Controllability over stressor decreases responses in key threat-related brain areas

Abstract

Controllability over stressors has major impacts on brain and behavior. In humans, however, the effect of controllability on the responses to stressors themselves is poorly understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated how controllability altered responses to a shock-plus-sound stressor. Using a between-group yoked design, participants in controlled and uncontrolled groups experienced the same amount of stressor exposure. Employing both Bayesian multilevel analysis targeting regions of interest and standard voxelwise analysis, we found that controllability decreased stressor-related responses across key threat-related regions, notably in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (part of the extended amygdala) and the anterior insula. The posterior cingulate cortex, the posterior insula, and possibly the medial frontal gyrus (in exploratory analyses) were uncovered as sites where control over the stressor increased brain responses. Our findings support the idea that the aversiveness of the stressor is reduced when controllable, leading to decreased responses across key regions involved in anxiety-related processing, even at the level of the extended amygdala.