Secure attachment priming inhibits the generalization of conditioned fear.

BACKGROUND: Fear overgeneralization constitutes a susceptibility factor contributing to the development and maintenance of anxiety spectrum disorders. Extant research has demonstrated that exposure to positive and supportive social relationships attenuates fear acquisition and promotes the extinction of conditioned fear responses. However, the literature lacks investigation into the effect of secure attachment priming on inhibiting the generalization of conditioned fear. METHODS: In this study, college students were recruited via online platforms to voluntarily engage in the experimental procedures, resulting in 57 subjects whose data were deemed suitable for analysis. The experimental protocol consisted of four consecutive phases: pre-acquisition, acquisition, priming, and generalization. The priming phase consisted of two experimental conditions: secure attachment priming (experimental group) and positive emotion priming (control group). This study adopted the perceptual discrimination fear conditioning paradigm, employing subjective expectancy of shock ratings and skin conductance responses as primary assessment indices. Individual difference variables were measured using corresponding psychological measurement scales. RESULTS: In terms of generalization degree, a notable divergence surfaced in the skin conductance responses across various generalization materials between the secure attachment priming group and the control group. Similarly, during generalization extinction, a significant disparity emerged in the skin conductance responses across different generalization phases between the secure attachment priming group and the control group. In addition, individual differences analyses revealed that the inhibitory effect of secure attachment priming on fear generalization was not affected by intolerance of uncertainty and attachment orientations. Conversely, slope analyses confirmed that as intolerance of uncertainty increased, the inhibitory effect of positive emotion priming on fear generalization was attenuated. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that activating participants' representations of secure attachment via imagination effectively attenuates the generalization of perceptual fear at the physiological level. The inhibitory effect of secure attachment priming appears to be distinct from positive emotional modulation and remains unaffected by individual trait attachment styles. These results offer novel insights and avenues for the prevention and clinical intervention of anxiety spectrum disorders.

Novelty-retrieval-extinction paradigm to decrease high-intensity fear memory recurrence.

BACKGROUND: The retrieval-extinction paradigm based on memory reconsolidation can prevent fear memory recurrence more effectively than the extinction paradigm. High-intensity fear memories tend to resist reconsolidation. Novelty-retrieval-extinction can promote the reconsolidation of fear memory lacking neuroplasticity in rodents; however, whether it could effectively promote high-intensity fear memory reconsolidation in humans remains unclear. METHODS: Using 120 human participants, we implemented the use of the environment (novel vs. familiar) with the help of virtual reality technology. Novelty environment exploration was combined with retrieval-extinction in fear memory of two intensity levels (normal vs. high) to examine whether novelty facilitates the reconsolidation of high-intensity fear memory and prevents recurrence. Skin conductance responses were used to clarify novelty-retrieval-extinction effects at the behavioral level across three experiments. RESULTS: Retrieval-extinction could prevent the reinstatement of normal-intensity fear memory; however, for high-intensity fear memory, only the novelty-retrieval-extinction could prevent recurrence; we further validated that novelty-retrieval-extinction may be effective only when the environment is novel. LIMITATIONS: Although the high-intensity fear memory is higher than normal-intensity in this study, it may be insufficient relative to fear experienced in real-world contexts or by individuals with mental disorders. CONCLUSIONS: To some extent, these findings indicate that the novelty-retrieval-extinction paradigm could prevent the recurrence of high-intensity fear memory, and we infer that novelty of environment may play an important role in novelty-retrieval-extinction paradigm. The results of this study have positive implications for the existing retrieval extinction paradigm and the clinical treatment of phobia.

Contingency Reversal in Conditioned Fear Learning: The Moderated Mediation Model of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Instruction.

Objective: The study aimed to examine the roles of anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) in conditioned fear learning under an uncertain context induced by the contingency reversal of the association between the conditioned stimulus and the unconditioned stimulus (CS-US). Methods: The study sample comprised 53 participants, randomly divided into two groups: a non-instruction group and an instruction group. The experimental procedure encompassed five stages: pre-acquisition, acquisition, generalization, reversal acquisition, and reversal generalization. Our study primarily focused on analyzing a moderated mediation model. Results: In the instructed group, we observed that the reversed fear generalization response was directly influenced by the pre-reversal fear generalization response, while also being indirectly mediated by the IU factor. However, in the non-instructed group, we did not find a significant mediating effect of IU. Moreover, we noted that the mediation of IU was contingent on the instructional information. It is noteworthy that anxiety did not exhibit a discernible role in conditioned fear within the uncertainty condition in our study. Conclusion: The findings provide novel insights into fear-related phenomena, emphasizing the intricate interplay between individual traits and fear generalization under conditions of uncertainty. They contribute to understanding the mechanisms of emotional and cognitive interactions in uncertain conditions.