Summary: A quick episode of stress can significantly affect a person’s ability to distinguish between healthy and unsafe environments, according to new research using a digital reality flower-picking game. Participants who developed clear spatial memory of which areas contained “stinging bees ” ( simulated by mild shocks ) exhibited lower anxiety, while those who could n’t differentiate the zones maintained high anxiety—even in safe spaces.
The research found that momentary anxiety had a stronger impact on learning than common anxiety characteristics. This suggests that heightened contextual fear may interfere with menace recognition and spatial awareness, likely contributing to stress issues like PTSD.
Important Facts:
- Temporary Anxiety Impact: Short-lived panic episodes had a stronger effect on learning safety signals than severe stress levels.
- Geographic Memory Link: Better geographical learning was associated with lower stress and correct threat recognition.
- Clinical Repercussions: Findings properly explain systems behind PTSD and additional anxiety disorders, offering information for future treatment.
Origin: University of Rochester
A small episode of stress may include a bigger impact on a person’s ability to learn what is protected and what is not.
The research just published in Lets Science of Learning used a virtual reality game that involved picking flowers with ants in some of the blossoms that had bite the participant—simulated by a gentle electrical stimulation on the hands.
Scientists worked with 70 dyslexic individuals between the age of 20 and 30. Claire Marino, a research associate in the ZVR Lab, and Pavel Rjabtsenkov, a Neuroscience grad scholar at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, were co-first authors of the study that found that the people who learned to differentiate between the healthy and dangerous areas—where the bees were and were not—showed better geographical recollection and had lower stress, while participants who did not learn the various areas had higher stress and heightened fear even in protected areas.
Remarkably, they discovered that momentary feelings of anxiety had the biggest effect on learning and never a person’s public tendency to feel stressed.
“These results help explain why some people struggle with anxiety-related disorders, such as PTSD, where they may have difficulty distinguishing safe situations from dangerous ones, ” said the senior author of this study, Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, PhD, associate professor of Neuroscience and Center for Visual Science at the Del Monte Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Rochester.
“The findings suggest that excessive stress disrupts geographical understanding and risk recognition, which may lead to severe fear responses.
“ Understanding these mechanisms may help improve treatments for anxiety and stress-related disorders by targeting how people process environmental threats. ”
Suarez-Jimenez explains that it is now important to understand if individuals with psychopathologies of anxiety and stress have similar variations in spatial memory.
Adding an attention-tracking measure, like eye-tracking, to future studies could help determine whether a focus on potential threats impacts broader environmental awareness.
Additional authors include Caitlin Sharp, Zonia Ali, Evelyn Pineda, Shreya Bavdekar, Tanya Garg, Kendal Jordan, Mary Halvorsen, Carlos Aponte, and Julie Blue of the University of Rochester Medical Center, and Xi Zhu, PhD, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
Funding: The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, Wellcome Trust Fellowship, and the European Research Council Grant.
About this anxiety and learning research news
Author: Kelsie Smith Hayduk
Source: University of Rochester
Contact: Kelsie Smith Hayduk – University of Rochester
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Using virtual reality to study spatial mapping and threat learning ” by Claire Marino et al. npj Science of Learning
Abstract
Using virtual reality to study spatial mapping and threat learning
Using spatial mapping processes to discriminate between threat and safety is crucial for survival. Little is known why some fail to discriminate during contextual conditioning.
We used a virtual reality (VR ) contextual conditioning paradigm to elucidate the effects of state and trait anxiety on contextual threat learning.
Participants ( n = 70 ) “picked ” flowers in a VR environment. Dangerous zone flowers predicted an electric shock, while safe zone flowers did not.
Between trials, participants completed a spatial memory task. Galvanic skin response ( GSR ) and State Trait Anxiety Inventory scores were recorded. Participants were considered learners for correctly identifying both zones.
Non-learners, compared to learners, performed worse during the spatial memory task and demonstrated higher state anxiety scores and GSR.
Learners showed higher skin conductance response (SCR ) in the dangerous compared to the safe zone, while non-learners showed no SCR differences between zones.
Results indicate state anxiety may impair spatial mapping, disrupting contextual threat learning.
