Objective With a life-time prevalence of 25%, anxiety disorders are the most frequent psychiatric disorders and alone accounted for 147 billion Euros EU health care costs in 2004.The aim of this Marie Curie collaborative research project is to combine and share scientific expertise and shed more light on the dysfunctional neurocircuitry of anxiety disorders.Our current understanding has largely benefited from research on fear and fear learning. Indeed, it has been proposed that disturbed prefrontal cortex (PFC) functions as consequence upon a hyperresponsive amygdala (bottom-up) or/and a lack of PFC-amygdala top-down control are main reasons for affective disorders.In the present project we plan to further identify and disentangle underlying structures and temporal dynamics of both mechanisms using the integration of peripheral and central psychophysiological measures that allow for a millisecond resolution. Firstly, we will concentrate on the role of the PFC in early sensory processing of fear-relevant stimuli using an implicit fear learning paradigm. We propose that the PFC does not only play a part in late, but also in very early modulation of the neuronal fear response. Secondly, we will study how contingency awareness influences the strength of the CS-UCS association in fear conditioning. Using an explicit learning paradigm, both psychophysiological and neuronal correlates of fear learning will be investigated. At last, we will explore the biological basis of extinction learning and reappraisal, two approaches that play a major role in cognitive-behavioral therapy of anxiety disorders. We will study correlates of these processes in implicit and explicit learning tasks in order to study short- and long-term effects of therapeutic interventions.The basic hypothesis is that apart from an impaired top-down control also alterations in bottom-up affective regulation are important for the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders and a successful therapy thereof. Fields of science medical and health sciencesclinical medicinepsychiatryanxiety disorders Programme(s) FP7-PEOPLE - Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IRSES - Marie Curie Action "International Research Staff Exchange Scheme" Call for proposal FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IRSES See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MC-IRSES - International research staff exchange scheme (IRSES) Coordinator Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster EU contribution € 50 400,00 Address SCHLOSSPLATZ 2 48149 MUENSTER Germany See on map Region Nordrhein-Westfalen Münster Münster, Kreisfreie Stadt Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Ingo Niendorf (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Participants (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITAT JAUME I DE CASTELLON Spain EU contribution € 50 400,00 Address AVENIDA VICENT SOS BAYNAT S/N 12006 Castellon De La Plana See on map Region Este Comunitat Valenciana Castellón/Castelló Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Ismael Rodrigo-Martinez (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data