Fear & Anxiety: The Distinctive Differences

In his engrossing literature, Dr. Michael S. Fanselow combatted the frequently interchanged definitions between fear and anxiety and clearly defined them as distinctly different in his research. He argues these distinct differences and makes claims that they differ in neurobehavioral reactions. He supports his claims by evaluating several neurobehavioral models and analyzes their mechanisms and circuitry with respect to fear and anxiety. Similarly, a Science Daily article references the information from the California Institute of Technology and their study of anxiety and dangers to make their own claims that fear and anxiety are, in fact, different distinctive definitions and neurobiological mechanisms.

In Dr. Fanselow’s article, the claim that fear and anxiety hold separate distinctive qualities is supported with the Predatory Imminence Theory. This is the theoretical claim that defensive behaviors of individuals in threatening situations fall along a predatory imminence continuum. This imminence is impacted by the temporal and spatial distance of the predator. The defensive behaviors in this theory can be divided into three stages/models: pre-counter, post-counter, and circa-strike. The researchers proposed response-selected rules. A pre-encounter defense in Dr. Fanselow’s study included meal reorganization of rats and cautiousness in leaving their nest area. Post-encounter defense was characterized by rats freezing to decrease being detected or attacked by a predator. More specifically, measures in these response-selected behaviors and brain activity found that the pre-counter model correlated with the traits of anxiety and that the post-counter model correlated with the traits of fear. Therefore, this information was used to define their distinct characteristics with these respective models. Dr. Fanselow’s findings of pre-encounter reactions are low-imminent reactions and are present when harm may potentially occur but is distant or not as probable. On the other hand, it was found that fear is characterized by high-imminent threat behaviors because harm is close and more likely to occur. The model not only differentiates the behavior but also specifies when the models will be activated or suppressed (which is altered by the psychological distance from contact with the predator).

In the article that was written by Science Daily, it makes the claim immediately that both fear and anxiety are responses to danger, but the difference is in the timing of these responses. Fear is something that occurs almost immediately when your brain sees a fast-occurring, imminent threat. For example, if a person is in the woods and a bear jumps out from a bush and lunges at you. This is different from anxiety because it occurs from a more cognitive, timely standpoint to consider the threat. For example, if the bear was far in the distance and therefore anxiety is created and accumulates because you have time to think about what whether to run or to hide. These claims are supported in the article by a study composed by Mobbs et al. (2019) that displayed fast threats leading to reactions in the fear circuit part of the brain and slow threats that led to responses in the anxiety circuit which is at the forefront of the brain. These were the results of participants playing a “virtual predator” video game where the goal was to escape an attack by the virtual predator. Brain activity was measured and in conclusion, those with higher anxiety escaped the attacks sooner than those with lower anxiety, but only in the slow-threat scenarios.

With these two scientific findings, it can be concluded that fear and anxiety can be differentiated due to their neurobehavioral responses to threat and danger depending on the level of imminence and distance. Both studies have relied on the information that fear is correlated with high-imminence and fast-occurring contexts and anxiety is correlated with low-imminence and slow-occurring contexts. Moving forward, this research can be used to analyze anxiety disorders and their distortions of predatory imminence due to defensive behaviors intruding in daily life and activities. These findings, theory, and models can be used to identify and name the fears and anxieties of individuals in distinctive ways to better accommodate them and overcome them.

  

References: 

California Institute of Technology. (2019, May 20). Anxious people quicker to flee danger: New study shows that individuals with anxiety escape non-imminent threats of danger sooner. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 9, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190520115648.htm

Perusini, J., and Fanselow, M. (2015). Neurobehavioral perspectives on the distinction between fear and anxiety. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, (22): pp. 417-425 doi:10.1101/lm.039180.115