Value generalization in human avoidance learning

• Published in: eLife Vol. 7
• Main Authors: Norbury, Agnes, Robbins, Trevor W, Seymour, Ben
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd 08-05-2018; eLife Sciences Publications Ltd
• Subjects: anxiety disorders; aversive learning; avoidance; Avoidance Learning; Brain - physiology; Decision Making; generalization; Generalization, Psychological; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neuroscience; obsessive-compulsive disorder; reinforcement learning; generalization; neuroscience; obsessive-compulsive disorder; anxiety disorders; aversive learning; avoidance; human; reinforcement learning
• ISSN: 2050-084X; 2050-084X
• DOI: 10.7554/eLife.34779

Generalization during aversive decision-making allows us to avoid a broad range of potential threats following experience with a limited set of exemplars. However, over-generalization, resulting in excessive and inappropriate avoidance, has been implicated in a variety of psychological disorders. Here, we use reinforcement learning modelling to dissect out different contributions to the generalization of instrumental avoidance in two groups of human volunteers (
= 26,
= 482). We found that generalization of avoidance could be parsed into perceptual and value-based processes, and further, that value-based generalization could be subdivided into that relating to aversive and neutral feedback - with corresponding circuits including primary sensory cortex, anterior insula, amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Further, generalization from aversive, but not neutral, feedback was associated with self-reported anxiety and intrusive thoughts. These results reveal a set of distinct mechanisms that mediate generalization in avoidance learning, and show how specific individual differences within them can yield anxiety.