that robustly encode and drive approach-avoidance behavior. Using fiber photometry recording during the elevated zero maze (EZM) task, we show heightened neural activity in prefrontal and fronto-striatal projection neurons, but not fronto-amydalar projection neurons, during exploration of the anxiogenic open arms of the maze. Additionally, through pathway-specific optogenetics we demonstrate that this fronto-striatal projection preferentially excites postsynaptic D1 receptor-expressing medium spiny neurons in the DMS and bidirectionally controls avoidance behavior. We conclude that this striatal-projecting subpopulation of prefrontal neurons regulates approach-avoidance conflict, supporting a model for prefrontal control of defensive behavior in which the dmPFC-amygdala projection controls reflexive fear behavior and the dmPFC-striatum projection controls anxious avoidance behavior. Our findings identify this fronto-striatal circuit as a valuable therapeutic target for developing interventions to alleviate excessive avoidance behavior in anxiety disorders.

Does Approach-Avoidance Behavior in Response to Ambiguous Cues Reflect Depressive Interpretation Bias? Related but Distinct

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
pp. 1091-1105
Author(s):  
Xiao-Xiao Lin ◽  
Shang-Wen Si ◽  
Rui-Rui Gao ◽  
Ya-Bin Sun ◽  
Yu-Zheng Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Interpretation Bias ◽  
Approach Avoidance

scholarly journals A Quantitative Relationship between Signal Detection in Attention and Approach/Avoidance Behavior

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijay Viswanathan ◽  
John P. Sheppard ◽  
Byoung W. Kim ◽  
Christopher L. Plantz ◽  
Hao Ying ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Signal Detection ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Quantitative Relationship ◽  
Approach Avoidance
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