Temporal dynamics of conditioned skin conductance and pupillary responses during fear acquisition and extinction

Jentsch, Valerie L.; Wolf, Oliver T.; Merz, Christian J.

doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2019.11.006

Cited by 22 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…The increase was most marked for SCRs in the first interval response (FIR) window (1-4.99 seconds following CS onset). This agrees with findings that conditioning related changes of SCR amplitudes are most prominent in the first 3-4 seconds following CS onset (Pineles et al, 2009;Jentsch et al, 2020). It has been argued that FIR reflect orienting or novelty responses (Ohman, 1972(Ohman, , 1974.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…It has been argued that FIR reflect orienting or novelty responses (Ohman, 1972(Ohman, , 1974. Other studies suggest that FIR are also related to associative processes, in particular during extinction (Jentsch et al, 2020). Increased recall of learned fear responses is in good agreement with the phenomenon of additive response summation: Following individual conditioning for two different CSs, the compound presentation of the two CSs results in a CR that is the sum of the responses to each of the individual CSs (Hull, 1943;Kimble, 1961;Wolf, 1963;Weiss, 1964;Miller, 1969;Weiss, 1972).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Responses with an onset in the time window of 1.0 to 4.99 s after CS onset were defined as first interval response (SCR FIR ), with an onset of 5.0 to 8.49 s after CS onset as second interval response (SCR SIR ), and with an onset of 8.5 to 13.0 s after CS onset as third interval response (SCR TIR ; Fig. 2A) (Jentsch et al, 2020).…”

Section: Fear Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interaction of Fear Conditioning with Eyeblink Conditioning Supports the Sensory Gating Hypothesis of the Amygdala in Men

Inoue

Ernst

Ferber

et al. 2020

eNeuro

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Inhibition of the amygdala slows down acquisition of conditioned eyeblink responses (CRs). Based on the two-stage or two-factor theory of aversive conditioning, amygdala-dependent conditioned fear is a necessary prerequisite to acquire eyeblink CRs, but is no longer needed after eyeblink CRs are attained. According to the sensory gating hypothesis of the amygdala, on the other hand, the amygdala modulates the salience of unconditioned and conditioned stimuli (US and CS) in eyeblink conditioning. We tested these two opposing assumptions in five groups of 20 young and healthy men. On day 1, three groups underwent fear acquisition training followed by acquisition of eyeblink CRs. On the next day (day 2), extinction was tested. In Group 1, fear and eyeblink extinction trials overlapped; in Group 2, fear and eyeblink extinction trials alternated; and in Group 3, fear extinction trials were followed by eyeblink extinction trials. Groups 4 and 5 were control conditions testing fear and eyeblink conditioning only. Preceding fear acquisition training facilitated acquisition of conditioned eyeblinks. Concomitant fear extinction impeded extinction of eyeblink CRs, which was accompanied by increased autonomic responses. Fear extinction, however, was not significantly altered by concomitant eyeblink extinction. Recall of fear CRs on day 2 was facilitated in Group 1 suggesting additive response summation. Findings are difficult to explain with the two-stage theory of aversive conditioning which predicts suppression of conditioned fear once conditioned eyeblinks are acquired. Facilitated acquisition and impeded extinction of eyeblink CRs, however, are in accordance with the sensory gating hypothesis of the amygdala. 4 Significance Statement It has been proposed that conditioned eyeblink responses, once established, may help to facilitate fear extinction. This has potential clinical relevance because extinction of learned fear responses is at the core of exposure therapy in the treatment of many anxiety disorders. Based on our findings this proposal has to be rejected. Our findings do not support the twostage theory of aversive conditioning which predicts suppression of conditioned fear once conditioned eyeblinks are acquired. Rather, we found that concomitant extinction of conditioned eyeblink and fear responses facilitated recall of conditioned fear responses, and impeded extinction of conditioned eyeblinks. Findings are best explained by increased salience of conditioned stimuli, and therefore support the sensory gating hypothesis of the amygdala.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interaction of Fear Conditioning with Eyeblink Conditioning Supports the Sensory Gating Hypothesis of the Amygdala in Men

Inoue

Ernst

Ferber

et al. 2020

eNeuro

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“…Studies have consistently demonstrated a larger SCR to CS+ than CS-during acquisition and a diminishing difference from early to late trials of extinction (Hopkins et al, 2015;Jentsch et al, 2020;Leuchs et al, 2019;Morriss et al, 2015;Reinhardt et al, 2010;Tzovara et al, 2018). Pupil size is a related, but in the present context less frequently employed autonomic measure of arousal, reflecting both sympathetic (dilation) and parasympathetic (constriction) activation Ojala & Bach, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…The acquisition and extinction of threat-related CRs has been evidenced in a range of physiological outcome measures. The most commonly used CR readout ) is the skin conductance response (SCR), which is an index of sympathetic nervous system activity and can be elicited through arousal (Jentsch et al, 2020;Tzovara et al, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The more, the better: Auditory threat conditioning using multiple conditioned and unconditioned stimuli over many trials

Aa¹,

Rijsbergen²,

Scheepers³

2020

Preprint

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Threat conditioning research frequently relies on making inferences about associative learning mechanisms using a single item for each conditioned stimulus (CS+, CS-) and the unconditioned stimulus. However, this type of design does not allow for assessing the extent to which results generalise to populations of items and can lead to anticonservative inferences. In addition, employing a small number of trials when measuring noisy, psychophysiological responses may be problematic for establishing adequate signal-to-noise ratios. This study addresses these methodological issues and provides means for measuring associative learning and extinction mechanisms in a generalisable manner, using pupillometry as well as ratings of contingency awareness, valence, and arousal. To maximise the number of items and trials per condition, we employed an auditory blocked conditioning paradigm in which learning and extinction were established several times using different sets of conditioned (pure tones) and unconditioned stimuli (environmental sounds). We used cluster-based permutation to identify pupillary time windows of interest and linear-mixed effects modelling to account for by-subject and by-item variability. We demonstrate highly correlated early and late pupillary conditioned responses during acquisition, suggesting a common underlying learning mechanism. These responses habituated immediately during extinction. We also demonstrate (rating tasks) that conditioned valence responses are less susceptible to extinction and potentially index an additional learning mechanism. By contrast, subjective arousal ratings were less sensitive to associative learning. Finally, we demonstrate the potential risk of alpha inflation when using ‘traditional’ ANOVA-based analyses on our data.

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Reappraising fear: is up-regulation more efficient than down-regulation?

et al. 2021

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Catastrophizing thoughts may contribute to the development of anxiety, but functional emotion regulation may help to improve treatment. No study so far directly compared up- and down-regulation of fear by cognitive reappraisal. Here, healthy individuals took part in a cued fear experiment, in which multiple pictures of faces were paired twice with an unpleasant scream or presented as safety stimuli. Participants (N = 47) were asked (within-subjects) to down-regulate, to up-regulate and to maintain their natural emotional response. Valence and arousal ratings indicated successful up- and down-regulation of the emotional experience, while heart rate and pupil dilation increased during up-regulation, but showed no reduction in down-regulation. State and trait anxiety correlated with evaluations of safety but not threat stimuli, which supports the role of deficient safety learning in anxiety. Reappraisal did not modulate this effect. In conclusion, this study reveals evidence for up-regulation effects in fear, which might be even more efficient than down-regulation on a physiological level and highlights the importance of catastrophizing thoughts for the maintenance of fear and anxiety.

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Temporal dynamics of conditioned skin conductance and pupillary responses during fear acquisition and extinction

Cited by 22 publications

References 67 publications

Interaction of Fear Conditioning with Eyeblink Conditioning Supports the Sensory Gating Hypothesis of the Amygdala in Men

Interaction of Fear Conditioning with Eyeblink Conditioning Supports the Sensory Gating Hypothesis of the Amygdala in Men

The more, the better: Auditory threat conditioning using multiple conditioned and unconditioned stimuli over many trials

Reappraising fear: is up-regulation more efficient than down-regulation?

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