Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit

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Functional Neuroanatomy of Learned Helplessness

The development of the so-called 'learned helplessness' phenomenon (Seligman, 1972) triggered intensive psychological research that had and still has considerable significance in medical care and economics. Elicited by the expectation that reinforcement is independent of response, the dominant characteristics of this state are cognitive retardation, passivity and emotional reactions such as sadness and depression. Whilst the effects of learned helplessness have been well studied on the behavioural level, e.g. in connection with aggression, substance abuse, anxiety, unemployment, epilepsy, mental retardation, social effects, etc., little is known about its neural basis in humans. Source localization of EEG data identified the anterior cingulate cortex as a key structure in 'learned helplessness' (see Bauer, Pripfl, Lamm, et al., 2003).
Currently we are investigating the involvement of sub-cortical brain areas, especially the amygdala, and their interaction with cortical areas by means of high field (3T) fMRI and Slow Potential Topography (Bauer, 1998).

• Bauer, H. (1998). Slow Potential Topography. Behaviour Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 13, 51-58.
• Bauer, H., Pripfl, J., Lamm, C., Prainsack, C. and Taylor, N. (2003). Functional neuroanatomy of learned helplessness. Neuroimage, 20(2), 927-39.
• Seligman, M. E. (1972). Learned helplessness. Annu Rev Med, 23, 407-12.

Please send questions and comments to:

herbert.bauer@univie.ac.at