@article{StegmannReichertsAndreattaetal.2019,
  author    = {Stegmann, Yannik and Reicherts, Philipp and Andreatta, Marta and Pauli, Paul and Wieser, Matthias J.},
  title     = {The effect of trait anxiety on attentional mechanisms in combined context and cue conditioning and extinction learning},
  series = {Scientific Reports},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {Scientific Reports},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41598-019-45239-3},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-239394},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Sensory processing and attention allocation are shaped by threat, but the role of trait-anxiety in sensory processing as a function of threat predictability remains incompletely understood. Therefore, we measured steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) as an index of sensory processing of predictable and unpredictable threat cues in 29 low (LA) and 29 high (HA) trait-anxious participants during a modified NPU-paradigm followed by an extinction phase. Three different contextual cues indicated safety (N), predictable (P) or unpredictable threat (U), while foreground cues signalled shocks in the P-condition only. All participants allocated increased attentional resources to the central P-threat cue, replicating previous findings. Importantly, LA individuals exhibited larger ssVEP amplitudes to contextual threat (U and P) than to contextual safety cues, while HA individuals did not differentiate among contextual cues in general. Further, HA exhibited higher aversive ratings of all contexts compared to LA. These results suggest that high trait-anxious individuals might be worse at discriminating contextual threat stimuli and accordingly overestimate the probability and aversiveness of unpredictable threat. These findings support the notion of aberrant sensory processing of unpredictable threat in anxiety disorders, as this processing pattern is already evident in individuals at risk of these disorders.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{StegmannAndreattaPaulietal.2021,
  author    = {Stegmann, Yannik and Andreatta, Marta and Pauli, Paul and Wieser, Matthias J.},
  title     = {Associative learning shapes visual discrimination in a web-based classical conditioning task},
  series = {Scientific Reports},
  volume    = {11},
  journal   = {Scientific Reports},
  number    = {1},
  doi       = {10.1038/s41598-021-95200-6},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-260480},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Threat detection plays a vital role in adapting behavior to changing environments. A fundamental function to improve threat detection is learning to differentiate between stimuli predicting danger and safety. Accordingly, aversive learning should lead to enhanced sensory discrimination of danger and safety cues. However, studies investigating the psychophysics of visual and auditory perception after aversive learning show divergent findings, and both enhanced and impaired discrimination after aversive learning have been reported. Therefore, the aim of this web-based study is to examine the impact of aversive learning on a continuous measure of visual discrimination. To this end, 205 participants underwent a differential fear conditioning paradigm before and after completing a visual discrimination task using differently oriented grating stimuli. Participants saw either unpleasant or neutral pictures as unconditioned stimuli (US). Results demonstrated sharpened visual discrimination for the US-associated stimulus (CS+), but not for the unpaired conditioned stimuli (CS-). Importantly, this finding was irrespective of the US's valence. These findings suggest that associative learning results in increased stimulus salience, which facilitates perceptual discrimination in order to prioritize attentional deployment.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{WiemerRaunerStegmannetal.2021,
  author    = {Wiemer, Julian and Rauner, Milena M. and Stegmann, Yannik and Pauli, Paul},
  title     = {Reappraising fear: is up-regulation more efficient than down-regulation?},
  series = {Motivation and Emotion},
  volume    = {45},
  journal   = {Motivation and Emotion},
  number    = {2},
  issn      = {1573-6644},
  doi       = {10.1007/s11031-021-09871-9},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-269187},
  pages     = {221-234},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Catastrophizing thoughts may contribute to the development of anxiety, but functional emotion regulation may help to improve treatment. No study so far directly compared up- and down-regulation of fear by cognitive reappraisal. Here, healthy individuals took part in a cued fear experiment, in which multiple pictures of faces were paired twice with an unpleasant scream or presented as safety stimuli. Participants (N = 47) were asked (within-subjects) to down-regulate, to up-regulate and to maintain their natural emotional response. Valence and arousal ratings indicated successful up- and down-regulation of the emotional experience, while heart rate and pupil dilation increased during up-regulation, but showed no reduction in down-regulation. State and trait anxiety correlated with evaluations of safety but not threat stimuli, which supports the role of deficient safety learning in anxiety. Reappraisal did not modulate this effect. In conclusion, this study reveals evidence for up-regulation effects in fear, which might be even more efficient than down-regulation on a physiological level and highlights the importance of catastrophizing thoughts for the maintenance of fear and anxiety.},
  language  = {en}
}