Evidence for different roles of inhibitory and prospective intolerance of uncertainty during threat discrimination learning

Abstract

Uncertainty is a core component of threat and associated learning processes. One methodological factor impacting uncertainty in threat learning paradigms is the threat reinforcement rate, which refers to the proportion of times a cue is reinforced with an aversive stimulus. This study tested the effect of partial vs continuous threat reinforcement on threat / safety discrimination learning, as indexed by skin conductance response (SCR). Using a within-participants design, fifty-nine participants completed a task in which three colored shapes were paired with electric shock at reinforcement schedules of 100%, 50% (CS+) and 0% (CS-). In addition, the study examined the relationship between the Intolerance of Uncertainty scale (IU) and two subfactors – inhibitory and prospective IU – with threat discrimination learning. The data show heightened SCR in the continuous vs partial reinforcement condition to all stimuli, but no enhanced discrimination learning. Furthermore, no association was observed between total IU score and threat-safety discrimination. However, using a two-factor model of IU, findings showed higher inhibitory IU and higher prospective IU were associated with diminished and heightened threat discrimination, respectively. These results contribute to a fast-growing literature exploring how the uncertainty inherent to predictors of threat, individual differences in sensitivity to uncertainty, and interactions between these two factors, can shape the acquisition of threat memory.