Year: 2020
Type: review
Abstract: Anxiety is a widely studied phenomenon in behavioral neuroscience, but the recent literature lacks an overview of the major conceptual framework underlying anxiety research to introduce young researchers to the field. In this mini-review article, which is aimed toward new undergraduate and graduate students, we discuss how researchers exploit the approach-avoidance conflict, an internal conflict rodents face between exploration of novel environments and avoidance of danger, to inform rodent assays that allow for the measurement of anxiety-related behavior in the laboratory. We review five widely-used rodent anxiety assays, consider the pharmacological validity of these assays, and discuss neural circuits that have recently been shown to modulate anxiety using the assays described. Finally, we offer related lines of inquiry and comment on potential future directions.
Institution: University of California, Los Angeles
Language: English
Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,950
Awards: Dissection of the anxiety suppression circuitry, Dissection of Hypothalamic-Brainstem Circuits in Panic-Related Escape Behavior, Dissection of the anxiety suppression circuitry, G3817992963, Dissecting Neural Control of Panic-Related Behaviors, G7848605890, Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
OpenAlex ID: W3081418474