An Event-Related Potential Investigation of Fear Generalization and Intolerance of Uncertainty

Nelson, Brady D.; Weinberg, Anna; Pawluk, Joe; Gawłowska, Magda; Proudfit, Greg Hajcak

doi:10.1016/j.beth.2014.09.010

Cited by 48 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 47 publications

(42 reference statements)

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“…Consistently, it has been demonstrated that fear-conditioned versus neutral stimuli lead to enhanced LPP amplitudes (Nelson, Weinberg, Pawluk, Gawlowska, & Proudfit, 2015;Panitz, Hermann, & Mueller, 2015) and capture as well as bind attention (Koster, Crombez, Van Damme, Verschuere, & De Houwer, 2005;Koster, Crombez, Van Damme et al, 2004;Schmidt et al, 2015). Due to the task irrelevance of the contexts, our results further provide evidence that attentional capture of threat contexts is relatively immune to distraction (Bishop, 2008).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Since the LPP has been reported to be highly sensitive for affective and motivational saliency (Hajcak et al, ), the observed increase of the early LPP to neutral faces in threat contexts may reflect the allocation of attentional resources toward threat. Consistently, it has been demonstrated that fear‐conditioned versus neutral stimuli lead to enhanced LPP amplitudes (Nelson, Weinberg, Pawluk, Gawlowska, & Proudfit, ; Panitz, Hermann, & Mueller, ) and capture as well as bind attention (Koster, Crombez, Van Damme, Verschuere, & De Houwer, ; Koster, Crombez, Van Damme et al, ; Koster, Crombez, Verschuere, & De Houwer, ; Schmidt et al, ). Due to the task irrelevance of the contexts, our results further provide evidence that attentional capture of threat contexts is relatively immune to distraction (Bishop, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

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Threat‐conditioned contexts modulate the late positive potential to faces—A mobile EEG/virtual reality study

2018

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In everyday life, the motivational value of faces is bound to the contexts in which faces are perceived. Electrophysiological studies have demonstrated that inherent negatively valent contexts modulate cortical face processing as assessed with ERP components. However, it is not well understood whether learned (rather than inherent) and three‐dimensional aversive contexts similarly modulate the neural processing of faces. Using full immersive virtual reality (VR) and mobile EEG techniques, 25 participants underwent a differential fear conditioning paradigm, in which one virtual room was paired with an aversive noise burst (threat context) and another with a nonaversive noise burst (safe context). Subsequently, avatars with neutral or angry facial expressions were presented in the threat and safe contexts while EEG was recorded. Analysis of the late positive potential (LPP), which presumably indicates motivational salience, revealed a significant interaction of context (threat vs. safe) and face type (neutral vs. angry). Neutral faces evoked increased LPP amplitudes in threat versus safe contexts, while angry faces evoked increased early LPP amplitudes regardless of context. In addition to indicating that threat‐conditioned contexts alter the processing of ambiguous faces, the present study demonstrates the successful integration of EEG and VR with particular relevance for affective neuroscience research.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

Threat‐conditioned contexts modulate the late positive potential to faces—A mobile EEG/virtual reality study

2018

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“…However, this effect habituated very rapidly and was quite small after the first aversive conditioning block. We also found that the LPP was larger on CS+US− trials than on CS− trials, thus showing that it can be used as an index of aversive learning (see also Nelson et al, ). Unlike the SCR, however, the LPP conditioning effect was stable over blocks, as was the subjective self‐report measure.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

“…For example, Kastner and colleagues used odorants as CS1 and CS2, and they found a larger LPP for a visual flash when it was presented near the time of the CS1 than when it was presented near the time of the CS2 (Kastner, Flohr, Pauli, & Wieser, 2016). Nelson and colleagues used visual stimuli as the CS1 and CS2 and found that an LPP-like component in a principal component analysis was larger for the CS1 than for the CS2 (Nelson, Weinberg, Pawluk, Gawlowska, & Proudfit, 2015). However, neither of these studies examined the SPN.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Event‐related potential components as measures of aversive conditioning in humans

Bacigalupo

Luck

2017

Psychophysiology

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For more than 60 years, the gold standard for assessing aversive conditioning in humans has been the skin conductance response (SCR), which arises from the activation of the peripheral nervous system. Although the SCR has been proven useful, it has some properties that impact the kinds of questions it can be used to answer. In particular, the SCR is slow, reaching a peak 4-5 s after stimulus onset, and it decreases in amplitude after a few trials (habituation). The present study asked whether the late positive potential (LPP) of the ERP waveform could be a useful complementary method for assessing aversive conditioning in humans. The SCR and LPP were measured in an aversive conditioning paradigm consisting of three blocks in which one color was paired with a loud noise (CS+) and other colors were not paired with the noise (CS-). Participants also reported the perceived likelihood of being exposed to the noise for each color. Both SCR and LPP were significantly larger on CS+ trials than on CS- trials. However, SCR decreased steeply after the first conditioning block, whereas LPP and self-reports were stable over blocks. These results indicate that the LPP can be used to assess aversive conditioning and has several useful properties: (a) it is a direct response of the central nervous system, (b) it is fast, with an onset latency of 300 ms, (c) it does not habituate over time.

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“…Of note, several past studies provide evidence that fear generalization is not merely passively driven by perceptual discrimination or pattern separation abilities (Onat and Büchel, 2015). Factors such as the emotional intensity or ambiguity of the GS, and intolerance to uncertainty are thought to contribute to fear generalization as well (Dunsmoor et al , 2009; Nelson et al , 2015; Onat and Büchel, 2015; Struyf et al , 2015; Morriss et al , 2016). Future studies could assess how these different factors are integrated into a generalized fear response, and how these factors influence generalization with respect to cognitive versus emotional expressions of fear.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioral pattern separation and its link to the neural mechanisms of fear generalization

Lange

Goossens

Michielse

et al. 2017

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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Fear generalization is a prominent feature of anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is defined as enhanced fear responding to a stimulus that bears similarities, but is not identical to a threatening stimulus. Pattern separation, a hippocampal-dependent process, is critical for stimulus discrimination; it transforms similar experiences or events into non-overlapping representations. This study is the first in humans to investigate the extent to which fear generalization relies on behavioral pattern separation abilities. Participants (N = 46) completed a behavioral task taxing pattern separation, and a neuroimaging fear conditioning and generalization paradigm. Results show an association between lower behavioral pattern separation performance and increased generalization in shock expectancy scores, but not in fear ratings. Furthermore, lower behavioral pattern separation was associated with diminished recruitment of the subcallosal cortex during presentation of generalization stimuli. This region showed functional connectivity with the orbitofrontal cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Together, the data provide novel experimental evidence that pattern separation is related to generalization of threat expectancies, and reduced fear inhibition processes in frontal regions. Deficient pattern separation may be critical in overgeneralization and therefore may contribute to the pathophysiology of anxiety disorders and PTSD.

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An Event-Related Potential Investigation of Fear Generalization and Intolerance of Uncertainty

Cited by 48 publications

References 47 publications

Threat‐conditioned contexts modulate the late positive potential to faces—A mobile EEG/virtual reality study

Threat‐conditioned contexts modulate the late positive potential to faces—A mobile EEG/virtual reality study

Event‐related potential components as measures of aversive conditioning in humans

Behavioral pattern separation and its link to the neural mechanisms of fear generalization

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