Interaction of attentional and learning processes during acquisition, generalization and loss of fear (C10*)

• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 44541416

Attentional biases are essential to anxiety disorders but their precise functional role in disorder etiology and maintenance remains be elucidated. By using a multimodal approach, the current project will characterize the contribution of attentional processes to functional plasticity in amygdala circuits during the acquisition of fear. It will investigate how differences in attentional exploration shape fear generalization and how stimulus-driven effects in oculomotor control can be exploited to modify attentional biases in anxiety disorders.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 58: Fear, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Co-Applicant Institution: Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Matthias Gamer