Alterations in neural oscillations associated with impaired learning and decision making in anxiety

Learning plays a central role in clinical and subclinical anxiety. In this talk, I will give an overview of computational models used to explain maladaptive changes and impaired learning in anxiety disorders. I will then present our own data from EEG and MEG experiments showing how state and trait anxiety in healthy human participants alter the neural oscillatory patterns associated with predicting and learning from rewards. The results identify alteration in alpha-beta oscillations as a candidate mechanism explaining misestimation of uncertainty and maladaptive learning in anxiety.

Speaker:

Maria Del Carmen Herrojo-Ruiz, Leading Research Fellow, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, PhD, University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover.