Contextual fear conditioning and fear generalization in individuals with panic attacks
Please always quote using this URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201318
- Context conditioning is characterized by unpredictable threat and its generalization may constitute risk factors for panic disorder (PD). Therefore, we examined differences between individuals with panic attacks (PA; N = 21) and healthy controls (HC, N = 22) in contextual learning and context generalization using a virtual reality (VR) paradigm. Successful context conditioning was indicated in both groups by higher arousal, anxiety and contingency ratings, and increased startle responses and skin conductance levels (SCLs) in an anxiety contextContext conditioning is characterized by unpredictable threat and its generalization may constitute risk factors for panic disorder (PD). Therefore, we examined differences between individuals with panic attacks (PA; N = 21) and healthy controls (HC, N = 22) in contextual learning and context generalization using a virtual reality (VR) paradigm. Successful context conditioning was indicated in both groups by higher arousal, anxiety and contingency ratings, and increased startle responses and skin conductance levels (SCLs) in an anxiety context (CTX+) where an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) occurred unpredictably vs. a safety context (CTX−). PA compared to HC exhibited increased differential responding to CTX+ vs. CTX− and overgeneralization of contextual anxiety on an evaluative verbal level, but not on a physiological level. We conclude that increased contextual conditioning and contextual generalization may constitute risk factors for PD or agoraphobia contributing to the characteristic avoidance of anxiety contexts and withdrawal to safety contexts and that evaluative cognitive process may play a major role.…
Author: | Dorothea Neueder, Marta Andreatta, Paul Pauli |
---|---|
URN: | urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-201318 |
Document Type: | Journal article |
Faculties: | Fakultät für Humanwissenschaften (Philos., Psycho., Erziehungs- u. Gesell.-Wissensch.) / Institut für Psychologie |
Language: | English |
Parent Title (English): | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience |
Year of Completion: | 2019 |
Volume: | 13 |
Pagenumber: | 152 |
Source: | Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 2019, 13:152. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00152 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00152 |
Dewey Decimal Classification: | 1 Philosophie und Psychologie / 15 Psychologie / 150 Psychologie |
Tag: | anxiety generalization; contextual fear conditioning; panic disorder; startle response; virtual reality |
Release Date: | 2020/03/19 |
Collections: | Open-Access-Publikationsfonds / Förderzeitraum 2019 |
Licence (German): | CC BY: Creative-Commons-Lizenz: Namensnennung 4.0 International |