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Overgeneralization of fear, but not avoidance, following acute stress
Lemmens,Anke Beckers,Tom Dibbets,Pauline Kang,Sahaj Smeets,Tom
Lemmens,Anke
Beckers,Tom
Dibbets,Pauline
Kang,Sahaj
Smeets,Tom
Abstract
Research has demonstrated the spreading of fear from threat-related stimuli to perceptually similar, but innocuous, stimuli. Less is known, however, about the generalization of avoidance behavior. Given that stress is known to affect learning and memory, we were interested in the effect of acute stress on (over)generalization of fear and avoidance responses. On the first day, one geometrical shape was paired with a mild electrical stimulus (CS+), whereas another shape was not (CS-). One day later, after participants had been exposed to the Maastricht Acute Stress Test or a control task, generalization of avoidance responses and fear (shock expectancy and skin conductance responses) was tested to a range of perceptual generalization stimuli. Generalization gradients were observed across different outcome measures. Stress enhanced generalization of shock expectancy to the stimulus most similar to the CS+. Our findings confirm that stress can affect the generalization of fear, but further studies are warranted.
Description
Funding This work was supported by the Dutch Research Council (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, NWO; #452-14-003) to T.S.
Date
2021
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Keywords
ANXIETY DISORDERS, Acute stress, Avoidance generalization, CONDITIONED FEAR, EXPECTANCY BIAS, EXTINCTION, Fear conditioning, Fear generalization, INCREASES, INDIVIDUALS, INHIBITION, MAST, MEMORY, POTENTIATED STARTLE, VALIDATION
Citation
Lemmens, A, Beckers, T, Dibbets, P, Kang, S & Smeets, T 2021, 'Overgeneralization of fear, but not avoidance, following acute stress', Biological Psychology, vol. 164, 108151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108151