Flight initiation distance (FID), the distance at which an organism flees from an approaching threat, is an ecological metric of cost–benefit functions of escape decisions. We adapted the FID paradigm to investigate how fast- or slow-attacking “virtual predators” constrain escape decisions. We show that rapid escape decisions rely on “reactive fear” circuits in the periaqueductal gray and midcingulate cortex (MCC), while protracted escape decisions, defined by larger buffer zones, were associated with “cognitive fear” circuits, which include posterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, circuits implicated in more complex information processing, cognitive avoidance strategies, and behavioral flexibility. Using a Bayesian decision-making model, we further show that optimization of escape decisions under rapid flight were localized to the MCC, a region involved in adaptive motor control, while the hippocampus is implicated in optimizing decisions that update and control slower escape initiation. These results demonstrate an unexplored link between defensive survival circuits and their role in adaptive escape decisions.

飞行起始距离（FID）是有机体逃离逼近威胁的距离，是逃避决策成本效益函数的生态度量。我们采用 FID 范式来研究快速或缓慢攻击的“虚拟掠食者”如何限制逃跑决策。我们发现，快速逃跑决策依赖于导水管周围灰质和中扣带皮层（MCC）的“反应性恐惧”回路，而由较大缓冲区定义的长期逃跑决策则与“认知恐惧”回路相关，其中包括后扣带皮层、海马体和腹内侧前额叶皮层，这些回路涉及更复杂的信息处理、认知回避策略和行为灵活性。使用贝叶斯决策模型，我们进一步表明，快速飞行下逃生决策的优化局限于MCC，这是一个涉及自适应运动控制的区域，而海马体则涉及更新和控制较慢逃生启动的优化决策。这些结果表明，防御性生存回路与其在适应性逃生决策中的作用之间存在未经探索的联系。