Fear generalization gradients in visuospatial attention.

Emotion ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. 1011-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Wu Dowd ◽  
Stephen R. Mitroff ◽  
Kevin S. LaBar
Keyword(s):  
Visuospatial Attention ◽  
Generalization Gradients ◽  
Fear Generalization

Neural reactivity tracks fear generalization gradients

2013 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tsafrir Greenberg ◽  
Joshua M. Carlson ◽  
Jiook Cha ◽  
Greg Hajcak ◽  
Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi
Keyword(s):  
Generalization Gradients ◽  
Fear Generalization ◽  
Neural Reactivity

Changes in fear generalization gradients as a function of delayed testing.

1966 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 678-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otello Desiderato ◽  
Barrie Butler ◽  
Cornelius Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Generalization Gradients ◽  
Fear Generalization

scholarly journals Conceptual fear generalization gradients

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaëtan Mertens ◽  
Vera Bouwman ◽  
Arne Leer ◽  
Iris Engelhard
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Personality Traits ◽  
Electric Shock ◽  
Vulnerability Factors ◽  
Generalization Gradients ◽  
Fear Generalization ◽  
Fear And Anxiety ◽  
Development Of Anxiety ◽  
Insight Into

A hallmark symptom of fear and anxiety disorder is generalization of fear to essentially innocuous stimuli and situations. Such generalization can occur through both perceptual and conceptually similarities. Recent studies indicate that perceptual generalization is inflated in anxiety patients and individuals prone to develop anxiety disorders, suggesting that perceptual generalization may be involved in the etiology of anxiety disorders. In the current study we want to address whether conceptual generalization is potentially implicated in the development of anxiety disorders. Therefore, we will use a novel paradigm in which the Dutch word mini [tiny] or enorm [enormous] is paired with an electric shock and assess fear to the conceptually related words klein [small], medium [medium], and groot [large]. The obtained generalization gradients will be related to personality traits known to be vulnerability factors for anxiety disorders. These results will provide insight into conceptual fear generalization and whether this phenomenon potentially relates to the development of anxiety disorders.

scholarly journals Threat intensity widens fear generalization gradients.

2017 ◽  
Vol 131 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph E. Dunsmoor ◽  
Marijn C. W. Kroes ◽  
Stephen H. Braren ◽  
Elizabeth A. Phelps
Keyword(s):  
Generalization Gradients ◽  
Fear Generalization

scholarly journals Individual differences in human fear generalization—pattern identification and implications for anxiety disorders

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Stegmann ◽  
M. A. Schiele ◽  
D. Schümann ◽  
T. B. Lonsdorf ◽  
P. Zwanzger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Conditioned Fear ◽  
Generalization Test ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Response Characteristics ◽  
Generalization Gradients ◽  
Fear Generalization ◽  
Healthy Participants

AbstractPrevious research indicates that anxiety disorders are characterized by an overgeneralization of conditioned fear as compared with healthy participants. Therefore, fear generalization is considered a key mechanism for the development of anxiety disorders. However, systematic investigations on the variance in fear generalization are lacking. Therefore, the current study aims at identifying distinctive phenotypes of fear generalization among healthy participants. To this end, 1175 participants completed a differential fear conditioning phase followed by a generalization test. To identify patterns of fear generalization, we used a k-means clustering algorithm based on individual arousal generalization gradients. Subsequently, we examined the reliability and validity of the clusters and phenotypical differences between subgroups on the basis of psychometric data and markers of fear expression. Cluster analysis reliably revealed five clusters that systematically differed in mean responses, differentiation between conditioned threat and safety, and linearity of the generalization gradients, though mean response levels accounted for most variance. Remarkably, the patterns of mean responses were already evident during fear acquisition and corresponded most closely to psychometric measures of anxiety traits. The identified clusters reliably described subgroups of healthy individuals with distinct response characteristics in a fear generalization test. Following a dimensional view of psychopathology, these clusters likely delineate risk factors for anxiety disorders. As crucial group characteristics were already evident during fear acquisition, our results emphasize the importance of average fear responses and differentiation between conditioned threat and safety as risk factors for anxiety disorders.

Focusing of Visuospatial Attention

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 256-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caterina Pesce ◽  
Rainer Bösel
Keyword(s):  
Reaction Times ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Spatial Relation ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Visuospatial Attention ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Behavioral Studies ◽  
Task Conditions ◽  
Simple Rt

Abstract In the present study we explored the focusing of visuospatial attention in subjects practicing and not practicing activities with high attentional demands. Similar to the studies of Castiello and Umiltà (e. g., 1990) , our experimental procedure was a variation of Posner's (1980) basic paradigm for exploring covert orienting of visuospatial attention. In a simple RT-task, a peripheral cue of varying size was presented unilaterally or bilaterally from a central fixation point and followed by a target at different stimulus-onset-asynchronies (SOAs). The target could occur validly inside the cue or invalidly outside the cue with varying spatial relation to its boundary. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and reaction times (RTs) were recorded to target stimuli under the different task conditions. RT and ERP findings showed converging aspects as well as dissociations. Electrophysiological results revealed an amplitude modulation of the ERPs in the early and late Nd time interval at both anterior and posterior scalp sites, which seems to be related to the effects of peripheral informative cues as well as to the attentional expertise. Results were: (1) shorter latency effects confirm the positive-going amplitude enhancement elicited by unilateral peripheral cues and strengthen the criticism against the neutrality of spatially nonpredictive peripheral cueing of all possible target locations which is often presumed in behavioral studies. (2) Longer latency effects show that subjects with attentional expertise modulate the distribution of the attentional resources in the visual space differently than nonexperienced subjects. Skilled practice may lead to minimizing attentional costs by automatizing the use of a span of attention that is adapted to the most frequent task demands and endogenously increases the allocation of resources to cope with less usual attending conditions.

Effects of an Anxiety-Specific Psychometric Factor on Fear Conditioning and Fear Generalization

2017 ◽  
Vol 225 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Baumann ◽  
Miriam A. Schiele ◽  
Martin J. Herrmann ◽  
Tina B. Lonsdorf ◽  
Peter Zwanzger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factor ◽  
Anxiety Disorders ◽  
Fear Conditioning ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Anxiety And Depression ◽  
Specific Factor ◽  
High Anxious ◽  
Two Factors ◽  
Fear Generalization

Abstract. Conditioning and generalization of fear are assumed to play central roles in the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders. Here we investigate the influence of a psychometric anxiety-specific factor on these two processes, thus try to identify a potential risk factor for the development of anxiety disorders. To this end, 126 healthy participants were examined with questionnaires assessing symptoms of anxiety and depression and with a fear conditioning and generalization paradigm. A principal component analysis of the questionnaire data identified two factors representing the constructs anxiety and depression. Variations in fear conditioning and fear generalization were solely associated with the anxiety factor characterized by anxiety sensitivity and agoraphobic cognitions; high-anxious individuals exhibited stronger fear responses (arousal) during conditioning and stronger generalization effects for valence and UCS-expectancy ratings. Thus, the revealed psychometric factor “anxiety” was associated with enhanced fear generalization, an assumed risk factor for anxiety disorders. These results ask for replication with a longitudinal design allowing to examine their predictive validity.

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