[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6917\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EHow do we make snap decisions?\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ru.nl\/english\/people\/roelofs-k\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EKarin Roelofs\u003C\/a\u003E, a psychology researcher at Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, is interested in how people freeze when faced with a threat, and the subsequent fight-or-flight response, where the body prepares for either confrontation or escape.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Over the past decades, these behavioural reactions have largely been ignored in psychology,\u2019 she said. \u2018I feel like it\u2019s really important to focus on them because they influence more complex decisions.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnimals and early humans relied on these reactions to survive being eaten by predators, but they are still relevant today. They can influence whether a person approaches a stranger, for example, or a police officer\u2019s decision to use a firearm.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Roelofs has spent the last five years investigating what exactly happens in the brain when we make a snap decision under stress, as part of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/108648_en.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ENeurodefense project\u003C\/a\u003E, which ended in June.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe first step was to come up with tasks that could objectively measure the human freeze response. In one experiment, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/298724713_Ready_and_Waiting_Freezing_as_Active_Action_Preparation_under_Threat\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Epeople played a shooting game\u003C\/a\u003E in which they were subjected to attacks and were either helpless or able to respond. A mild electric shock was administered to mimic being shot after a false hit or a miss, and the researchers measured changes in posture and heart rate, the two main indicators of the freeze state.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe game was then repeated in an MRI scanner which showed that connections between the mid part of the brain and the amygdala \u2013 the part of the brain responsible for emotions such as fear \u2013 control freezing, while frontal structures are involved when a person switches from freezing to action. These results echo previous observations in studies of animals.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018It was the first time we showed in humans that similar neural circuitry is involved,\u2019 Prof. Roelofs said. \u2018That was cool.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018Perhaps freezing is one of the core coping mechanisms that helps us adequately perceive a situation and select a reaction to it.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Karin Roelofs, Radboud University, the Netherlands \u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn follow-up experiments, Prof. Roelofs and her team looked at how freeze-fight-flight reactions are altered in patients with psychological disorders. For example, they investigated how hormones such as testosterone are related to the impulse to fight and whether people with social phobias or, at the other extreme, psychopaths, show hormonal variations from the norm.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETheir findings showed that patients suffering from extreme anxiety have lower testosterone levels. \u2018If we give them a bit of testosterone, it can alleviate their tendency to immediately avoid a threat,\u2019 Prof. Roelofs said. As a result of the research, anxiety clinics have now started a trial investigating the effects of boosting testosterone levels in patients with social anxiety disorders to complement therapy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EChildren\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn a longer-term basis, Prof. Roelofs has been following children from the age of 15 months until they were 17 years old to see whether abnormal freeze-fight-flight reactions can be predicted early on. A study from the Neurodefense project showed that infants who either froze too long, or not at all, when exposed to a stressor were at risk of developing anxiety symptoms in adolescence.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnd while freeze behaviour can have connotations of indecision, Prof. Roelofs and her colleagues also found that a strong freeze reaction can have benefits by helping people to quickly make a suitable choice.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Perhaps freezing is one of the core coping mechanisms that helps us adequately perceive a situation and select a reaction to it,\u2019 Prof. Roelofs said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKnowing more about how reactions occur in the brain opens up opportunities to bring them under conscious control. The team is creating \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ru.nl\/alumni\/english\/what-going\/news\/virtuele-map\/games-police-officers-stress\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ea virtual reality game that will initially be used by police officers\u003C\/a\u003E in the Netherlands to teach them to bring their bodies into a relaxed state and control their freeze-fight-flight reactions more effectively in stressful situations, which can decrease shooting accuracy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut speedy decisions aren\u2019t just made under stress. In certain everyday situations, there also isn\u2019t much time to ponder different choices. When driving on the highway, for example, a driver can have a short window of time to decide whether to take a particular exit.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProfessor \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.birteforstmann.com\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EBirte Forstmann\u003C\/a\u003E, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, is interested in how people make such everyday decisions, which usually need to be made in a couple of seconds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I\u2019m particularly interested in strategic decision-making, in aspects that are in voluntary control,\u2019 she said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Forstmann is curious about what parts of the brain are involved and the mechanisms responsible - as well as individual differences. People with impulsivity disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), for example, have trouble with strategic control.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDecision-making\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs part of the five-year \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/106889_en.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003ESpeed project\u003C\/a\u003E, which just ended, Prof. Forstmann and her colleagues used a state-of-the-art MRI scanner to take high-resolution images of the brain while participants made quick decisions. They would have to decide whether a cloud of dots on a screen was moving to the left or to the right in a matter of seconds. \u2018These types of tasks allowed me to explore different aspects of decision-making,\u2019 Prof. Forstmann said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHer team was particularly interested in the subthalamic nucleus (STN), a structure in the brain involved in the decision-making process. They found \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC4896390\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ethat the STN becomes more active during decision-making when there are several possible choices\u003C\/a\u003E rather than just two options \u2013 a scenario that\u2019s very relevant to everyday tasks.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Standing in the supermarket and having to select between different types of soups or spaghetti, for example, can become quite cumbersome,\u2019 Prof. Forstmann said. \u2018These types of (multi-alternative) scenarios are still quite understudied.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EProf. Forstmann and her colleagues are keen to follow up their research by examining other nuclei located deep in the subcortex region of the brain. This could provide clues about how people make decisions and help scientists work out how to treat psychological disorders.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018By better understanding the functioning of these nuclei, we may eventually find relay stations or hubs that are relevant for obsessive compulsive disorder or depression, for example,\u2019 Prof. Forstmann said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the European Research Council. 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