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Hornstein E, Lazar L, Eisenberger N. Loneliness and the persistence of fear: Perceived social isolation reduces evaluative fear extinction. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0303895. [PMID: 39159214 PMCID: PMC11333009 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303895] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 08/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Loneliness has been linked to a host of harmful physical and mental health outcomes, detrimental effects that may stem from increases in threat-responding caused by altered fear learning in lonely individuals. In particular, the heightened threat-vigilance that is a hallmark of loneliness may augment the processes by which fear learning occurs, ultimately resulting in a greater number of perceived threatening cues in the environment. However, almost no research has examined how loneliness alters fear learning processes in humans. Here, we investigated the effect of loneliness on fear learning during an evaluative learning procedure in which participants (n = 782) were taught to associate fearful, positive, or neutral control stimuli with neutral images. Results showed that reduced extinction of evaluative fear associations occurred in high (vs. low) lonely individuals, but there was no difference in extinction of evaluative appetitive (also known as positive or reward) associations, suggesting this effect is specific to fear learning. In addition to shedding light on the link between loneliness and poor health, these results represent an important step forward in the growing understanding of the powerful impact of social bonds on fear learning processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erica Hornstein
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Lee Lazar
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Naomi Eisenberger
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
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Kemp LT, Smeets T, Jansen A, Houben K. Aversive conditioning is impaired in impulsive individuals: A study on learning asymmetries. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2024; 83:101939. [PMID: 38185021 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2023] [Revised: 10/12/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Appetitive and aversive conditioning are thought to be involved in the development and maintenance of mental disorders including anxiety, mood, eating, and substance use disorders. However, few studies measure the relative strength of appetitive and aversive associations, and their relevance to the risk of mental disorders. This study aims to address this gap. METHODS We tested how readily healthy volunteers acquire appetitive vs. aversive associations. 150 participants associated complex 3D objects with either gain or loss and made decisions to gain or avoid losing points. We investigated the relationship of a learning asymmetry with neuroticism, impulsivity, and anhedonia, to test the hypothesis that a stronger learning asymmetry corresponds to more extreme scores on these traits. RESULTS Impulsivity was positively associated with the learning asymmetry (R2 = .10). This resulted from an inverse relation with the strength of aversive associations, indicating that impulsive individuals are worse at aversive learning. However, appetitive associations did not differ significantly. No correlations with neuroticism or anhedonia were found. LIMITATIONS Conditioning studies typically use primary reinforcers and a CS-. Lacking these may make these results less comparable to other studies. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrate that the learning asymmetry can measure individual differences linked to personality traits, and that impulsivity, normally linked with appetitive learning, also influences aversive learning. These results enable additional studies of learning asymmetry in relation to mental disorders, which could include measurements of mental health symptoms to provide further insight into how appetitive and aversive learning interacts with mental disorders.
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Qiu Y, Dou H, Wang J, Zhang H, Zhang S, Shen D, Li H, Lei Y. Reduced generalization of reward among individuals with subthreshold depression: Behavioral and EEG evidence. Int J Psychophysiol 2024; 200:112339. [PMID: 38554769 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112339] [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: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 03/27/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
Altered stimulus generalization has been well-documented in anxiety disorders; however, there is a paucity of research investigating this phenomenon in the context of depression. Depression is characterized by impaired reward processing and heightened attention to negative stimuli. It is hypothesized that individuals with depression exhibit reduced generalization of reward stimuli and enhanced generalization of loss stimuli. Nevertheless, no study has examined this process and its underlying neural mechanisms. In the present study, we recruited 25 participants with subthreshold depression (SD group) and 24 age-matched healthy controls (HC group). Participants completed an acquisition task, in which they learned to associate three distinct pure tones (conditioned stimuli, CSs) with a reward, a loss, or no outcome. Subsequently, a generalization session was conducted, during which similar tones (generalization stimuli, GSs) were presented, and participants were required to classify them as a reward tone, a loss tone, or neither. The results revealed that the SD group exhibited reduced generalization errors in the early phase of generalization, suggesting a diminished ability to generalize reward-related stimuli. The event-related potential (ERP) results indicated that the SD group exhibited decreased generalization of positive valence to reward-related GSs and heightened generalization of negative valence to loss-related GSs, as reflected by the N1 and P2 components. However, the late positive potential (LPP) was not modulated by depression in reward generalization or loss generalization. These findings suggested that individuals with subthreshold depression may have a blunted or reduced ability to generalize reward stimuli, shedding light on potential treatment strategies targeting this particular process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yiwen Qiu
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Haoran Dou
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Jinxia Wang
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China; Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä 40014, Finland
| | - Huoyin Zhang
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Shiyunmeng Zhang
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Die Shen
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China
| | - Hong Li
- College of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China; Center for studies of Psychological Applications Guangdong Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science Key Laboratory of Brain Cognition and Educational Science, Ministry of Education School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China.
| | - Yi Lei
- Institution for Brain and Psychological Science, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Center for Neurogenetics, Shenzhen Institute of Neuroscience, Shenzhen 518057, China.
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Du X, Yao L, Sun L, Chen X, Jiang J. Neural mechanisms of social comparison in subthreshold depression. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae222. [PMID: 38813967 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2024] [Revised: 04/28/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/31/2024] Open
Abstract
Social comparison is a common phenomenon in our daily life, through which people get to know themselves, and plays an important role in depression. In this study, event-related potential (ERP) was used to explore the temporal course of social comparison processing in the subthreshold depression group. Electrophysiological recordings were acquired from 30 subthreshold depressed individuals and 31 healthy individuals while they conducted the adapted dot estimation task. The ERP results revealed that there was a significant difference of feedback-related negativity (FRN) in the process of social comparison. Especially only in the subthreshold depression, the FRN amplitudes of worse off than some, better off than many comparisons were larger than those of upward comparisons and downward comparisons. Our results suggested that the abnormal reward sensitivity for worse off than some, better off than many comparisons might be prodromal symptoms in the subthreshold depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xue Du
- College of Educational Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Applied Psychology, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
| | - Li Yao
- College of Educational Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Applied Psychology, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Chongqing Tsinghua High School, Chongqing, China
| | - Le Sun
- College of Educational Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Applied Psychology, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
| | - Xiaoyi Chen
- College of Educational Science, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
- Key Laboratory of Applied Psychology, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, China
| | - Jun Jiang
- Department of Basic Psychology, School of Psychology, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China
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Stemerding LE, van Ast VA, Kindt M. Manipulating expectancy violations to strengthen the efficacy of human fear extinction. Behav Res Ther 2023; 165:104319. [PMID: 37087796 DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2023.104319] [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: 11/09/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 04/25/2023]
Abstract
Recent theoretical and clinical articles have emphasized a role for expectancy violations in improving the effectiveness of exposure therapy. Expectancy violations are critical to extinction learning and strengthening these violations has been suggested to improve the formation and retention of extinction memories, which should result in lasting symptom reductions after treatment. However, more detailed mechanistic insights in this process are needed to better inform clinical interventions. In two separate fear-conditioning experiments, we investigated whether stronger expectancy violations (Exp1) or fostering awareness of expectancy violations (Exp2) during extinction could reduce the subsequent return of fear. We measured fear potentiated startle (FPS) and skin conductance responses (SCR) as physiological indices of fear, and US expectancy ratings to assess our manipulations. While we successfully created stronger expectancy violations in Exp1, we found no evidence that these stronger violations reduced the return of fear at test. Interestingly, fostering awareness of violations (Exp2) reduced differential SCRs, but not FPS responses. These findings provide novel insights into the effect of US expectancies on fear extinction in the lab, but they also illustrate the complexity of capturing clinically relevant processes of change with fear-conditioning studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lotte E Stemerding
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129-B, 1018 WT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Vanessa A van Ast
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129-B, 1018 WT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Merel Kindt
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 129-B, 1018 WT, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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Amaya LJD, Restrepo-Castro JC. Association of polymorphisms rs4680 of the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase gene and rs6265 of the Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor gene with the Behavioral Inhibition and Behavioral Activation Systems. IBRO Neurosci Rep 2023; 14:320-324. [PMID: 37006719 PMCID: PMC10063402 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibneur.2023.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/11/2023] [Indexed: 03/16/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS) comprises limbic circuitry implicated in avoidance behaviors. Its increased activation has been identified as a risk factor for anxiety and depressive disorders. In addition, both Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) have been postulated as candidate genes that constitute a vulnerability for the onset of anxiety and depressive disorders. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible association between the rs4680 polymorphism of the COMT gene and the rs6265 polymorphism of the BDNF gene with the BIS and the Behavioral Activation System (BAS) in a population sample from Colombia. Methods Genetic information was obtained by extracting DNA from blood samples of 80 participants and using Taqman probes designed for each polymorphism. In addition, participants completed a BIS/BAS scale in order to establish a neuropsychological classification. Results The frequency of the Met allele of the BDNF gene was greater in the group with BIS sensitivity compared to the group with BAS sensitivity. On the contrary, the frequency of the Met allele of the COMT gen did not show a significant association with the BIS. Conclusions The rs6265 polymorphism of BDNF gene is associated with the BIS which in turn constitutes a risk factor for anxiety and depression.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Juan C. Restrepo-Castro
- Universidad de La Sabana, Campus del Puente del Común, Km. 7, Autopista Norte de Bogotá, Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia
- Corresponding author.
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Restrepo-Castro JC, Labrador FJ, Gantiva C, Camacho K, Castro-Camacho L. The effect of information seeking behaviors in fear control. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2023; 78:101797. [PMID: 36435551 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2022.101797] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Revised: 05/03/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Individuals experiencing conditioned fear reactions often resort to avoidance and escape behaviors as attempts to decrease fear. Nevertheless, these strategies are not always available. In such cases, people seek information to mitigate aversive events. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of information seeking behaviors on self-reported fear, predictability, and physiological responses. METHODS Participants were randomly assigned to two groups. In group one, individuals were given the choice to perform an instrumental behavior which provided information about the occurrence of either an aversive or a neutral event (100% contingency). In group two, individuals were also allowed to perform an instrumental behavior. However, such behavior provided partial information (50% contingency). RESULTS Individuals in group one presented lower levels of fear compared to individuals assigned to group two. LIMITATIONS The generalizability of the results may be restricted to undergraduate students. CONCLUSIONS The results suggests that when avoidance and escape are not available, individuals seek information that provides control over fear. Clinical implications are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan C Restrepo-Castro
- Universidad de la Sabana, Campus del Puente del Común, Km. 7, Autopista Norte de Bogotá, Chía, Cundinamarca, Colombia.
| | | | - Carlos Gantiva
- Universidad de los Andes, Carrera 1 # 18(a) -12, Bogotá, Colombia.
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Zbozinek TD, Perez OD, Wise T, Fanselow M, Mobbs D. Ambiguity drives higher-order Pavlovian learning. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1010410. [PMID: 36084131 PMCID: PMC9491594 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 09/21/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In the natural world, stimulus-outcome associations are often ambiguous, and most associations are highly complex and situation-dependent. Learning to disambiguate these complex associations to identify which specific outcomes will occur in which situations is critical for survival. Pavlovian occasion setters are stimuli that determine whether other stimuli will result in a specific outcome. Occasion setting is a well-established phenomenon, but very little investigation has been conducted on how occasion setters are disambiguated when they themselves are ambiguous (i.e., when they do not consistently signal whether another stimulus will be reinforced). In two preregistered studies, we investigated the role of higher-order Pavlovian occasion setting in humans. We developed and tested the first computational model predicting direct associative learning, traditional occasion setting (i.e., 1st-order occasion setting), and 2nd-order occasion setting. This model operationalizes stimulus ambiguity as a mechanism to engage in higher-order Pavlovian learning. Both behavioral and computational modeling results suggest that 2nd-order occasion setting was learned, as evidenced by lack and presence of transfer of occasion setting properties when expected and the superior fit of our 2nd-order occasion setting model compared to the 1st-order occasion setting or direct associations models. These results provide a controlled investigation into highly complex associative learning and may ultimately lead to improvements in the treatment of Pavlovian-based mental health disorders (e.g., anxiety disorders, substance use).
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomislav D. Zbozinek
- California Institute of Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pasadena, California, United States of America
| | - Omar D. Perez
- California Institute of Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pasadena, California, United States of America
- University of Santiago, CESS-Santiago, Faculty of Business and Economics, Santiago, Chile
- University of Chile, Department of Industrial Engineering, Santiago, Chile
| | - Toby Wise
- California Institute of Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pasadena, California, United States of America
| | - Michael Fanselow
- University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychology, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- University of California, Los Angeles, Staglin Center for Brain and Behavioral Health, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
- University of California, Los Angeles, Brain Research Institute, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Dean Mobbs
- California Institute of Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, Pasadena, California, United States of America
- California Institute of Technology, Computation and Neural Systems Program, Pasadena, California, United States of America
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Craske M, Treanor M, Zbozinek T, Vervliet B. Optimizing exposure therapy with an inhibitory retrieval approach and the OptEx Nexus. Behav Res Ther 2022; 152:104069. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2022.104069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/04/2021] [Revised: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 02/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
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