Heightened generalized conditioned fear and avoidance in women and underlying psychological processes

Cooper, Samuel E.; Hunt, C; Ross, Jack; Hartnell, Melissa P.; Lissek, Shmuel

doi:10.1016/j.brat.2022.104051

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…For EC, both this and our previous study found that differences were driven by females (i.e., only female healthy controls showed elevated avoidance relative to female depression/anxiety and all male groups, similar to previous work 55 ). The replication of this sex difference suggests certain mechanisms underlying maladaptive decision-making under AAC may be more common in females.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Elevated decision uncertainty and reduced avoidance drives in depression, anxiety and substance use disorders during approach–avoidance conflict: a replication study

Smith

Lavalley

Taylor

et al. 2023

jpn

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Background: Decision-making under approach–avoidance conflict (AAC; e.g., sacrificing quality of life to avoid feared outcomes) may be affected in multiple psychiatric disorders. Recently, we used a computational (active inference) model to characterize information processing differences during AAC in individuals with depression, anxiety and/or substance use disorders. Individuals with psychiatric disorders exhibited increased decision uncertainty (DU) and reduced sensitivity to unpleasant stimuli. This preregistered study aimed to determine the replicability of this processing dysfunction. Methods: A new sample of participants completed the AAC task. Individual-level computational parameter estimates, reflecting decision uncertainty and sensitivity to unpleasant stimuli (“emotion conflict”; EC), were obtained and compared between groups. Subsequent analyses combining the prior and current samples allowed assessment of narrower disorder categories. Results: The sample in the present study included 480 participants: 97 healthy controls, 175 individuals with substance use disorders and 208 individuals with depression and/or anxiety disorders. Individuals with substance use disorders showed higher DU and lower EC values than healthy controls. The EC values were lower in females, but not males, with depression and/or anxiety disorders than in healthy controls. However, the previously observed difference in DU between participants with depression and/or anxiety disorders and healthy controls did not replicate. Analyses of specific disorders in the combined samples indicated that effects were common across different substance use disorders and affective disorders. Limitations: There were differences, although with small effect size, in age and baseline intellectual functioning between the previous and current sample, which may have affected replication of DU differences in participants with depression and/or anxiety disorders. Conclusion: The now robust evidence base for these clinical group differences motivates specific questions that should be addressed in future research: can DU and EC become behavioural treatment targets, and can we identify neural substrates of DU and EC that could be used to measure severity of dysfunction or as neuromodulatory treatment targets?

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Elevated decision uncertainty and reduced avoidance drives in depression, anxiety and substance use disorders during approach–avoidance conflict: a replication study

Smith

Lavalley

Taylor

et al. 2023

jpn

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“…The picture emerging from the few human studies reporting gender differences in generalized fear is unclear. Cooper, Hunt, et al (2022) found heightened generalization tendencies in women compared to men, while other studies report no difference between genders (Tinoco-González et al, 2015;Torrents-Rodas et al, 2013;Xu et al, 2018). Although Xu et al (2018) found no difference in the overall generalization response pattern based on gender, they did observe a difference in the extinction of generalized responses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Both pre-registrations were completed prior to data collection and concerned the same experimental design and dataset. In this current study, building upon Cooper, Hunt, et al (2022), we specifically investigate gender effects (N = 80, 50% women) of this dataset. We report how we determined our sample size, all data exclusions, all manipulations, and all measures in the study.…”

Section: Methods Open Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

The assessment of gender differences in perceptual fear generalization and related processes

Yu,

Beckers,

tuerlinckx

et al. 2024

Preprint

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In this study we aimed to investigate gender differences in fear generalization tendencies in humans and, inspired by recent findings in animal research, examine whether any such differences could stem from differences in memory precision. Forty men and forty women underwent a differential fear conditioning procedure using geometric shapes as cues. Subsequently, generalized fear responses were assessed across a spectrum of perceptually similar shapes. Throughout generalization testing, perceptual memory accuracy was repeatedly probed using a stimulus recreation task. Using statistical and computational modeling, we found strong evidence for the absence of gender differences in fear learning and generalization behavior. The evidence for gender differences in related processes such as perception and memory was inconclusive. Although some of our findings hinted at the possibility that women may be more perceptive of physical differences between stimuli and have more accurate memory than men, those observations were not consistently replicated across experimental conditions and analytical approaches. Our results contribute to the emerging literature on gender differences in perceptual fear generalization in humans and cast doubt on the transferability of the notion derived from animal studies of poorer memory in females than males in the context of fear generalization.

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“…Lastly, participants in the current sample identified as primarily White and non-Hispanic or Latino, college-aged, and female. Replication with more demographically diverse samples is needed, particularly given evidence of demographic differences in fear conditioning metrics (e.g., Cooper, Hunt, et al, 2022;Rosenbaum et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Another limitation in the current study is that participants in the current sample identified as primarily White and non‐Hispanic or Latino, college‐aged, and female. Replication with more demographically diverse samples is needed, particularly given evidence of demographic differences in threat conditioning metrics (e.g., Cooper, Hunt, et al, 2022; Rosenbaum et al, 2015). Finally, we note that the current investigation used a relatively small sample‐size, although it was similar to the prior study of generalization test–retest by Torrents‐Rodas et al (2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Test–retest reliability of human threat conditioning and generalization across a 1‐to‐2‐week interval

et al. 2022

Self Cite

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Given the increasing use of threat conditioning and generalization for clinical-translational research efforts, establishing test-retest reliability of these paradigms is necessary. Specifically, it is an empirical question whether the same participant evinces a similar generalization gradient of conditioned responses across two sessions with the identical contingencies and stimuli. Here, 51 human volunteers participated in an identical auditory threat acquisition and generalization protocol at two sessions separated by 9 days. Skin conductance responses (SCR) and trial-bytrial shock risk ratings served as primary dependent measures. We used linear mixed effects modeling to test differential threat responses and generalization gradients, and Generalizability (G) theory coefficients to formally assess test-retest reliability of intra-individual stability and change across time. Results showed largely invariant differential conditioning and generalization gradients across time. G coefficients indicated fair reliability for the majority of acquisition and generalization measures. Our findings support reliability of the threat conditioning and generalization paradigm and highlight their utility for assessments of behavioral interventions in mental health research.

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Heightened generalized conditioned fear and avoidance in women and underlying psychological processes

Cited by 8 publications

References 77 publications

Elevated decision uncertainty and reduced avoidance drives in depression, anxiety and substance use disorders during approach–avoidance conflict: a replication study

Elevated decision uncertainty and reduced avoidance drives in depression, anxiety and substance use disorders during approach–avoidance conflict: a replication study

The assessment of gender differences in perceptual fear generalization and related processes

Test–retest reliability of human threat conditioning and generalization across a 1‐to‐2‐week interval

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