Far from the threatening crowd: Generalisation of conditioned threat expectancy and fear in COVID-19 lockdown.

IF 1.9 4区 心理学 Q3 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Learning & Behavior Pub Date : 2024-09-01 Epub Date: 2024-01-29 DOI:10.3758/s13420-024-00625-4
Simon Dymond, Gemma Cameron, Daniel V Zuj, Martyn Quigley
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Abstract

Fear and anxiety are rarely confined to specific stimuli or situations. In fear generalisation, there is a spread of fear responses elicited by physically dissimilar generalisation stimuli (GS) along a continuum between danger and safety. The current study investigated fear generalisation with a novel online task using COVID-19-relevant stimuli (i.e., busy or quiet shopping street/mall scenes) during pandemic lockdown restrictions in the United Kingdom. Participants (N = 50) first completed clinically relevant trait measures before commencing a habituation phase, where two conditioned stimuli (CSs; i.e., a busy or quiet high street/mall scene) were presented. Participants then underwent fear conditioning where one conditioned stimulus (CS+) was followed by an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US; a loud female scream accompanied by a facial photograph of a female displaying a fearful emotion) and another (CS-) was not. In a test phase, six generalisation stimuli were presented where the US was withheld, and participants provided threat expectancy and fear ratings for all stimuli. Following successful conditioning, fear generalization was observed for both threat expectancy and fear ratings. Trait worry partially predicted generalised threat expectancy and COVID-19 fear strongly predicted generalised fear. In conclusion, a generalisation gradient was evident using an online remote generalisation task with images of busy/quiet streets during the pandemic. Worry and fear of COVID-19 predicted fear generalisation.

Abstract Image

远离威胁人群:COVID-19 封锁中条件性威胁预期和恐惧的泛化。
恐惧和焦虑很少局限于特定的刺激或情况。在恐惧泛化中,物理上不同的泛化刺激(GS)所引起的恐惧反应会沿着危险和安全之间的连续统一体扩散。本研究通过一项新颖的在线任务,使用与 COVID-19 相关的刺激物(即繁忙或安静的购物街/购物中心场景),对英国大流行病封锁限制期间的恐惧泛化进行了调查。参与者(N = 50)首先完成临床相关的特质测量,然后开始习惯阶段,在此阶段会出现两个条件刺激(CS;即繁忙或安静的商业街/购物中心场景)。然后,参与者接受恐惧条件反射,在一个条件刺激(CS+)之后出现一个厌恶的非条件刺激(US;一声响亮的女性尖叫,并伴有一张显示恐惧情绪的女性面部照片),而另一个条件刺激(CS-)则不出现。在测试阶段,会出现六种泛化刺激,其中 US 被保留,参与者会对所有刺激进行威胁预期和恐惧评级。在成功的条件反射后,威胁预期和恐惧评级都观察到了恐惧泛化。特质担忧部分预测了泛化的威胁预期,而 COVID-19 恐惧则强烈预测了泛化的恐惧。总之,使用大流行期间繁忙/安静街道的图像进行在线远程泛化任务,泛化梯度是显而易见的。对 COVID-19 的担忧和恐惧可预测恐惧泛化。
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来源期刊
Learning & Behavior
Learning & Behavior 医学-动物学
CiteScore
2.90
自引率
5.60%
发文量
50
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Learning & Behavior publishes experimental and theoretical contributions and critical reviews concerning fundamental processes of learning and behavior in nonhuman and human animals. Topics covered include sensation, perception, conditioning, learning, attention, memory, motivation, emotion, development, social behavior, and comparative investigations.
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