Intolerance of uncertainty and novelty facilitated extinction: The impact of reinforcement schedule

Abstract

Individuals who score high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) display reduced threat extinction learning and retention. Recently, it was shown that replacing threat associations with novel associations (i.e. presenting a novel non-aversive tone 100% of the time vs. presenting nothing) can promote threat extinction retention in individuals with high IU. This effect could be driven by the tone’s novelty or reliability. Here we seek to address this question by adjusting the reliability via the reinforcement schedule of the novel tone. We propose to measure skin conductance response during an associative learning task in which participants (n = 90) will be assigned to one of three conditions; standard extinction, 100% reinforcement NFE or 50% reinforcement NFE. This work will further our understanding of the role novelty, reliability and IU in threat extinction. Ultimately, this research will inform future models of IU and clinical treatments of anxiety and stress disorders.