Intolerance of uncertainty as a vulnerability factor for excessive and inflexible avoidance behavior

Flores, Amanda; López, Francisco J.; Vervliet, Bram; Cobos, Pedro L.

doi:10.1016/j.brat.2018.02.008

Cited by 91 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…The explanatory potential of operant theory was further elaborated by classic research on Sidman avoidance (Sidman, 1953) showing that avoidance in the absence of external warning stimuli is maintained by an overall reduction in US-frequency (Herrnstein & Hineline, 1966), a finding further supported by research with humans (Baer, 1961;Hassoulas et al, 2014;Lejuez et al, 1998). In discriminated free-operant avoidance, responding in the presence of a warning signal delays upcoming shock, but responses during a safety signal (or absence of the warning signal) have no effect (Flores et al, 2018). As a result, responding becomes discriminated, occurring at higher rates under stimulus conditions leading to aversive event frequency reduction (see Schöenfeld (1950) and Dinsmoor (1977) for alternative accounts based on the role of temporal or proprioceptive stimuli in unsignaled avoidance).…”

Section: Theories Of Avoidance Learningmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Other research with humans has employed fear extinction procedures to investigate low-cost avoidance (Vervliet & Indekeu, 2015;Vervliet et al, 2017;Rattel et al, 2017), avoidance generalization (Boyle et al, 2016;Cameron et al, 2015;van Meurs et al, 2014), the impact of safety signal learning (Sheynin et al, 2014) and the effects of US devaluation (Flores et al, 2018;Gillan et al, 2014).…”

Section: Varieties Of Avoidance Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result, little research has been aimed at directly comparing whether or not clinical or sub-clinical groups differ from healthy participants on the acquisition and extinction of avoidance. However, research using a specific procedure (US devaluation) has shown the persistence of well-established, habitual avoidance following devaluation of the aversive event in patients with OCD (Gillan et al, 2014;but see, de Wit et al, 2018) and individuals with high intolerance of uncertainty (Flores et al, 2018).…”

Section: The Validity Of Avoidance Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future research studies should investigate the role of individual differences and clinically relevant trait variables in avoidance extinction . The extant data indicate roles for neuroticism, intolerance of uncertainty, behavioral flexibility, experiential avoidance and distress tolerance, among other traits, in the acquisition (e.g., Hassoulas et al, 2014;Morriss et al, 2018), extinction (e.g., Flores et al, 2018;Vervliet & Indekeu, 2015;Vervliet et al, 2017) and generalization of avoidance (e.g., Arnaudova et al, 2016;Hunt et al, 2017;Lommen et al, 2010). Further analyses with large samples are Avoidance Extinction 25 therefore needed to make clear the validity of avoidance acquisition, generalization and extinction paradigms for informing clinical treatment of anxiety-related disorders.…”

Section: Gaps and Directions For Research On Avoidance Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Overcoming avoidance in anxiety disorders: The contributions of Pavlovian and operant avoidance extinction methods

Dymond

2019

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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Avoidance is generally adaptive, yet excessive threat-avoidance may soon become maladaptive and lead to functional impairment and psychopathology. Laboratory-based treatment research has provided important insights about the acquisition, maintenance, and extinction of maladaptive avoidance. Despite this, laboratory research on avoidance learning and extinction in humans is relatively underdeveloped. A better understanding of avoidance extinction methods has implications for basic research with humans and the development of treatment interventions aimed at replacing maladaptive behavior with an adaptive, functional repertoire. The present article reviews, for the first time, the use of the term extinction in human research on avoidance, contrasts existing Pavlovian and operant approaches to the extinction of avoidance, considers the validity of approaches to avoidance extinction, and suggests a consistent terminology and research gaps for future translational research on anxiety and related disorders.

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Section: Theories Of Avoidance Learningmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Varieties Of Avoidance Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Validity Of Avoidance Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gaps and Directions For Research On Avoidance Extinctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Overcoming avoidance in anxiety disorders: The contributions of Pavlovian and operant avoidance extinction methods

Dymond

2019

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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“…However, Flores et al (2018) did not incorporate a competing reward for US-avoidance, PREPRINT therefore may not fully tap into the pathological domain of safety behaviour. Furthermore, this novel procedure had no room for the measurement of conditioned fear to the CS+ after safety behaviour had been performed.…”

Section: Preprintmentioning

confidence: 99%

A dimensional measure of safety behavior: A non-dichotomous assessment of costly avoidance in human fear conditioning

Ahk¹,

Pittig²

2020

Preprint

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Safety behaviour in anxiety disorders is often maladaptive given it prevents patients to disconfirm unrealistic threat beliefs (protection from extinction). These behaviours range from mild to excessive, however, are commonly examined as binary responses. The current study aimed to validate a dimensional measure of safety behaviour. After acquiring differential conditioned fear to a warning cue (CS+) and a safety cue (CS-), participants acquired dimensional safety behaviour that had a negative linear relationship with the admission of an aversive outcome (0-100% omission). Next, a Reward group received a fixed (Experiment 1) or an individually calibrated monetary incentive (Experiment 2) for non-avoidance while a Control group received no incentive. Overall, the paradigm replicated well-established effects. Intensity of safety behaviour strongly aligned with threat expectancy. The Reward group showed less frequent safety behaviour which initiated extinction learning to CS+. Surprisingly, no group differences in protection from extinction were observed. Post-hoc analyses revealed that overall group differences were biased by some high avoiders in the Reward group who constantly engaged in safety behaviour. Novel findings revealed that despite similar conditioned fear to CS-, the Control group showed stronger safety behaviour to it. This suggests that other processes besides fear are involved in low-cost avoidance

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Assessment and treatment of problem behavior occasioned by variable‐sequence transitions for children with autism

Leon,

Brewer,

Fandal

et al. 2023

Behavioral Interventions

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Transitions from one daily activity to the next can occasion problem behavior (e.g., aggression). Inspired by clinical descriptions of children with autism, we compared the effects of fixed‐sequence and variable‐sequence transitions on problem behavior using a multiple baseline across participant design. In the fixed‐sequence condition, participants were exposed to the same sequence of activities. In the variable‐sequence condition, the sequence of activities was varied semi‐randomly. Results showed that transition‐related problem behavior was more likely to occur in the variable‐sequence condition. Advance notice of the upcoming transition, in the form of auditory and visual cues, was effective at reducing transition‐related problem behavior in the variable‐sequence condition for two participants. Results are discussed in light of the effect of uncertainty of outcomes, and suggestions for future cross‐disciplinary research are provided.

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Intolerance of uncertainty as a vulnerability factor for excessive and inflexible avoidance behavior

Cited by 91 publications

References 42 publications

Overcoming avoidance in anxiety disorders: The contributions of Pavlovian and operant avoidance extinction methods

Overcoming avoidance in anxiety disorders: The contributions of Pavlovian and operant avoidance extinction methods

A dimensional measure of safety behavior: A non-dichotomous assessment of costly avoidance in human fear conditioning

Assessment and treatment of problem behavior occasioned by variable‐sequence transitions for children with autism

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