Effect of tryptophan depletion on conditioned threat memory expression: role of intolerance of uncertainty.
Publication: Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
Kanen JW, Arntz FE, Yellowlees R, Price A, Christmas DM, Apergis-Schoute AM, Sahakian BJ, Cardinal RN, Robbins TW
12 January 2021
Summary
Responding emotionally to danger is critical for survival. Normal functioning also requires flexible alteration of emotional responses when a threat becomes safe. Aberrant threat and safety learning occur in many psychiatric disorders, including posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia, in which emotional responses can persist pathologically. While there is evidence that threat and safety learning can be modulated by the serotonin systems, there have been few studies in humans. Researchers addressed a critical clinically relevant question: How does lowering serotonin affect memory retention of conditioned threat and safety memory?
