Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39813246›Full record

ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

A distributed subcortical circuit linked to instrumental information-seeking about threat.

Hailey A Trier, Nima Khalighinejad, Sorcha Hamilton, Caroline Harbison, Luke Priestley, Mark Laubach, Miriam Klein-Flügge, Jacqueline Scholl, Matthew F S Rushworth

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Fundamental features of social environments determine rate of social affiliation.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  5. A distributed subcortical circuit linked to instrumental information-seeking about threat.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Hailey A TrierWellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-2064-0614
Nima KhalighinejadWellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0001-8515-5789
Sorcha HamiltonWellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom.
Caroline HarbisonWellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0003-3763-6865
Luke PriestleyWellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom.
Mark LaubachDepartment of Neuroscience, American University, Washington, DC 20016.
Miriam Klein-FlüggeWellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-5156-9833
Jacqueline Scholl *Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Warneford Hospital, Oxford OX3 7JX, United Kingdom.
Matthew F S Rushworth *Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3TA, United Kingdom.ORCID 0000-0002-5578-9884

Funding

Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust (WT) 221794/Z/20/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Daily life for humans and other animals requires switching between periods of threat- and reward-oriented behavior. We investigated neural activity associated with spontaneous switching, in a naturalistic task, between foraging for rewards and seeking information about potential threats with 7T fMRI in healthy humans. Switching was driven by estimates of likelihood of threat and reward. Both tracking of threat and switching to a vigilant mode in which people sought more information about potential threats were associated with specific but distributed patterns of activity spanning habenula, dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), anterior cingulate cortex, and anterior insula cortex. Different aspects of the distributed activity patterns were linked to monitoring the threat level, seeking information about the threat, and actual threat detection. A distinct pattern of activity in the same circuit and elsewhere occurred during returns to reward-oriented behavior. Individual variation in DRN activity reflected individual variation in the seeking of information about threats.

Indexed as

BrainFearInformation Seeking BehaviorAdultBrain MappingDorsal Raphe NucleusFemaleGyrus CinguliHabenulaHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleRewardYoung Adultcognitive neurosciencedecision-makinginformation seekingrewardthreat

Identifiers

PMID39813246
PMCPMC11761969

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.