Patrick A F Laing, Bram Vervliet, Joseph E Dunsmoor, Ben J Harrison
{"title":"Pavlovian safety learning: An integrative theoretical review.","authors":"Patrick A F Laing, Bram Vervliet, Joseph E Dunsmoor, Ben J Harrison","doi":"10.3758/s13423-024-02559-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Safety learning involves associating stimuli with the absence of threats, enabling the inhibition of fear and anxiety. Despite growing interest in psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience, safety learning lacks a formal consensus definition, leading to inconsistent methodologies and varied results. Conceptualized as a form of inhibitory learning (conditioned inhibition), safety learning can be understood through formal learning theories, such as the Rescorla-Wagner and Pearce-Hall models. This review aims to establish a principled conceptualization of 'Pavlovian safety learning', identifying cognitive mechanisms that generate safety and the boundary conditions that constrain it. Based on these observations, we define Pavlovian safety learning as an active associative process, where surprising threat-omission (safety prediction error) acts as a salient reinforcing event. Instead of producing merely neutral or nonaversive states, safety learning endows stimuli with active positive associations to 'safety'. The resulting stimulus-safety memories counteract the influence of fear memories, promoting fear regulation, positive affect, and relief. We critically analyze traditional criteria of conditioned inhibition for their relevance to safety and propose areas for future innovation. A principled concept of Pavlovian safety learning may reduce methodological inconsistencies, stimulate translational research, and facilitate a comprehensive understanding of an indispensable psychological construct.</p>","PeriodicalId":20763,"journal":{"name":"Psychonomic Bulletin & Review","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychonomic Bulletin & Review","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-024-02559-4","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, EXPERIMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Safety learning involves associating stimuli with the absence of threats, enabling the inhibition of fear and anxiety. Despite growing interest in psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience, safety learning lacks a formal consensus definition, leading to inconsistent methodologies and varied results. Conceptualized as a form of inhibitory learning (conditioned inhibition), safety learning can be understood through formal learning theories, such as the Rescorla-Wagner and Pearce-Hall models. This review aims to establish a principled conceptualization of 'Pavlovian safety learning', identifying cognitive mechanisms that generate safety and the boundary conditions that constrain it. Based on these observations, we define Pavlovian safety learning as an active associative process, where surprising threat-omission (safety prediction error) acts as a salient reinforcing event. Instead of producing merely neutral or nonaversive states, safety learning endows stimuli with active positive associations to 'safety'. The resulting stimulus-safety memories counteract the influence of fear memories, promoting fear regulation, positive affect, and relief. We critically analyze traditional criteria of conditioned inhibition for their relevance to safety and propose areas for future innovation. A principled concept of Pavlovian safety learning may reduce methodological inconsistencies, stimulate translational research, and facilitate a comprehensive understanding of an indispensable psychological construct.
期刊介绍:
The journal provides coverage spanning a broad spectrum of topics in all areas of experimental psychology. The journal is primarily dedicated to the publication of theory and review articles and brief reports of outstanding experimental work. Areas of coverage include cognitive psychology broadly construed, including but not limited to action, perception, & attention, language, learning & memory, reasoning & decision making, and social cognition. We welcome submissions that approach these issues from a variety of perspectives such as behavioral measurements, comparative psychology, development, evolutionary psychology, genetics, neuroscience, and quantitative/computational modeling. We particularly encourage integrative research that crosses traditional content and methodological boundaries.