Verbal threat learning does not spare loved ones

Instructional learning of threat-related attentional capture is modulated by state anxiety

The present study aimed to determine whether persistent threat-related attentional capture can result from instructional learning, when participants acquire knowledge of the aversive qualities of a stimulus through verbal instruction. Fifty-four nonclinical adults first performed a visual search task in which a green or red circle was presented as a target. They were instructed that one of these two colors might be paired with an electric shock if they responded slowly or inaccurately, whereas the other color was never associated with shock. However, no shocks were actually delivered. In a subsequent test phase, in which participants were explicitly informed that shocks were no longer possible, former-target-color stimuli were presented as distractors in a visual search task for a shape-defined target. In both tasks, although participants were never exposed to the electric shock, we observed a significant correlation between threat-related attentional priority and state anxiety. Our results demonstrate that exposure to a stimulus with the belief that it could be threatening is sufficient to generate a persistent attentional bias toward that stimulus, but this effect is modulated by state anxiety. Attentional biases for fear-relevant stimuli have been implicated in anxiety disorders, and our findings demonstrate that for anxious participants, attentional biases can be entirely the product of erroneous beliefs concerning the linking between stimuli and possible outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Observational learning of threat-related attentional bias

Attentional bias to threat has been almost exclusively examined after participants experienced repeated pairings between a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). This study aimed to determine whether threat-related attentional capture can result from observational learning, when participants acquire knowledge of the aversive qualities of a stimulus without themselves experiencing aversive outcomes. Non-clinical young-adult participants (N = 38) first watched a video of an individual (the demonstrator) performing a Pavlovian conditioning task in which one colour was paired with shock (CS+) and another colour was neutral (CS-). They then carried out visual search for a shape-defined target. Oculomotor measures evidenced an attentional bias toward the CS+ colour, suggesting that threat-related attentional capture can ensue from observational learning. Exploratory analyses also revealed that this effect was positively correlated with empathy for the demonstrator. Our findings extend empirical and theoretical knowledge about threat-driven attention and provide valuable insights to better understand the formation of anxiety disorders.

Social support and fear-inhibition: an examination of underlying neural mechanisms

Recent work has demonstrated that reminders of those we are closest to have a unique combination of effects on fear learning and represent a new category of fear inhibitors, termed prepared fear suppressors. Notably, social-support-figure images have been shown to resist becoming associated with fear, suppress conditional-fear-responding and lead to long-term fear reduction. Due to the novelty of this category, understanding the underlying neural mechanisms that support these unique abilities of social-support-reminders has yet to be investigated. Here, we examined the neural correlates that enable social-support-reminders to resist becoming associated with fear during a retardation-of-acquisition test. We found that social-support-figure-images (vs stranger-images) were less readily associated with fear, replicating prior work, and that this effect was associated with decreased amygdala activity and increased ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) activity for social-support-figure-images (vs stranger-images), suggesting that social-support-engagement of the VMPFC and consequent inhibition of the amygdala may contribute to unique their inhibitory effects. Connectivity analyses supported this interpretation, showing greater connectivity between the VMPFC and left amygdala for social-support-figure-images (vs stranger-images).

The mere sight of loved ones does not inhibit psychophysiological defense mechanisms when threatened

Looking at pictures of loved ones, such as one's romantic partner or good friends, has been shown to alleviate the experience of pain and reduce defensive reactions. However, little is known about such modulatory effects on threat and safety learning and the psychophysiological processes involved. Here, we explored the hypothesis that beloved faces serve as implicit safety cues and attenuate the expression of fear responses and/or accelerate extinction learning in a threatening context. Thirty-two participants viewed pictures of their loved ones (romantic partner, parents, and best friend) as well as of unknown individuals within contextual background colors indicating threat-of-shock or safety. Focusing on the extinction of non-reinforced threat associations (no shocks were given), the experiment was repeated on two more test days while the defensive startle-EMG, SCR, and threat ratings were obtained. Results confirmed pronounced defensive responding to instructed threat-of-shock relative to safety context (e.g., threat-enhanced startle reflex and SCR). Moreover, threat-potentiated startle response slowly declined across test days indicating passive extinction learning in the absence of shocks. Importantly, neither a main effect of face category (loved vs. unknown) nor a significant interaction with threat/safety instructions was observed. Thus, a long-term learning history of beneficial relations (e.g., with supportive parents) did not interfere with verbal threat learning and aversive apprehensions. These findings reflect the effects of worries and apprehensions that persist despite the repeated experience of safety and the pictorial presence of loved ones. How to counter such aversive expectations is key to changing mal-adaptive behaviors (e.g., avoidance or stockpiling), biased risk perceptions, and stereotypes.

Safety learning and the Pavlovian conditioned inhibition of fear in humans: Current state and future directions

Safety learning occurs when an otherwise neutral stimulus comes to signal the absence of threat, allowing organisms to use safety information to inhibit fear and anxiety in nonthreatening environments. Although it continues to emerge as a topic of relevance in biological and clinical psychology, safety learning remains inconsistently defined and under-researched. Here, we analyse the Pavlovian conditioned inhibition paradigm and its application to the study of safety learning in humans. We discuss existing studies; address outstanding theoretical considerations; and identify prospects for its further application. Though Pavlovian conditioned inhibition presents a theoretically sound model of safety learning, it has been investigated infrequently, with decade-long interims between some studies, and notable methodological variability. Consequently, we argue that the full potential of conditioned inhibition as a model for human safety learning remains untapped, and propose that it could be revisited as a framework for addressing timely questions in the behavioural and clinical sciences.