Thought Conditioning: Inducing and Reducing Thoughts About the Aversive Outcome in a Fear-Conditioning Procedure

Zenses, Ann-Kathrin; Baeyens, Frank; Beckers, Tom; Boddez, Yannick

doi:10.1177/2167702620954222

“…However, verbal and written statements were repeated throughout the experiment and thus reinforced shock expectancy while no shocks were actually administered. This constant violation of expectations may play a crucial role in reinforcing attentional, perceptual, and response biases toward threat 46 , 47 . Here, future research may directly focus on online expectancy ratings as a function of instructional threat and safety learning 48 , 49 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The mere sight of loved ones does not inhibit psychophysiological defense mechanisms when threatened

Bublatzky

¹

,

Schellhaas

²

,

Guerra

³

2022

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Looking at pictures of loved ones, such as one's romantic partner or good friends, has been shown to alleviate the experience of pain and reduce defensive reactions. However, little is known about such modulatory effects on threat and safety learning and the psychophysiological processes involved. Here, we explored the hypothesis that beloved faces serve as implicit safety cues and attenuate the expression of fear responses and/or accelerate extinction learning in a threatening context. Thirty-two participants viewed pictures of their loved ones (romantic partner, parents, and best friend) as well as of unknown individuals within contextual background colors indicating threat-of-shock or safety. Focusing on the extinction of non-reinforced threat associations (no shocks were given), the experiment was repeated on two more test days while the defensive startle-EMG, SCR, and threat ratings were obtained. Results confirmed pronounced defensive responding to instructed threat-of-shock relative to safety context (e.g., threat-enhanced startle reflex and SCR). Moreover, threat-potentiated startle response slowly declined across test days indicating passive extinction learning in the absence of shocks. Importantly, neither a main effect of face category (loved vs. unknown) nor a significant interaction with threat/safety instructions was observed. Thus, a long-term learning history of beneficial relations (e.g., with supportive parents) did not interfere with verbal threat learning and aversive apprehensions. These findings reflect the effects of worries and apprehensions that persist despite the repeated experience of safety and the pictorial presence of loved ones. How to counter such aversive expectations is key to changing mal-adaptive behaviors (e.g., avoidance or stockpiling), biased risk perceptions, and stereotypes.

show abstract

“…However, verbal and written statements were repeated throughout the experiment and thus reinforced shock expectancy while no shocks were actually administered. This constant violation of expectations may play a crucial role in reinforcing attentional, perceptual, and response biases toward threat (e.g., Zenses et al, 2021). Here, future research may directly focus on online expectancy ratings as a function of instructional threat and safety learning (e.g., Boddez et al, 2013;Mertens & De Houwer, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mere Sight of Loved Ones Does Not Inhibit Psychophysiological Defense Mechanisms When Threatened

Bublatzky

¹

,

Schellhaas

²

,

Guerra

³

2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Looking at pictures of loved ones, such as one's romantic partner or good friends, has been shown to alleviate the experience of pain and reduce defensive reactions. However, little is known about such modulatory effects on threat and safety learning and the psychophysiological processes involved. Here, we explored the hypothesis that beloved faces serve as implicit safety cues and attenuate the expression of fear responses and/or accelerate extinction learning in a threatening context. Thirty-two participants viewed pictures of their loved ones (romantic partner, parents, and best friend) as well as of unknown individuals within contextual background colors indicating threat-of-shock or safety. Focusing on the extinction of non-reinforced threat associations (no shocks were given), the experiment was repeated on two more test days while the defensive startle-EMG, SCR, and threat ratings were obtained. Results confirmed pronounced defensive responding to instructed threat-of-shock relative to safety context (e.g., threat-enhanced startle reflex and SCR). Moreover, threat-potentiated startle response slowly declined across test days indicating passive extinction learning in the absence of shocks. Importantly, neither a main effect of face category (loved vs. unknown) nor a significant interaction with threat/safety instructions was observed. Thus, a long-term learning history of beneficial relations (e.g., with supportive parents) did not interfere with verbal threat learning and aversive apprehensions.

show abstract

“…The intertrial interval was jittered between 15 and 20 seconds. After acquisition training, the CSs were presented again to re-assess US expectancy as well as US-associated thoughts (Zenses et al, 2021). Finally, explicit memory of the contingency between the CS+ and the USs was measured by asking participants which of the three faces (CSs and a distractor picture) was repeatedly followed by aversive film clips during the task.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of early night sleep effects on subsequent fear extinction learning and recall

Friesen

¹

,

Sopp

²

,

Brueckner

³

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Psychopathology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Extinction learning is considered an important underlying process of successful treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, sleep disturbances may impede this learning process: Current accounts postulate that sleep facilitates encoding by promoting neural plasticity during slow wave sleep (SWS). Based on this hypothesis, we tested whether early night sleep, with high amounts of SWS, facilitates subsequent extinction learning and recall. Sixty-three participants took part in a trauma-adapted fear conditioning experiment. One group received a three-hour sleep opportunity in the early night half, whereas the other group stayed awake. Thereafter, both groups underwent extinction training and a return-of-fear test. Retention was assessed after another sleep opportunity in both groups. Linear mixed-effects models and Bayesian inference did not support the hypothesis of strengthened fear extinction by prior early night sleep. Subsequent exploratory analyses, in contrast, point to a role of rapid eye movement sleep in promoting successful fear extinction learning. Further confirmatory research should re-investigate these effects and their implications for the treatment of PTSD.

show abstract

Thought Conditioning: Inducing and Reducing Thoughts About the Aversive Outcome in a Fear-Conditioning Procedure

Cited by 9 publications

References 50 publications

The mere sight of loved ones does not inhibit psychophysiological defense mechanisms when threatened

The mere sight of loved ones does not inhibit psychophysiological defense mechanisms when threatened

The Mere Sight of Loved Ones Does Not Inhibit Psychophysiological Defense Mechanisms When Threatened

Investigation of early night sleep effects on subsequent fear extinction learning and recall

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About