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Stop that! Inhibition, sensitization, and their neurovisceral concomitants
Author(s) -
Thayer Julian F.,
Friedman Bruce H.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9450.00277
Subject(s) - psychology , sensitization , flexibility (engineering) , adaptive behavior , cognitive psychology , neural system , anxiety , perspective (graphical) , inhibitory postsynaptic potential , neuroscience , dynamical systems theory , developmental psychology , computer science , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , statistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
There is increasing evidence that the behavior of living systems can be conceptualized as a self-organizing dynamical system. Moreover, evidence suggests that inhibitory processes give these systems the flexibility that is necessary for efficient functioning in the face of changing environmental demands. The process of sensitization can be conceived as a breakdown of inhibitory neural processes that can lead to maladaptive, perseverative behavior. In this paper we describe a model of inhibition and sensitization from a dynamical systems perspective. We show that inhibition is important for adaptive behavior across a number of levels of system functioning. Using our work on attention, emotion, and anxiety disorders we show the importance of both central - for example gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-ergic - and peripheral - for example heart rate variability (HRV) - inhibitory processes and how they may be linked by a network of neural structures that guide the organism from one state of relative stability to another.