Learning to fear a second-order stimulus following vicarious learning

Abstract

Vicarious fear learning refers to the acquisition of fear via observation of the fearful responses of others. The present study aims to extend current knowledge by exploring whether second-order vicarious fear learning can be demonstrated in children. That is, whether vicariously learnt fear responses for one stimulus can be elicited in a second stimulus associated with that initial stimulus. Results demonstrated that children's (5-11 years) fear responses for marsupials and caterpillars increased when they were seen with fearful faces compared to no faces. Additionally, the results indicated a second-order effect in which fear-related learning occurred for other animals seen together with the fear-paired animal, even though the animals were never observed with fearful faces themselves. Overall, the findings indicate that for children in this age group vicariously learnt fear-related responses for one stimulus can subsequently be observed for a second stimulus without it being experienced in a fear-related vicarious learning event. These findings may help to explain why some individuals do not recall involvement of a traumatic learning episode in the development of their fear of a specific stimulus

Social Fear Learning: from Animal Models to Human Function

“…In most experimental observational SFL protocols in non-human animals, all modalities are used in conjunction as the demonstrator is directly exposed to the observer [28, 29]. Some studies use a second-order observational SFL procedure [30], which is analogous to second-order classical FC [31]. Second-order SFL begins with standard observational fear learning procedure in which a neutral CS is paired with the demonstrator’s expression of fear, and then in the subsequent training session, this CS (now called the first-order CS or CS1) is paired with a novel cue (second-order CS or CS2) [30].…”

“…Some studies use a second-order observational SFL procedure [30], which is analogous to second-order classical FC [31]. Second-order SFL begins with standard observational fear learning procedure in which a neutral CS is paired with the demonstrator’s expression of fear, and then in the subsequent training session, this CS (now called the first-order CS or CS1) is paired with a novel cue (second-order CS or CS2) [30]. The most commonly used measures of learning acquired through observational SFL are changes in autonomic activity, such as skin conductance responses, SCR, which are tested mostly in human studies [23, 25, 32]; behavioral threat responses, such as immobility or freezing, which are used in animal research [26, 33]; and avoidance behavior tested both in humans and animals [27, 34–37].…”

Vicarious learning and reduction of fear in children via adult and child models.

“…Acquisition. (Dunne et al, 2017;Reynolds et al, 2017). The significant pairing type  time interaction showed that avoidance preferences changed over time depending on the type of face children saw animals with, F(2, 116) = 7.40, p = .001, η 2 p = .11 (95% CIs [0.021, 0.22]).…”

The Sustainable Positive Effects of Enterprise Social Media on Employees: The Visibility and Vicarious Learning Lens

“…The concept of vicarious learning has been applied in many different fields, including organizational learning [9,58], entrepreneurship [59,60], social commerce [61], individual learning [10], fear-learning [62], education [63], and training [64]. Vicarious learning may be viewed as a component of social learning theory, originally derived from the work of psychologist Albert Bandura [65,66].…”