Cognitive mechanisms of social anxiety reduction: An examination of specificity and temporality.

Cognitive theories posit that exposure-based treatments exert their effect on social anxiety by modifying judgmental biases. The present study provides a conservative test of the relative roles of changes in judgmental biases in governing social anxiety reduction and addresses several limitations of previous research. Longitudinal, within-subjects analysis of data from 53 adults with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) social phobia diagnosis revealed that reductions in probability and cost biases accounted for significant variance in fear reduction achieved during treatment. However, whereas the reduction in probability bias resulted in fear reduction, the reduction in cost bias was merely a consequence of fear reduction. A potential implication is that exposure-based treatments for social anxiety might focus more attention on correcting faulty appraisals of social threat occurrence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Overprediction of anxiety, and disconfirmatory processes, in anxiety disorders

The overprediction of anxiety phenomenon and its relationships with fear, dysfunctional and functional beliefs, and emotional experiences during confrontations with feared stimuli were investigated in two studies. Study 1 investigated exposure in vivo exercises executed by anxiety patients during treatment (n = 37). Study 2 investigated behavioural experiments executed by anxiety patients (n = 11) during cognitive treatment. In both studies patients rated various variables just before and immediately after their exercises. The results indicate that anxiety patients tend to overpredict the level of anxiety they are going to experience. There is no evidence that this phenomenon is a statistical artefact, caused for instance by a pre-test response style. There is also no evidence that the observed adjustment of incorrect anxiety predictions is a statistical artefact. A global negative emotional evaluation of the experience appears to have an adverse influence on the reduction of anxiety predictions and on the reduction of fear. Fear, and its reduction after exposure in vivo or after behavioural tests, appears to be influenced by both anxiety predictions and dysfunctional beliefs. Positive emotions and functional beliefs did not appear to play an important role. The interrelationships between these factors are comprised in a path-model which describes how emotional and cognitive information yielded by disconfirmatory experiences influences changes in anxiety predictions and changes in fear. Unexpectedly, change in dysfunctional belief did not relate directly to change in fear, but only indirectly, via change in anxiety predictions. Theoretical and therapeutical implications are discussed.     

Extinction of conditioned fear in rats as a function of several parameters of CS exposure.

Employed Pavlovian fear acquisition and extinction procedures in a factorial design which varied conditioned-stimulus (CS) duration in acquisition, the number and duration of CS exposures in extinction, and total CS exposure across extinction trials. Ss were 128 female Blue Spruce hooded rats. Suppression of licking for water served as the measure of residual fear. The data revealed that suppression of licking was an inverse function of total nonreinforced CS exposure irrespective of the number and duration of extinction exposures used to amass that total. The effect of total nonreinforced CS exposure was not significantly influenced by the duration of the CS utilized in acquisition training. The discrepancy between the obtained results and predictions derived from several theories of extinction is discussed. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The convergence of backpropagation trained neural networks for various weight update frequencies

Fear sometimes returns after successful fear attenuation via in vivo exposure to fear signals. Post-treatment return of fear is of considerable interest both practically and theoretically, but factors associated with return of fear are poorly understood due to conflicting results from procedurally diverse experiments. This paper reports two very similar experiments in which fear of animal specimens was weakened then allowed to return so that factors associated with return of fear could be studied. In each experiment attentional focus versus distraction during exposure served as a between-subjects independent variable. In each case, attempts also were made to predict return of fear via several nonmanipulated variables: initial fear, initial avoidance during voluntary exposure, initial heart rate during voluntary exposure, and speed of fear reduction during repeated exposure trials. With the sample sizes used there was only suggestive evidence that return of fear was associated with distraction during exposure, and with relatively rapid fear decline during exposure. More importantly, the experiments are offered as standard, replicable models for research that will permit procedurally homogeneous investigations of variables with which return of fear is associated.     

The role of fear in theories of avoidance learning, flooding, and extinction.

Summarizes the major lines of evidence that demonstrate a dissociation or desynchrony between measures of fear and avoidance responding. The evidence bearing on the role of fear in theories of avoidance learning and extinction is reviewed and critically evaluated. In addition, research is discussed regarding the determinants of fear over the course of avoidance acquisition, flooding, and extinction. Particular emphasis is placed on discussing the extent to which fear extinction is necessary and/or sufficient for avoidance response extinction with conventional extinction procedures and with response prevention techniques. (3? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disentangling the Effects of Safety-Behavior Utilization and Safety-Behavior Availability During Exposure-Based Treatment: A Placebo-Controlled Trial.

The primary aim of the current study was to further investigate the deleterious effects of safety-seeking behaviors on fear reduction by disentangling the effects of perceived availability of threat-relevant safety behaviors during treatment versus their actual use. Participants (N=72) displaying marked claustrophobic fear were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 conditions: (a) exposure only (EO), (b) exposure with phobic safety-behavior availability (SBA), (c) exposure with safety-behavior utilization (SBU), (d) credible placebo treatment (PL), or (e) wait list (WL). High end-state functioning rates at posttreatment were as follows: EO=94%, SBA=45%, SBU=44%, PL=25%, and WL=0%. Findings suggest that it is the perception of the availability of safety aids as opposed to their actual use that exerts a disruptive effect on fear reduction. Clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implications of emotion regulation for the shift from normative fear-relevant learning to anxiety-related psychopathology.

Replies to the article by Mineka and Zinbarg (see record 2006-00920-002), which illustrated how a contemporary learning theory informs the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders. In our view, the challenge facing contemporary learning theory is to explain how and why potentiated fear conditioning is problematic and capable of yielding an anxiety disorder. Neither potentiated fear and fear learning itself, nor individual differences that potentiate both, explain how an anxiety disorder develops. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of a prosthetic appliance for treatment of sleep apnea syndrome on masticatory and tongue muscle activity

Theories that fear results from previous traumatic experience (i.e. conditioning theories) have enjoyed widespread support for over half a century. Recent research, however, has cast doubt on the validity of these models in some specific phobias. Two studies on the etiology of height phobia have obtained findings consistent with a non-associative, evolutionary explanation of fear acquisition (Menzies and Clarke, 1993a, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 31, 355-365; Menzies and Clarke, 1995a, Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33, 795-805). Unfortunately, the retrospective nature of these studies limits the conclusions that can be drawn from these data. Like all retrospective research, these studies depend on adult subjects imperfect ability to recall conditioning events that may have occurred many years earlier. The present investigation overcomes these methodological shortcomings by examining the relationship between putative conditioning events before the age of 9 yr and the presence of height fear at ages 11 and 18 yr in a large birth cohort studied longitudinally. To our knowledge this is the first study that has prospectively examined the relationship between relevant traumatic events early in life and the onset of height fear in late adolescence. No positive relationship was found between a history of falls resulting in injury (i.e. fracture, dislocation, intracranial injury or laceration) before the age of 9 and fear of heights at age 11 or 18. Interestingly, falls resulting in injury between the ages of 5 and 9 occurred more frequently in those without a fear of heights at 18 (P < 0.01)--a finding in the opposite direction to that predicted by conditioning theory but consistent with non-associative theories of fear acquisition. In general, the results provide strong support for non-associative models of fear and are difficult to reconcile with conditioning theories.     

Is emotion regulation a useful construct that adds to the explanatory power of learning models of anxiety disorders or a new label for old constructs?

Replies to comments made by Olatunji et al (see record 2007-04834-019) on the current authors' original article (see record 2006-00920-002). Olatunji et al noted that we addressed factors that are likely to potentiate fear and anxiety conditioning but did not address the questions of how, when, and why potentiated fear leads to an anxiety disorder. We thank them for raising these issues so that we have an opportunity to address them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Critical history of the acculturation psychology of assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization.

The psychology of intercultural adaptation was first discussed by Plato. Many modern enculturation theories claim that ethnic minorities (including aboriginal natives, immigrants, refugees, and sojourners) can favor either the dominant culture, or their own minority culture, or both, or neither. Between 1918 and 1984, 68 such theories showed varied and inconsistent terminology, poor citation of earlier research, conflicting and poorly tested predictions of acculturative stress, and lack of logic, for example, 2 cultures in contact logically allow 16 types of acculturation, not just 4. Logic explains why assimilation = negative chauvinism = marginality, why measures of incompatible acculturative attitudes can be positively correlated, and why bicultural integration and marginalisation are confounded constructs. There is no robust evidence that biculturalism is most adaptive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of varied-stimulus exposure training on fear reduction and return of fear

The current investigation assessed the relative treatment benefits of persistence with one specific stimulus vs exposure to multiple versions of a stimulus. The study was a 2 (type of stimulus) x 3 (assessment occasion) design, in which two spider-fearful groups (N = 28) were compared across three different occasions: pre-treatment, post-treatment, and follow-up. Exposure trials were conducted with the same tarantula for participants in the control group, whereas experimental participants were exposed to four novel tarantulas. As predicted, the control group demonstrated significantly more habituation than the experimental group across exposure trials, yet showed a clear return of fear in response to a control spider at a 3-week follow-up assessment whereas the experimental group showed no increase in fear. These findings offer support for the beneficial effects of varying the stimulus during exposure, and challenge the reliance on indices of fear activation and habituation as accurate signals of the permanence of fear reduction.     

"Critical history of the acculturation psychology of assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization": Correction to Rudmin (2003).

Reports an error in the original article by F. W. Rudmin (Review of General Psychology, 2003[Mar], Vol 7[1], pp. 3-37). Six errors in this article are described. Readers of the critical history are also directeced to the work of J. Berry (2003) in acculturation psychology. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 2003-01663-002.) The psychology of intercultural adaptation was first discussed by Plato. Many modern enculturation theories claim that ethnic minorities (including aboriginal natives, immigrants, refugees, and sojourners) can favor either the dominant culture, or their own minority culture, or both, or neither. Between 1918 and 1984, 68 such theories showed varied and inconsistent terminology, poor citation of earlier research, conflicting and poorly tested predictions of acculturative stress, and lack of logic, for example, 2 cultures in contact logically allow 16 types of acculturation, not just 4. Logic explains why assimilation = negative chauvinism = marginality, why measures of incompatible acculturative attitudes can be positively correlated, and why bicultural integration and marginalisation are confounded constructs. There is no robust evidence that biculturalism is most adaptive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paradoxical enhancement of learned fear.

Conducted 2 experiments to demonstrate that presentation of the CS alone, after conditioning, can enhance learned fear. In Exp. I, groups of 12 Holtzman albino rats received 0-, 1/2-, 5-, 15-, or 50-min postconditioning exposure to the apparatus (the CS) in which they had previously been shocked. Results suggest that the 5-min exposure group was more fearful than the nonexposed controls. In Exp. II, 32 male Holtzman albino weanling rats were conditioned to fear 1 compartment in a shuttle box, followed 2 wk. later by interpolated exposures to the fear cues alone for 0, 30, 60, or 300 sec. 30- and 60-sec exposures produced significantly more spatial avoidance than 0- and 300-sec exposures. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of subject control and graduated exposure on snake phobias.

Investigated the influence of 2 of the variables in H. Leitenberg's graduated exposure technique for treating phobias, graduated exposure, and S control of the exposure time. 15 snake-phobic 18-60 yr old undergraduates were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups: Group 1, S control, graduated exposure, feedback; Group 2, E control, graduated exposure, feedback; and Group 3, E control, nongraduated exposure, feedback. The exposure time of Group 2 was yoked to Group 1, and the exposure time for Ss in Group 3 was equal to the average time in Group 1. All treatments significantly reduced phobic behavior, as measured by avoidance behavior in the presence of the phobic object. Greatest reduction in behavioral avoidance was shown by Group 1, followed by Group 2. Group 3 showed the least reduction. Subjective fear significantly decreased from pretesting to posttesting for all groups, but the groups did not differ from each other on the posttest. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectancy, false galvanic skin response feedback, and systematic desensitization in the modification of phobic behavior.

Compared systematic desensitization and 2 pseudotherapy manipulations with and without false galvanic skin response feedback after every session suggesting improvement in the modification of intense snake and spider fear. Ss were 36 spider- and snake-phobic 18-59 yr old women. Results indicate no consistent differences between the 3 treatment groups, although all treatments were significantly more effective than no treatment in modifying physiological, behavioral, and self-report measures of fear. A 4-mo follow-up showed stability in fear reduction on self-report measures for the 3 treatment groups. Overall results contradict a traditional conditioning explanation of systematic desensitization. An alternate explanation for the operation of systematic desensitization emphasizing the motivational as opposed to conditioning aspects of the procedure is discussed. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of Pavlovian conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus pairings during avoidance response-prevention trials in rats.

Response prevention (blocking) has been shown to hasten extinction of an instrumental avoidance response. One interpretation suggests that the facilitation effect is mediated by Pavlovian fear reduction during conditioned stimulus exposure on blocked trials. To test the fear-reduction hypothesis 30 male Holtzman albino rats received either a typical blocking treatment, blocking with shock, or extinction alone. Results indicate that blocking with the UCS was as effective as regular blocking in facilitating extinction of avoidance. An ancillary part of the experiment to assess the effectiveness of response prevention in 30 immature Ss showed that blocking did not facilitate extinction with the weanlings. Findings suggest that facilitated extinction is not solely attributable to Pavlovian fear reduction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Medial Amygdala Modulation of Predator Odor-Induced Unconditioned Fear in the Rat.

This study examined the participation of the medial amygdala (MeA) in unconditioned fear. Rats received ibotenic acid lesions in the MeA or central amygdala (CeA) prior to cat-odor exposure. MeA-lesioned rats exhibited a significant reduction in freezing duration and made frequent contact with a cloth containing cat odor. In contrast, CeA lesions had no significant effects on unconditioned fear. The freezing reduction produced by MeA lesions was not due to a performance deficit because MeA-lesioned rats, unlike CeA-lesioned rats, were capable of freezing in postshock test intervals. Furthermore, MeA lesions did not alter olfactory function and general locomotor activity. Results demonstrate that the MeA plays a major role in modulating predator odor-induced unconditioned fear. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The verbal threat information pathway to fear in children: The longitudinal effects on fear cognitions and the immediate effects on avoidance behavior.

Verbal information has long been assumed to be an indirect pathway to fear. Children (aged 6-8 or 12-13 years) were exposed to threat, positive, or no information about 3 novel animals to see the long-term impact on their fear cognitions and the immediate impact on avoidance behavior. Their directly (self-report) and indirectly (implicit association task) measured attitudes toward the animals changed congruent with the information provided, and the changes persisted up to 6 months later. Verbal threat information also induced behavioral avoidance of the animal. Younger children formed stronger animal- threat and animal-safe associations because of threat and positive verbal information than older children, but there were negligible age effects on self-reported fear beliefs and avoidance behaviors. These results support theories of fear acquisition that suppose that verbal information affects components of the fear emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Timing of extinction relative to acquisition: A parametric analysis of fear extinction in humans.

Fear extinction is a reduction in conditioned fear following repeated exposure to the feared cue in the absence of any aversive event. Extinguished fear often reappears after extinction through spontaneous recovery. Animal studies suggest that spontaneous recovery can be abolished if extinction occurs within minutes of acquisition. However, a limited number of human extinction studies have shown that short interval extinction does not prevent the return of fear. For this reason, we performed an in-depth parametric analysis of human fear extinction using fear-potentiated startle. Using separate single-cue and differential conditioning paradigms, participants were fear conditioned and then underwent extinction either 10 min (Immediate) or 72 hr (Delayed) later. Testing for spontaneous recovery occurred 96 hr after acquisition. In the single cue paradigm, the Immediate and Delayed groups exhibited differences in context, but not fear, conditioning. With differential conditioning, there were no differences in context conditioning and the Immediate group displayed less spontaneous recovery. Thus, the results remain inconclusive regarding spontaneous recovery and the timing of extinction and are discussed in terms of performing translational studies of fear in humans. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral Changes Induced in Rats by Exposure to Trimethylthiazoline, a Component of Fox Odor.

Trimethylthiazoline (TMT), a component of fox feces, has been used in various studies as a natural predator stimulus to induce autonomic and behavioral signs of fear (e.g., higher levels of stress hormones, freezing, and risk assessment). The present study investigated whether 2 further behavioral signs of fear are induced in rats by TMT exposure: potentiation of the acoustic startle response and inhibition of appetitive behavior. In addition, the authors tested the rats for dose dependency of TMT-induced freezing behavior. The study confirmed that behavioral changes observed during TMT exposure are caused by TMT-induced fear and are dose dependent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)