Fig. 1.

A neural model for the integration of threat and reward in costly avoidance decision making. The Amygdala and NAcc each have a role in driving both approach and avoid behavior (Gentry et al., 2016; Hamel et al., 2017; Schlund & Cataldo, 2010). However, evidence from (pharmacological) lesion and stimulation studies in rodents indicates a relative importance for the BLA in driving avoid responses (Choi & Kim, 2010; Duque-Wilckens et al., 2018; Burgos-Robles et al., 2017; Terburg et al., 2018) and a relative importance for the NAcc (core) in approach responses (Hamel et al., 2017; Nachev et al., 2015). One explanation is that in absence of BLA input reward-related inputs from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) continue to drive approach via the NAcc (Cisneros-Franco & de Villers-Sidani, 2018). This model, however, is still sorely lacking a role for the BNST, which has strong interconnections to both the amygdala and NAcc