Effects of acidic-astressin and ovine-CRF microinfusions into the ventral hippocampus on defensive behaviors in rats

This study investigated a possible role for ventral hippocampal corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) in modulating both unconditioned and conditioned defensive behaviors by examining the effects of pre-training ventral hippocampal ovine-CRF (oCRF) or acidic-astressin ([Glu^11,16]Ast) microinfusions in male Long-Evans hooded rats exposed to various threat stimuli including the elevated plus-maze (EPM) (oCRF), cat odor (oCRF and [Glu^11,16]Ast) and a live cat ([Glu^11,16]Ast). Unconditioned defensive behaviors were assessed during threat exposure, while conditioned defensive behaviors were assessed in each predator context 24 h after the initial threat encounter. Pre-training infusions of the CRF₁ and CRF₂ receptor agonist oCRF significantly increased defensive behaviors during both the unconditioned and conditioned components of the cat odor test, as well as exposure to the EPM. In contrast to the behavioral effects of oCRF microinfusions, the CRF₁ and CRF₂ receptor antagonist [Glu^11,16]Ast significantly decreased defensive behaviors during exposure to cat odor, while producing no discernible effects following a second injection in the cat exposure test. During conditioned test trials, pre-training infusions of [Glu^11,16]Ast also significantly reduced defensive behaviors during re-exposure to both predator contexts. These results suggest a specific role for ventral hippocampal CRF receptors in modulating anxiety-like behaviors in several ethologically relevant animal models of defense.     

Major Depression Is Not Associated with Blunting of Aversive Responses; Evidence for Enhanced Anxious Anticipation

According to the emotion-context insensitivity (ECI) hypothesis, major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with a diminished ability to react emotionally to positive stimuli and with blunting of defensive responses to threat. That defensive responses are blunted in MDD seems inconsistent with the conceptualization and diagnostic nosology of MDD. The present study tested the ECI hypothesis in MDD using a threat of shock paradigm. Twenty-eight patients with MDD (35.5±10.4 years) were compared with 28 controls (35.1±7.4 years). Participants were exposed to three conditions: no shock, predictable shock, and unpredictable shock. Startle magnitude was used to assess defensive responses. Inconsistent with the ECI hypothesis, startle potentiation to predictable and unpredictable shock was not reduced in the MDD group. Rather, MDD patients showed elevated startle throughout testing as well as increased contextual anxiety during the placement of the shock electrodes and in the predictable condition. A regression analysis indicated that illness duration and Beck depression inventory scores explained 37% (p<.005) of the variance in patients’ startle reactivity. MDD is not associated with emotional blunting but rather enhanced defensive reactivity during anticipation of harm. These results do not support a strong version of the ECI hypothesis. Understanding the nature of stimuli or situations that lead to blunted or enhanced defensive reactivity will provide better insight into dysfunctional emotional experience in MDD.     

Individual Day-to-Day Process of Social Anxiety in Vulnerable College Students

Transitions requiring the creation of new social networks may be challenging for individuals vulnerable to social anxiety, which may hinder successful adjustment. Using person-specific methodology, this study examined social anxiety in vulnerable university freshman away from home during their first semester of college to understand how day-to-day processes of social anxiety influenced future social anxiety and social withdrawal. Participants completed daily measures of four components of social anxiety which were examined as a process during a single day, and as a process affecting social anxiety and social withdrawal the next day. For most individuals, same-day fear of negative evaluation was associated with maladaptive cognitive processes (anticipatory processing and post-event rumination) and influenced social withdrawal behaviors. Across time relations were less robust and varied between participants suggesting the importance of situational factors and individual differences. These findings may have implications for the effectiveness of various intervention strategies.     

Personality Type Influences Attentional Bias in Individuals with Chronic Back Pain

Attentional biases reflect an individual’s selective attention to salient stimuli within their environment, for example an experience of back pain. Eysenck suggests that different personality types show different attentional biases to threatening information. This study is the first to test Eysenck’s theory within a chronic back pain population by investigating the attentional biases of four different personality types using a back pain specific dot-probe paradigm. Participants were 70 volunteers (45 female) recruited from a back rehabilitation program at an NHS Trust. The four groups were selected on their trait anxiety and defensiveness scores: defensive high-anxious; high-anxious; repressor and non-extreme. Participants completed a dot probe task comprising 20 practice trials and 250 experimental trials. The experimental trials contained 100 threat-neutral pairs, 100 positive-neutral pairs and 50 neutral-neutral image pairings. The threat images were taken from the Photograph Series of Daily Activities (PHODA) and the neutral and positive images from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) image bank. The results provided partial support for Eysenck’s theory; defensive high-anxious individuals showed an attentional bias for threatening information compared to high-anxious individuals who demonstrated no bias. Repressors showed an avoidant bias to threatening images and an attentional bias to positive stimuli relative to neutral images. The clear difference in responses demonstrated by high-anxious individuals who vary in defensiveness highlight the need for separate investigation of these heterogeneous groups and help to explain the cognitive processes of defensive high-anxious individuals within a pain population. The demonstration of an attentional bias in this group to threatening information could explain why defensive high-anxious individuals are more likely to re-present for treatment.     

Flexible responses to stage‐specific offspring threats

When caring for their young, parents must compensate for threats to offspring survival in a manner that maximizes their lifetime reproductive success. In birds, parents respond to offspring threats by altering reproductive strategies throughout the breeding attempt. Because altered reproductive strategies are costly, when threats to offspring are limited, parents should exhibit a limited response. However, it is unclear if response to offspring threat is the result of an integrated set of correlated changes throughout the breeding attempt or if responses are a flexible set of dissociable changes that are stage‐specific. We test these hypotheses in a system where house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) compete for nesting cavities with Carolina chickadees (Poecile carolinensis) by usurping and destroying their nests during the early stage of the breeding attempt (the egg stage). Due to the specificity of the house wren threat, we can test whether parental responses to an offspring threat show flexibility and stage specificity or if parental strategies are an integrated and persistent response. We monitored nests in a natural population to compare life history traits of chickadees nesting in boxes that were in the presence of house wrens to chickadees nesting in boxes that did not overlap with house wrens. Carolina chickadees that nested near house wrens laid significantly smaller clutch sizes (early change in reproductive strategy) but did not alter nestling provisioning or nestling stage length (late change in reproductive strategy), suggesting that chickadees respond in a flexible and stage‐specific manner to the threat of house wrens. By responding only when a threat is highest, parents minimize the cost of antithreat responses. Our study suggests that parents can respond in subtle and nuanced ways to offspring threats in the environment and specifically alter reproductive behaviors at the appropriate stage.     

Fear and fitness: An evolutionary analysis of anxiety disorders

This article reviews the evolutionary origins and functions of the capacity for anxiety, and relevant clinical and research issues. Normal anxiety is an emotion that helps organisms defend against a wide variety of threats. There is a general capacity for normal defensive arousal, and subtypes of normal anxiety protect against particular kinds of threats. These normal subtypes correspond somewhat to mild forms of various anxiety disorders. Anxiety disorders arise from dysregulation of normal defensive responses, raising the possibility of a hypophobic disorder (too little anxiety). If a drug were discovered that abolished all defensive anxiety, it could do harm as well as good. Factors that have shaped anxiety-regulation mechanisms can explain prepotent and prepared tendencies to associate anxiety more quickly with certain cues than with others. These tendencies lead to excess fear of largely archaic dangers, like snakes, and too little fear of new threats, like cars. An understanding of the evolutionary origins, functions, and mechanisms of anxiety suggests new questions about anxiety disorders.     

Potential impacts of future land use and climate change on the Red List status of the Proteaceae in the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa

Using spatial predictions of future threats to biodiversity, we assessed for the first time the relative potential impacts of future land use and climate change on the threat status of plant species. We thus estimated how many taxa could be affected by future threats that are usually not included in current IUCN Red List assessments. Here, we computed the Red List status including future threats of 227 Proteaceae taxa endemic to the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa, and compared this with their Red List status excluding future threats. We developed eight different land use and climate change scenarios for the year 2020, providing a range of best‐ to worst‐case scenarios. Four scenarios include only the effects of future land use change, while the other four also include the impacts of projected anthropogenic climate change (HadCM2 IS92a GGa), using niche‐based models. Up to a third of the 227 Proteaceae taxa are uplisted (become more threatened) by up to three threat categories if future threats as predicted for 2020 are included, and the proportion of threatened Proteaceae taxa rises on average by 9% (range 2–16%), depending on the scenario. With increasing severity of the scenarios, the proportion of Critically Endangered taxa increases from about 1% to 7% and almost 2% of the 227 Proteaceae taxa become Extinct because of climate change. Overall, climate change has the most severe effects on the Proteaceae, but land use change also severely affects some taxa. Most of the threatened taxa occur in low‐lying coastal areas, but the proportion of threatened taxa changes considerably in inland mountain areas if future threats are included. Our approach gives important insights into how, where and when future threats could affect species persistence and can in a sense be seen as a test of the value of planned interventions for conservation.     

Cognitive Coping Style and the Effectiveness of Distraction or Sensation-Focused Instructions in Chronic Pain Patients

AimThis study set out to investigate whether cognitive coping strategies that match participants’ preferred coping style effectively reduce pain intensity and situational anxiety in a population of people with chronic pain.MethodChronic pain patients (N = 43) completed questionnaires on coping style, pain intensity, self-efficacy, and situational/trait anxiety. Participants were classified as Monitors (n = 16) or Blunters (n = 19) based on their Miller Behavioural Style Scale score. Participants were then provided with an audiotaped intervention in which they were instructed to focus on pain sensations or to engage in a distraction task and then to rate the pain intensity and their anxiety during and after the attentional focus and distraction conditions. The two interventions were each completed by all participants, having been presented in counterbalanced order.ResultsFindings revealed that Monitors’ level of anxiety decreased following a congruent (i.e., sensation-focused) intervention. No effects were obtained in terms of perceived pain. For blunters, however, their perceived levels of anxiety and pain did not attenuate following a congruent, distraction-focused intervention.ConclusionAmong persons experiencing chronic pain, tailoring coping strategies to match an individual’s preferred coping style–in particular, those with a high level of monitoring–may enhance the benefit of psychological approaches to management of anxiety.     

The defensive behavioral patterns of captive white-lipped and collared peccary (Mammalia,Tayassuidae): an approach for conservation of the species

Defensive behavioral patterns in response to human-induced rapid environmental change can affect animals’ fitness and may play a role in species conservation status. To test this hypothesis, we compared the risk assessment and defensive behavioral responses of captive white-lipped peccary (WLP; Tayassu pecari) and collared peccary (CP; Pecari tajacu), which retain different conservation status; WLP are considered vulnerable and CP of least concern. We used an adapted paradigm of the mouse defense test battery (MDTB) comprising four consecutive tests. Two of these tests simulated a novel environment, while the other two stimulated the expression of defensive behavioral patterns. Besides differences in risk assessment and defensive threat/attack behavioral patterns between species, we compared flight initiation distance, flight speed, and plasma glucocorticoid concentrations. When facing a novel environment and risk challenges from humans’ predator-like cues, the white-lipped peccary showed more exploratory and defensive threat/attack behavioral patterns, shorter flight initiation distances, and lower flight speeds, whereas the collared peccaries showed more cautious and retreat patterns, longer flight initiation distances, and higher flight speeds. There were also correlations between physiological and behavioral parameters. We confirmed our hypothesis that the collared peccary’s cautiousness may help to prevent a decrease in its population, while the white-lipped peccary’s exploratory and confrontational behavioral patterns in overhunted areas, together with other simultaneous factors as forest fragmentation, might contribute to placing this species in the vulnerable category.     

Threats and opportunities for freshwater conservation under future land use change scenarios in the United States

Freshwater ecosystems provide vital resources for humans and support high levels of biodiversity, yet are severely threatened throughout the world. The expansion of human land uses, such as urban and crop cover, typically degrades water quality and reduces freshwater biodiversity, thereby jeopardizing both biodiversity and ecosystem services. Identifying and mitigating future threats to freshwater ecosystems requires forecasting where land use changes are most likely. Our goal was to evaluate the potential consequences of future land use on freshwater ecosystems in the coterminous United States by comparing alternative scenarios of land use change (2001–2051) with current patterns of freshwater biodiversity and water quality risk. Using an econometric model, each of our land use scenarios projected greater changes in watersheds of the eastern half of the country, where freshwater ecosystems already experience higher stress from human activities. Future urban expansion emerged as a major threat in regions with high freshwater biodiversity (e.g., the Southeast) or severe water quality problems (e.g., the Midwest). Our scenarios reflecting environmentally oriented policies had some positive effects. Subsidizing afforestation for carbon sequestration reduced crop cover and increased natural vegetation in areas that are currently stressed by low water quality, while discouraging urban sprawl diminished urban expansion in areas of high biodiversity. On the other hand, we found that increases in crop commodity prices could lead to increased agricultural threats in areas of high freshwater biodiversity. Our analyses illustrate the potential for policy changes and market factors to influence future land use trends in certain regions of the country, with important consequences for freshwater ecosystems. Successful conservation of aquatic biodiversity and ecosystem services in the United States into the future will require attending to the potential threats and opportunities arising from policies and market changes affecting land use.     

Psychophysiological indices in six-to eight-year-old children under information load depending on anxiety as a stable individual characteristic

The study of psychophysiological indices in children aged six to eight years under information loads of various complexity showed that anxious subjects were characterized by a high level of nonspecific activation at rest and a shift of the autonomic balance towards a relative domination of the tone of the sympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The information load in the “auto-rate” mode caused in children aged six to eight years an increase in the level of nonspecific activation and the activity of sympathetic regulation and an inhibition of parasympathetic regulation. An information load in the “maximum rate of work” mode caused a decrease in the quantitative and qualitative indices of mental activity in comparison with that under comfortable conditions and a subsequent increase in autonomic shifts and the level of situational anxiety. The decrease in the efficiency of intellectual work performed at a maximum rate against the background of a high level of nonspecific activation and an increase in situational anxiety in both groups apparently reflected an increase in the activity of the modulating cerebral system due to the domination of the nonproductive activation system related to defensive behavior. At the same time, in children with a high personal anxiety, autonomic manifestations of activation and situational anxiety in both modes of work were more distinct and the efficiency of work lower than in subjects with a low anxiety. This indicates that, in anxious children, due to the excess activation of the sympathetic division of the ANS, the information load has a higher physiological cost. Thus, children with a high level of personal anxiety under intense information loads are characterized by a larger increase in the activity of the sympathetic division of the ANS and the attenuation of the effect of the parasympathetic division; a considerable increase in situational anxiety; low efficiency of activity; and, hence, its high physiological cost.     

Neuroendocrinology of context-dependent stress responses: vasotocin alters the effect of corticosterone on amphibian behaviors

The ability of an animal to respond with appropriate defensive behaviors when confronted with an immediate threat can affect its survival and reproductive success. In the roughskin newt (Taricha granulosa), exogenous corticosterone (CORT) rapidly blocks and vasotocin (VT) enhances reproductive behaviors (mainly clasping behavior). Electrophysiological studies have shown that pretreatment of male Taricha with VT counteracts the inhibitory effects of CORT on neuronal activity in the medulla. To test whether similar interactions between VT and CORT influence reproductive behaviors in Taricha, we recorded the time spent and incidence of clasping in males injected with VT or vehicle at 60 min and then CORT or vehicle at 5 min before presentation of a female. This study found that clasping behavior is suppressed in males that received vehicle and then CORT, but is not suppressed in males that received VT and then CORT. Considering these results and the possibility that the performance of clasping behaviors might cause increases in endogenous VT activity, we tested whether the suppressive effects of CORT administration on clasping behavior would occur in males that had recently clasped females. The study found that, in contrast to males that had been isolated from females, CORT administration did not suppress clasping behavior in males that had been allowed to clasp females for 60 min prior to the hormone injection. Our results suggest that, at least in this amphibian and perhaps in other animals, the neuroendocrine regulation of alternative behavioral responses to threats involves functional interactions between corticosteroids and VT-like peptides.     

Neurons in the amygdala with response-selectivity for anxiety in two ethologically based tests

The amygdala is a key area in the brain for detecting potential threats or dangers, and further mediating anxiety. However, the neuronal mechanisms of anxiety in the amygdala have not been well characterized. Here we report that in freely-behaving mice, a group of neurons in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) fires tonically under anxiety conditions in both open-field and elevated plus-maze tests. The firing patterns of these neurons displayed a characteristic slow onset and progressively increased firing rates. Specifically, these firing patterns were correlated to a gradual development of anxiety-like behaviors in the open-field test. Moreover, these neurons could be activated by any impoverished environment similar to an open-field; and introduction of both comfortable and uncomfortable stimuli temporarily suppressed the activity of these BLA neurons. Importantly, the excitability of these BLA neurons correlated well with levels of anxiety. These results demonstrate that this type of BLA neuron is likely to represent anxiety and/or emotional values of anxiety elicited by anxiogenic environmental stressors.     

Thoughts of Death Modulate Psychophysical and Cortical Responses to Threatening Stimuli

Existential social psychology studies show that awareness of one''s eventual death profoundly influences human cognition and behaviour by inducing defensive reactions against end-of-life related anxiety. Much less is known about the impact of reminders of mortality on brain activity. Therefore we explored whether reminders of mortality influence subjective ratings of intensity and threat of auditory and painful thermal stimuli and the associated electroencephalographic activity. Moreover, we explored whether personality and demographics modulate psychophysical and neural changes related to mortality salience (MS). Following MS induction, a specific increase in ratings of intensity and threat was found for both nociceptive and auditory stimuli. While MS did not have any specific effect on nociceptive and auditory evoked potentials, larger amplitude of theta oscillatory activity related to thermal nociceptive activity was found after thoughts of death were induced. MS thus exerted a top-down modulation on theta electroencephalographic oscillatory amplitude, specifically for brain activity triggered by painful thermal stimuli. This effect was higher in participants reporting higher threat perception, suggesting that inducing a death-related mind-set may have an influence on body-defence related somatosensory representations.     

Current and projected future risks of freshwater fish invasions in China

Biological invasions are a primary threat to global biodiversity, supporting mounting calls for the development of early‐warning systems to manage existing and emerging invaders. Here, we evaluated the geographical pattern of invasion risks of currently established and potentially emerging nonnative freshwater fishes in China by jointly considering the threats of introduction and establishment under climate change. Introduction threats were estimated according to proxies of human activities and propagule pressure for two primary pathways (aquaculture or ornamental). Establishment threats for 51 current and 64 potential invaders (based on whether having established or not self‐sustaining populations) were assessed using an ensemble of species distribution models under current (1960–1990) and future [2041–2060 (2050s) and 2061–2080 (2070s)] climate scenarios. Geographical patterns of invasion risk were then assessed by overlaying the threats of introduction and establishment for each species group both in present‐day and in the future. We found that eastern China displayed the highest threat of introduction. By contrast, southeastern and northwestern regions were identified as the most suitable for the establishment of both current and potential invaders. Under a changing climate, 83 out of 115 species displayed an increase in habitat suitability, resulting in an overall increase of 4.8% by 2050s and 7.1% by 2070s in the extent of suitable habitat for nonnative freshwater fishes. Taken together, invasion risk was found to be highest in southeastern China and lowest in the Tibet Plateau. Our research highlights the importance of assessing invasion risk by integrating the threats associated with the introduction and establishment stages. In particular, our findings revealed convergent patterns of invasion risk between current and potential nonnative freshwater fishes under climate change. Geographic patterns in hotspots of existing and emerging invasions provide critical insights to guide the allocation of resources to monitor and control existing and emerging invasions in China.     

When Math Hurts: Math Anxiety Predicts Pain Network Activation in Anticipation of Doing Math

Math can be difficult, and for those with high levels of mathematics-anxiety (HMAs), math is associated with tension, apprehension, and fear. But what underlies the feelings of dread effected by math anxiety? Are HMAs’ feelings about math merely psychological epiphenomena, or is their anxiety grounded in simulation of a concrete, visceral sensation – such as pain – about which they have every right to feel anxious? We show that, when anticipating an upcoming math-task, the higher one’s math anxiety, the more one increases activity in regions associated with visceral threat detection, and often the experience of pain itself (bilateral dorso-posterior insula). Interestingly, this relation was not seen during math performance, suggesting that it is not that math itself hurts; rather, the anticipation of math is painful. Our data suggest that pain network activation underlies the intuition that simply anticipating a dreaded event can feel painful. These results may also provide a potential neural mechanism to explain why HMAs tend to avoid math and math-related situations, which in turn can bias HMAs away from taking math classes or even entire math-related career paths.     

Oral Perceptions of Fat and Taste Stimuli Are Modulated by Affect and Mood Induction

This study examined the impact of three clinical psychological variables (non-pathological levels of depression and anxiety, as well as experimentally manipulated mood) on fat and taste perception in healthy subjects. After a baseline orosensory evaluation, ‘sad’, ‘happy’ and ‘neutral’ video clips were presented to induce corresponding moods in eighty participants. Following mood manipulation, subjects rated five different oral stimuli, appearing sweet, umami, sour, bitter, fatty, which were delivered at five different concentrations each. Depression levels were assessed with Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) and anxiety levels were assessed via the Spielberger’s STAI-trait and state questionnaire. Overall, subjects were able to track the concentrations of the stimuli correctly, yet depression level affected taste ratings. First, depression scores were positively correlated with sucrose ratings. Second, subjects with depression scores above the sample median rated sucrose and quinine as more intense after mood induction (positive, negative and neutral). Third and most important, the group with enhanced depression scores did not rate low and high fat stimuli differently after positive or negative mood induction, whereas, during baseline or during the non-emotional neutral condition they rated the fat intensity as increasing with concentration. Consistent with others’ prior observations we also found that sweet and bitter stimuli at baseline were rated as more intense by participants with higher anxiety scores and that after positive and negative mood induction, citric acid was rated as stronger tasting compared to baseline. The observation that subjects with mild subclinical depression rated low and high fat stimuli similarly when in positive or negative mood is novel and likely has potential implications for unhealthy eating patterns. This deficit may foster unconscious eating of fatty foods in sub-clinical mildly depressed populations.     

Effects of the stimulus and chamber size on unlearned fear across development

Predator odors have been found to induce unconditioned fear in adult animals and provide the opportunity to study the mechanisms underlying unlearned and learned fear. Predator threats change across an animal's lifetime, as do abilities that enable the animal to learn or engage in different defensive behaviors. Thus, the objective of this study was to determine the combination of factors that successfully induce unlearned fear to predator odor across development. Infant, juvenile, adolescent, and adult rats were exposed to one of the three odor stimuli (control odor, cat urine, or cat fur) in either a small or large chamber. Though all ages displayed fear-related behavior to cat odors, differences were reflected only in freezing behavior and not, as expected, risk-assessment. Infant and juvenile animals also increased freezing to cat urine compared to the control odor, possibly because these age groups possess limited defensive options to cope with threat and so may respond with freezing to all predator stimuli. Unexpectedly, chamber size had no effect on either freezing or risk-assessment in this study. Once the parameters of unconditioned fear are understood, they can be exploited to develop a learning paradigm to predator odors that could be used in early life.     

Variations in problem conceptualizations and intended solutions among Hong Kong students

Cognitive schema were used to explain health and illness behaviors among Chinese students. University students in Hong Kong were asked to attribute causes and suggest solutions to five health/mental health problems: Weakness/Fatigue, Tension/ Anxiety, Sleep Difficulty, Hollow/Emptiness, and Headache. The patterns of endorsement on the causal and solution categories used for the five problems were compared using a new asymptotic chi-squared test. The response patterns were found to be significantly different across the five problems. Each problem was attributed to multiple causes including psychological, social, situational, somatic, and existential factors. The intended solutions were often related to the nature of the causal attributions especially when the problems were mild. In lay help-seeking, the Hong Kong students would attempt a variety of self-help measures. However, for professional consultation, the medical doctor would be the primary care professional the students would turn to for most of the problems except in the case of Hollow/Emptiness.     

Defensive Aggregation (Huddling) in Rattus Norvegicus toward Predator Odor: Individual Differences,Social Buffering Effects and Neural Correlates

Aggregation is a defensive strategy employed by many prey species in response to predatory threat. Our group has characterized defensive aggregation (huddling) in Rattus norvegicus in response to a ball of cat fur. In this situation some rats huddle less, and approach the threatening cue more than others (active vs. passive responders). The present study explored whether active responding is a stable phenotype associated with behaviors outside direct predatory encounters. The neural substrates of active and passive responding under predatory threat were explored using c-Fos immunohistochemistry. Finally, we examined whether the presence of conspecifics during predatory threat biases behavior towards active responding. Active and passive responding styles were found to be stable in individual rats across consecutive group exposures to cat fur, and were predicted by anxiety-like behavior in an open-field emergence test. Active responders displayed less conditioned fear in an environment associated with predatory threat, and had higher post-exposure intake of a weak sucrose solution (a test of “anhedonia”). Active responding was associated with: greater cat fur-induced activation of the accessory olfactory bulb, reflecting greater olfactory stimulation in rats actively approaching the fur; lowered activation of somatosensory cortex, reflecting reduced huddling with conspecifics; and reduced activation in the lateral septum. Social exposure to cat fur promoted active responding relative to individual exposure, and lowered c-Fos expression in the dorsomedial periaqueductal grey, medial caudate putamen and lateral habenula. We conclude that individual differences in anti-predator behavior appear stable traits with active responders having a more resilient phenotype. Social exposure to predatory threat has an acute buffering effect, subtly changing the neural and behavioral response towards threat and encouraging active responding. An association between active responding and lower c-Fos expression in the lateral septum is consistent with previous studies that highlight this region as an important neurobiological substrate of defensive aggregation.