TY  - JOUR
A1  - Gromer, Daniel
A1  - Kiser, Dominik P.
A1  - Pauli, Paul
T1  - Thigmotaxis in a virtual human open field test
T2  - Scientific Reports
N2  - Animal models are used to study neurobiological mechanisms in mental disorders. Although there has been significant progress in the understanding of neurobiological underpinnings of threat-related behaviors and anxiety, little progress was made with regard to new or improved treatments for mental disorders. A possible reason for this lack of success is the unknown predictive and cross-species translational validity of animal models used in preclinical studies. Re-translational approaches, therefore, seek to establish cross-species translational validity by identifying behavioral operations shared across species. To this end, we implemented a human open field test in virtual reality and measured behavioral indices derived from animal studies in three experiments (N=31, N=30, and N=80). In addition, we investigated the associations between anxious traits and such behaviors. Results indicated a strong similarity in behavior across species, i.e., participants in our study-like rodents in animal studies-preferred to stay in the outer region of the open field, as indexed by multiple behavioral parameters. However, correlational analyses did not clearly indicate that these behaviors were a function of anxious traits of participants. We conclude that the realized virtual open field test is able to elicit thigmotaxis and thus demonstrates cross-species validity of this aspect of the test. Modulatory effects of anxiety on human open field behavior should be examined further by incorporating possible threats in the virtual scenario and/or by examining participants with higher anxiety levels or anxiety disorder patients.
KW  - anxiety
KW  - human behavior
KW  - anciety-like behavior
KW  - approach-avoidance conflict
KW  - elevated plus-maze
KW  - spatial navigation
KW  - mental disorders
KW  - fear
KW  - threat
KW  - circuits
KW  - reality
KW  - metaanalysis
Y1  - 2021
UR  - https://opus.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/25985
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-259850
VL  - 11
ER  -