Testing a novelty-based extinction procedure for the reduction of conditioned avoidance

Krypotos, Angelos‐Miltiadis; Engelhard, Iris M.

doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.02.006

Cited by 36 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…This was in line with previous work (e.g. Krypotos & Engelhard, 2018;Vervliet & Indekeu, 2015); experiment 2 where response prevention was induced via instructions), but in disagreement with other studies (e.g. Vervliet & Indekeu, 2015); experiment 1 where response prevention was induced via removing the availability to avoid during extinction).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…During this phase, the avoidance response for the CSA or the CSB trials resulted in the US cancellation. In order to give the visual impression that the manikin was actually escaping the CS and avoiding the US (Krypotos & Engelhard, 2018), the manikin started walking towards the bottom of the screen during the last 3.75 seconds of the trial, while the CS size reduced (width 10.5 cm, 8 cm, 5.30 cm and height 8 cm, 5.30 cm, 2.6 cm respectively). In CS-trials, there was no US administration or manikin movement.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Before the beginning of the extinction phase, participants were instructed that the avoidance response would be unavailable in the next phase (Krypotos & Engelhard, 2018). The extinction phase had two parts, and the US was never presented.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Targeting avoidance via compound extinction

Krypotos

Engelhard

2019

Cognition and Emotion

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Avoidance towards innocuous cues is a key diagnostic criterion across anxiety-related disorders. Importantly, the most effective intervention for anxiety-related disorders, exposure therapy with response prevention, sometimes does not prevent the relapse of anxiety's symptomatology. We tested whether extinction effects, the experimental proxy of exposure, are enhanced by increasing the discrepancy between the prediction of an unpleasant event happening (shock presentation), and the actual event (shock omission). Forty-eight individuals first saw pictures of three stimuli. Two pictures (CSA, CSB) were followed by a shock (US) and one (CS-) was not. Next, participants learned to avoid the US by pressing a computer key. An extinction and response prevention procedure followed. In the first part of it, participants saw unreinforced presentations of all CSs. In the second part, the single group saw unreinforced presentations of the CSA and CS-. The compound group encountered compound unreinforced presentations of the CSA and CSB, and separate presentations of the CS-. Return of avoidance and fear was tested after unsignalled presentations of the US. Compound extinction resulted in comparable reduction of fear and avoidance compared to standard extinction. We discuss how future research could enhance extinction effects by adding costs to the avoidance behaviour. ARTICLE HISTORY

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Targeting avoidance via compound extinction

Krypotos

Engelhard

2019

Cognition and Emotion

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“…In the field of experimental psychopathology, research on avoidance is undergoing something of a renaissance (Cain, 2019;Dymond, 2019;Grillon, Robinson, Cornwell, & Ernst, 2019;LeDoux, Moscarello, Sears, & Campese, 2017). The central diagnostic status of maladaptive and excessive repertoires of avoidance in the anxiety disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Craske et al, 2009), combined with the high translational value of variants of the Pavlovian threat-conditioning and avoidance learning paradigm (Krypotos & Engelhard, 2018;Vervliet & Raes, 2013), has prompted renewed interest in the factors by which avoidance is acquired, maintained, and extinguished.…”

Section: Acquisition Extinction and Relapse Of Avoidancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using a validated approach-avoidance task, Schlund, Ludlum, Magee, Tone, Brewer, Richman, and Dymond (2019) found parametric increases in fear and avoidance renewal in humans. Although only a few studies with humans have investigated reinstatement of avoidance, moderate levels of reinstatement have been seen (Cameron, Schlund, & Dymond, 2015;Krypotos & Engelhard, 2018). Finally, resurgence of negatively reinforced behavior maintained by escape has been demonstrated (Alessandri, Lattal, & Cançado, 2015), yet little is known about resurgence of avoidance in humans (for evidence of the resurgence of positively reinforced behavior in humans see, Smith, Smith, Shahan, Madden, & Twohig, 2017).…”

Section: Acquisition Extinction and Relapse Of Avoidancementioning

confidence: 99%

Relapse of anxiety‐related fear and avoidance: Conceptual analysis of treatment with acceptance and commitment therapy

Smith

Dymond

2019

J Exper Analysis Behavior

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Excessive fear and avoidance in relatively safe situations can lead to a narrowing of one's behavioral repertoire and less engagement with valued aspects of living. Ultimately, these processes can reach clinical levels, as seen in anxiety, trauma, and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Research on the basic behavioral processes underlying successful treatment with exposure therapy is growing, yet little is known about the mechanisms contributing to clinical relapse. Until recently, these mechanisms have largely been conceptualized in terms of Pavlovian return of fear, with relatively little research into operant processes. In the current paper, we briefly review translational research in anxiety disorders and the connections between fear and avoidance, focusing on recent work in the acquisition, extinction, and relapse of avoidance behavior and the generalization of this learning through arbitrary symbolic relations. We then introduce one possible treatment approach to mitigating clinical relapse, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and provide a conceptual analysis for why ACT may be especially well-situated to address this issue. Finally, we end with potential directions for future research on treatment and relapse of anxiety disorders.

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A dimensional measure of safety behavior: A non-dichotomous assessment of costly avoidance in human fear conditioning

Wong

Pittig

2021

Psychological Research

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Safety behavior prevents the occurrence of threat, thus it is typically considered adaptive. However, safety behavior in anxiety-related disorders is often costly, and persists even the situation does not entail realistic threat. Individuals can engage in safety behavior to varying extents, however, these behaviors are typically measured dichotomously (i.e., to execute or not). To better understand the nuances of safety behavior, this study developed a dimensional measure of safety behavior that had a negative linear relationship with the admission of an aversive outcome. In two experiments, a Reward group receiving fixed or individually calibrated incentives competing with safety behavior showed reduced safety behavior than a Control group receiving no incentives. This allowed extinction learning to a previously learnt warning signal in the Reward group (i.e., updating the belief that this stimulus no longer signals threat). Despite the Reward group exhibited extinction learning, both groups showed a similar increase in fear to the warning signal once safety behavior was no longer available. This null group difference was due to some participants in the Reward group not incentivized enough to disengage from safety behavior. Dimensional assessment revealed a dissociation between low fear but substantial safety behavior to a safety signal in the Control group. This suggests that low-cost safety behavior does not accurately reflect the fear-driven processes, but also other non-fear-driven processes, such as cost (i.e., engage in safety behavior merely because it bears little to no cost). Pinpointing both processes is important for furthering the understanding of safety behavior.

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Testing a novelty-based extinction procedure for the reduction of conditioned avoidance

Abstract: Our results do not support the hypothesis that novelty-based extinction reduces avoidance responses. This study can serve as a first exploration of novelty-based extinction for reducing avoidance and explicit measures of fear.

Cited by 36 publications

References 30 publications

Targeting avoidance via compound extinction

Targeting avoidance via compound extinction

Relapse of anxiety‐related fear and avoidance: Conceptual analysis of treatment with acceptance and commitment therapy

A dimensional measure of safety behavior: A non-dichotomous assessment of costly avoidance in human fear conditioning

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