![]() Here, we argue that a common feature across anxiety disorders is aberrant and excessive anticipatory responding under conditions of threat uncertainty. Comprehensive information about the probability, timing, and nature of a future negative event promotes more efficient allocation of these resources, but such information is rarely available owing to the inherent uncertainty of the future. These anticipatory processes serve an adaptive function when executed at a level commensurate with the likelihood and severity of threat, but can be maladaptive when conducted excessively 2. The predominant focus of this research has been on heightened emotional reactivity to aversive events however, the tasks commonly used in this research might not fully engage the psychological processes that are at the heart of anxious pathology – that is, the anticipatory cognitive, affective, and behavioral processes executed to avoid or reduce the impact of a potential threat. Uncertainty diminishes how efficiently and effectively we can prepare for the future, and thus contributes to anxiety.Īlthough this relationship between uncertainty about future negative events and anxiety makes intuitive sense, there has been a disconnect between this conceptualization of anxiety and most neuroimaging investigations of clinical anxiety disorders. This ability is directly related to our level of certainty regarding future events – how likely they are, when they will occur, and what they will be like. The ability to use past experiences and information about our current state and environment to predict the future allows us to increase the odds of desired outcomes, while avoiding or bracing ourselves for future adversity. ![]() ![]() The human brain, it has been written, is an “anticipation machine, and ‘making future’ is the most important thing it does” 1.
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