A brief episode of anxiety can significantly impact an individual’s ability to distinguish between safe and dangerous situations, affecting their spatial learning and threat recognition. Recent research published in NPJ Science of Learning used a virtual reality game to explore how temporary anxiety influences learning, showing that such episodes can disrupt the ability to identify and react to environmental threats.
In the study, 70 neurotypical participants, aged 20 to 30, played a virtual reality game where they were tasked with picking flowers, some of which were associated with bees that could sting them. The bee stings were simulated by a mild electrical stimulation on the hand. The researchers, including Claire Marino, a research assistant, and Pavel Rjabtsenkov, a Neuroscience graduate student at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, discovered important patterns related to anxiety and spatial learning.
The participants who learned to distinguish between the safe and dangerous areas—where bees were and were not—demonstrated better spatial memory and lower anxiety levels. Conversely, those who struggled to make this distinction exhibited heightened anxiety and fear, even in areas that were safe. Surprisingly, the study revealed that temporary episodes of anxiety, not a person’s general tendency to feel anxious, had the most significant impact on their ability to learn these distinctions.
The findings of this study help explain why individuals with anxiety-related disorders, such as PTSD, might struggle with recognizing safe situations from dangerous ones. The results suggest that excessive anxiety may disrupt spatial learning and the process of threat recognition, which could contribute to the persistence of chronic fear responses. This has important implications for the treatment of anxiety and stress-related disorders, as addressing how people process environmental threats could lead to better therapeutic interventions.
Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, PhD, senior author of the study and associate professor of Neuroscience at the Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience, University of Rochester, emphasized the significance of these findings: “It is crucial to understand if individuals with psychopathologies of anxiety and stress show similar disruptions in spatial memory.”
Looking ahead, the researchers suggest that adding an attention-tracking measure, like eye-tracking, to future studies could help determine whether a focus on potential threats affects broader environmental awareness. This insight could provide valuable information for improving interventions for anxiety and stress-related conditions.
The study was conducted with the support of the National Institute of Mental Health, the Wellcome Trust Fellowship, and the European Research Council Grant. It included contributions from Caitlin Sharp, Zonia Ali, Evelyn Pineda, Shreya Bavdekar, Tanya Garg, Kendal Jordan, Mary Halvorsen, Carlos Aponte, and Julie Blue from the University of Rochester Medical Center, as well as Xi Zhu, PhD, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
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