Neural Computations of Threat

A host of learning, memory, and decision-making processes form the individual’s response to threat and may be disrupted in anxiety and post-trauma psychopathology. Here we review the neural computations of threat, from the first encounter with a dangerous situation, through learning, storing, and updating cues that predict it, to making decisions about the optimal course of action. The overview highlights the interconnected nature of these processes and their reliance on shared neural and computational mechanisms. We propose an integrative approach to the study of threat-related processes, in which specific computations are studied across the various stages of threat experience rather than in isolation. This approach can generate new insights about the evolution, diagnosis, and treatment of threat-related psychopathology. The response to threat comprises multiple learning, memory, and decision-making processes.These processes may be disrupted in anxiety and trauma-related disorders.We describe five stages of processing: experience of imminent threat; formation of threat associations; post-association learning; storing and updating of these associations; and decision-making under threat.These stages rely on overlapping computations and shared neural circuits.We propose that, to reach a fundamental understanding of anxiety and trauma-related disorders, these processes should be studied together rather than in isolation.