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Wong AHK, Pittig A, Engelhard IM. The generalization of threat beliefs to novel safety stimuli induced by safety behaviors. Behav Brain Res 2024; 470:115078. [PMID: 38825020 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2024] [Revised: 04/08/2024] [Accepted: 05/30/2024] [Indexed: 06/04/2024]
Abstract
Safety behaviors are responses that can reduce or even prevent an expected threat. Moreover, empirical studies have shown that using safety behaviors to a learnt safety stimulus can induce threat beliefs to it. No research so far has examined whether threat beliefs induced this way generalize to other novel stimuli related to the safety stimulus. Using a fear and avoidance conditioning model, the current study (n=116) examined whether threat beliefs induced by safety behaviors generalize to other novel generalization stimuli (GSs). Participants first acquired safety behaviors to a threat predicting conditioned stimulus (CSthreat). Safety behaviors could then be performed in response to one safe stimulus (CSsafeShift) but not to another (CSsafe). In a following generalization test, participants showed a significant but small increase in threat expectancies to GSs related to CSsafeShift compared to GSs related to CSsafe. Interestingly, the degree of safety behaviors used to the CSsafeShift predicted the subsequent increase in generalized threat expectancies, and this link was elevated in trait anxious individuals. The findings suggest that threat beliefs induced by unnecessary safety behaviors generalize to other related stimuli. This study provides a potential explanation for the root of threat belief acquisition to a wide range of stimuli or situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex H K Wong
- Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences, and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam 3062 PA, the Netherlands.
| | - Andre Pittig
- Translational Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Kurze-Geismar-Straße 1, Göttingen 37073, Germany
| | - Iris M Engelhard
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80140, Utrecht 3508 TC, the Netherlands
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Kesim IE, Pittig A, Wong AHK. The effect of typicality training on costly safety behavior generalization. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2024; 88:1771-1782. [PMID: 38822864 PMCID: PMC11281986 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-024-01979-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 05/19/2024] [Indexed: 06/03/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Typicality asymmetry in generalization refers to enhanced fear generalization when trained with typical compared to atypical exemplars. Typical exemplars are highly representative of their category, whereas atypical exemplars are less representative. Individual risk factors, such as trait anxiety, attenuate this effect, due to the high level of threat ambiguity of atypical exemplars. Although recent research provided evidence for generalization of safety behavior, it is unclear whether this generalization also follows typicality asymmetry. This study examined (1) whether participants exhibited typicality asymmetry in the generalization of safety behavior and (2) whether this effect would be attenuated by individual risk factors, such as intolerance of uncertainty and trait anxiety. METHODS Participants were trained with either typical (Typical group, n = 53) or atypical (Atypical group, n = 55) exemplars in a fear and avoidance conditioning procedure. Participants acquired differential conditioned fear and costly safety behavior to the threat- and safety-related exemplars. In a following Generalization Test, the degree of safety behavior to novel exemplars of the same categories was tested. RESULTS The Atypical group showed greater differential safety behavior responses compared to the Typical group. Higher trait anxiety was associated with lower differential safety behavior generalization, driven by an increase in generalized responding to novel safety-related exemplars. LIMITATIONS This study used hypothetical cost instead of real cost. CONCLUSIONS Training with atypical exemplars led to greater safety behavior generalization. Moreover, individuals with high trait anxiety show impaired safety behavior generalization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Işık E Kesim
- Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences, and Child Studies, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam, 3062 PA, The Netherlands
| | - Andre Pittig
- Translational Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Kurze-Geismar-Straße 1, 37073, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Alex H K Wong
- Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences, and Child Studies, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Burgemeester Oudlaan 50, Rotterdam, 3062 PA, The Netherlands.
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Ruble S, Kramer C, West L, Payne K, Ness H, Erickson G, Scott A, Diehl MM. Active avoidance recruits the anterior cingulate cortex regardless of social context in male and female rats. RESEARCH SQUARE 2024:rs.3.rs-3750422. [PMID: 38260416 PMCID: PMC10802695 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3750422/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2024]
Abstract
Actively avoiding danger is necessary for survival. Most research has focused on the behavioral and neurobiological processes when individuals avoid danger alone, under solitary conditions. Therefore, little is known about how social context affects active avoidance. Using a modified version of the platform-mediated avoidance task in rats, we investigated whether the presence of a social partner attenuates conditioned freezing and enhances avoidance learning compared to avoidance learned under solitary conditions. Rats spent a similar percentage of time avoiding during the tone under both conditions; however, rats trained under social conditions exhibited greater freezing during the tone as well as lower rates of darting and food seeking compared to solitary rats. Under solitary conditions, we observed higher levels of avoidance in females compared to males, which was not present in rats trained under social conditions. To gain greater mechanistic insight, we optogenetically inactivated glutamatergic projection neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) following avoidance training. Photoinactivation of ACC neurons reduced expression of avoidance under social conditions both in the presence and absence of the partner. Under solitary conditions, photoinactivation of ACC delayed avoidance in males but blocked avoidance in females. Our findings suggest that avoidance is mediated by the ACC, regardless of social context, and may be dysfunctional in those suffering from trauma-related disorders. Furthermore, sex differences in prefrontal circuits mediating active avoidance warrant further investigation, given that females experience a higher risk of developing anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon Ruble
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
| | - Cassandra Kramer
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
| | - Lexe West
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
| | - Karissa Payne
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
| | - Halle Ness
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
| | - Greg Erickson
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
| | - Alyssa Scott
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
| | - Maria M. Diehl
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506
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Wake S, Hedger N, van Reekum CM, Dodd H. The effect of social anxiety on threat acquisition and extinction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17262. [PMID: 38737738 PMCID: PMC11088819 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 05/14/2024] Open
Abstract
Although exposure-based therapy has been found to be effective at alleviating symptoms of social anxiety disorder, it often does not lead to full remission, and relapse after treatment is common. Exposure therapy is based on theoretical principles of extinction of conditioned fear responses. However, there are inconsistencies in findings across experiments that have investigated the effect of social anxiety on threat conditioning and extinction processes. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to examine whether elevated levels of social anxiety are associated with abnormalities in threat conditioning and extinction processes. A second aim was to examine the sensitivity of various study designs and characteristics to detect social anxiety-related differences in threat conditioning and extinction. A systematic search was conducted, which identified twenty-three experiments for inclusion in the review. The findings did not demonstrate compelling evidence that high levels of social anxiety are associated with atypical threat conditioning or extinction. Further, when systematically examining the data, there was no convincing support that the use of a particular psychophysiological measure, subjective rating, or experimental parameter yields more consistent associations between social anxiety and conditioning processes during threat acquisition or extinction. Meta-analyses demonstrated that during threat extinction, the use of anxiety ratings as a dependent variable, socially relevant unconditioned stimuli, and a higher reinforcement schedule produced more detectable effects of social anxiety on compromised extinction processes compared to any other dependent variable (subjective or physiological) or experimental parameter. Overall, the results of this study suggest that social anxiety is not reliably related to deficits in conditioning and extinction processes in the context of laboratory-based Pavlovian conditioning paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon Wake
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Nicholas Hedger
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Carien M. van Reekum
- School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Helen Dodd
- University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom
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Glück VM, Boschet-Lange JM, Pittig R, Pittig A. Persistence of extensively trained avoidance is not elevated in anxiety disorders in an outcome devaluation paradigm. Behav Res Ther 2023; 170:104417. [PMID: 37879245 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104417] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2023] [Revised: 10/05/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/27/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A habitual avoidance component may enforce the persistence of maladaptive avoidance behavior in anxiety disorders. Whether habitual avoidance is acquired more strongly in anxiety disorders is unclear. METHODS Individuals with current social anxiety disorder, panic disorder and/or agoraphobia (n = 62) and healthy individuals (n = 62) completed a devaluation paradigm with extensive avoidance training, followed by the devaluation of the aversive outcome. In the subsequent test phase, habitual response tendencies were inferred from compatibility effects. Neutral control trials were added to assess general approach learning in the absence of previous extensive avoidance training. RESULTS The compatibility effects indicating habitual control did not differ between patients with anxiety disorders and healthy controls. Patients showed lower overall approach accuracy, but this effect was unrelated to the compatibility effects. CONCLUSIONS In this study, anxiety disorders were characterized by reduced approach but not stronger habitual avoidance. These results do not indicate a direct association between anxiety disorders and the acquisition of pervasive habitual avoidance in this devaluation paradigm.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina M Glück
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Juliane M Boschet-Lange
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Roxana Pittig
- Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology, and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Andre Pittig
- Translational Psychotherapy, Institute of Psychology, University of Goettingen, Göttingen, Germany.
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Wake S, Verde AD, Biagi N, van Reekum CM, Morriss J. Just let me check: The role of individual differences in self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features on subjective, behavioural, and physiological indices during a checking task. Int J Psychophysiol 2022; 179:43-55. [PMID: 35753565 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.06.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2022] [Revised: 05/25/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Checking behaviour has been described as a form of preventative behaviour used by an individual to establish control over the environment and avoid future misfortune. However, when compulsive, checking behaviours can become disabling and distressing and have been linked to the maintenance of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Despite this, there is limited literature across the field that has assessed the impact of dimensional measures of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features (i.e., negative affect, uncertainty, and perfectionism) in driving checking behaviour. As such, the present study examined the impact of individual differences in self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features on subjective, behavioural, and physiological indices during a visual discrimination and checking task (n = 87). Higher self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features were associated with higher subjective ratings of unpleasantness and the urge to check during the task. Moreover, higher self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features related to general negative affect, uncertainty, and perfectionism were associated with greater checking frequency during the task. Lastly, stronger obsessional beliefs about perfectionism and the need for certainty were found to predict poorer accuracy, slower reaction times, and higher engagement of the corrugator supercilii during the task. In sum, these findings demonstrate how different anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features, in particular perfectionism and the need for certainty, may relate to and maintain checking behaviour in low threat contexts, which likely has implications for models of excessive and persistent checking in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon Wake
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
| | - Alberto Dalla Verde
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Nicolò Biagi
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Carien M van Reekum
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
| | - Jayne Morriss
- Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, UK
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