Fear conditioning depends on the nature of the unconditional stimulus and may be related to hair levels of endocannabinoids.

The replicability of fear conditioning research has come under recent scrutiny, with increasing acknowledgment that the use of differing materials and methods may lead to incongruent results. Direct comparisons between the main two unconditional stimuli used in fear conditioning - an electric shock or a loud scream-are scarce, and yet these stimuli are usually used interchangeably. In the present study, we tested whether a scream, a shock, or an unpredictable combination of the two affected fear acquisition, extinction, and return of fear amongst healthy participants (N = 109, 81 female). We also collected hair samples and tested the relationship between fear conditioning and hair endocannabinoid levels. Our findings suggest that, although subjective ratings of pleasantness, arousal, and anxiety were similar regardless of the unconditional stimuli used, skin conductance responses were significantly lower for stimuli paired with the scream compared to a shock alone. Further, reducing the predictability of the unconditional stimulus reduced habituation of skin conductance responses during acquisition and reacquisition, but did not produce stronger conditioning compared to shock alone. Exploratory analyses suggested that hair endocannabinoids were associated with overall physiological arousal during fear conditioning, as well as higher return of fear to the threat cue, but not to the safety cue. These findings have multiple implications for the design and replicability of fear conditioning research and provide the first evidence for an association between hair levels of endocannabinoids and human fear conditioning.

Emotion malleability beliefs predict daily positive and negative affect in adolescents.

ABSTRACTThe present study examined the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and daily positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) in adolescents. 639 participants provided information about emotion malleability beliefs and emotion regulation strategies on the first day of the study and six daily measurements of PA and NA. Emotion malleability beliefs had a positive relationship with PA and a negative relationship with NA. Higher emotion malleability beliefs predicted lower carryover effects of PA and NA across assessment days. We also found that cognitive reappraisal might affect the relationship between emotion malleability beliefs and daily affect, such that those who held high levels of malleability beliefs were more likely to engage in cognitive reappraisal and report lower NA and higher PA. The findings of the present study suggest that emotion malleability beliefs could predicate daily emotions and emotion dynamics across days in adolescents.

The influence of instructions on generalised valence - conditional stimulus instructions after evaluative conditioning update the explicit and implicit evaluations of generalisation stimuli.

Generalisation in evaluative conditioning occurs when the valence acquired by a conditional stimulus (CS), after repeated pairing with an unconditional stimulus (US), spreads to stimuli that are similar to the CS (generalisation stimuli, GS). CS evaluations can be updated via CS instructions that conflict with prior conditioning (negative conditioning + positive instruction). We examined whether CS instructions can update GS evaluations after conditioning. We used alien stimuli where one alien (CSp) from a fictional group was paired with pleasant US images and another alien (CSu) from a different group was paired with unpleasant US images. The other members from the two groups were used as GSs. After conditioning, participants received negative CSp instructions and positive CSu instructions. In Experiment 1, explicit and implicit GS evaluations were measured before and after the instructions. In Experiment 2, we used a between-participants design where one group received positive/negative CS instructions while a control group received neutral instructions. In both experiments, the positive/negative CS instructions caused a reversal of explicit GS evaluations and an elimination of implicit GS evaluations. The findings suggest that generalised evaluations can change after CS instructions which may have implications for interventions aimed at reducing negative group attitudes.

Engagement of the contralateral limb can enhance the facilitation of motor output by loud acoustic stimuli.

When intense sound is presented during light muscle contraction, inhibition of the corticomotoneuronal pathway is observed. During action preparation, this effect is reversed, with sound resulting in excitation of the corticomotoneuronal pathway. We investigated how the combined maintenance of a muscle contraction during preparation for a ballistic action impacts the magnitude of the facilitation of motor output by a loud acoustic stimulus (LAS), a phenomenon known as the StartReact effect. Participants executed ballistic wrist flexion movements and a LAS was presented simultaneously with the imperative signal in a subset of trials. We examined whether the force level or muscle used to maintain a contraction during preparation for the ballistic response impacted reaction time and/or the force of movements triggered by the LAS. These contractions were sustained either ipsilaterally or contralaterally to the ballistic response. The magnitude of facilitation by the LAS was greatest when low-force flexion contractions were maintained in the limb contralateral to the ballistic response during preparation. There was little change in facilitation when contractions recruited the contralateral extensor muscle or when they were sustained in the same limb that executed the ballistic response. We conclude that a larger network of neurons that may be engaged by a contralateral sustained contraction prior to initiation may be recruited by the LAS, further contributing to the motor output of the response. These findings may be particularly applicable in stroke rehabilitation, where engagement of the contralesional side may increase the benefits of a LAS to the functional recovery of movement.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The facilitation of reaction time, force, and vigor of a ballistic action by loud acoustic stimuli can be enhanced by the maintenance of a sustained contraction during preparation. This enhanced facilitation is observed when the sustained contraction is maintained with low force contralaterally and congruently with the ballistic response. This increased facilitation may be particularly applicable to rehabilitative applications of loud acoustic stimuli in improving the functional recovery of movement after neurological conditions such as stroke.

Imagery-enhanced v. verbally-based group cognitive behavior therapy for social anxiety disorder: a randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is effective for most patients with a social anxiety disorder (SAD) but a substantial proportion fails to remit. Experimental and clinical research suggests that enhancing CBT using imagery-based techniques could improve outcomes. It was hypothesized that imagery-enhanced CBT (IE-CBT) would be superior to verbally-based CBT (VB-CBT) on pre-registered outcomes. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial of IE-CBT v. VB-CBT for social anxiety was completed in a community mental health clinic setting. Participants were randomized to IE (n = 53) or VB (n = 54) CBT, with 1-month (primary end point) and 6-month follow-up assessments. Participants completed 12, 2-hour, weekly sessions of IE-CBT or VB-CBT plus 1-month follow-up. RESULTS: Intention to treat analyses showed very large within-treatment effect sizes on the social interaction anxiety at all time points (ds = 2.09-2.62), with no between-treatment differences on this outcome or clinician-rated severity [1-month OR = 1.45 (0.45, 4.62), p = 0.53; 6-month OR = 1.31 (0.42, 4.08), p = 0.65], SAD remission (1-month: IE = 61.04%, VB = 55.09%, p = 0.59); 6-month: IE = 58.73%, VB = 61.89%, p = 0.77), or secondary outcomes. Three adverse events were noted (substance abuse, n = 1 in IE-CBT; temporary increase in suicide risk, n = 1 in each condition, with one being withdrawn at 1-month follow-up). CONCLUSIONS: Group IE-CBT and VB-CBT were safe and there were no significant differences in outcomes. Both treatments were associated with very large within-group effect sizes and the majority of patients remitted following treatment.

Conceptual generalisation in fear conditioning using single and multiple category exemplars as conditional stimuli - electrodermal responses and valence evaluations generalise to the broader category.

Conceptual generalisation occurs when conditional responses generalise to novel stimuli from the same category. Past research demonstrates that physiological fear responses generalise across categories, however, conceptual generalisation of stimulus valence evaluations during fear conditioning has not been examined. We investigated whether conceptual generalisation, as indexed by electrodermal responses and stimulus evaluations, would occur, and differ after training with single or multiple conditional stimuli (CSs). Stimuli from two of four categories (vegetables, farm animals, clothing, and office supplies) were used as the CS+ (followed by an electric stimulus) or CS- (presented alone). Generalisation was assessed by presenting novel stimuli from the CS categories after acquisition, extinction, and reinstatement. One category exemplar was used as the CS+ and CS- in the single group, whereas three exemplars were used as the CS+ and CS- in the multiple group. Electrodermal responses generalised in acquisition and extinction but did not differ between groups. In the multiple group, CS evaluations generalised in acquisition and extinction, whereas generalisation was not evident in the single group. Training with multiple CSs also resulted in the extinction of stimulus valence. The current findings have implications for future research examining the generalisation of valence and for exposure-based treatments of anxiety.

Featural vs. Holistic processing and visual sampling in the influence of social category cues on emotion recognition.

Past research demonstrates that emotion recognition is influenced by social category cues present on faces. However, little research has investigated whether holistic processing is required to observe these influences of social category information on emotion perception, and no studies have investigated whether different visual sampling strategies (i.e. differences in the allocation of attention to different regions of the face) contribute to the interaction between social cues and emotional expressions. The current study aimed to address this. Participants categorised happy and angry expressions on own- and other-race faces, and male and female faces. In Experiments 1 and 2, holistic processing was disrupted by presenting inverted faces (Experiment 1) or part faces (Experiment 2). In Experiments 3 and 4 participants' eye-gaze to eye and mouth regions was also tracked. Disrupting holistic processing did not alter the moderating influence of sex and race cues on emotion recognition (Experiments 1, 2, 4). Gaze patterns differed as a function of emotional expression, and social category cues, however, eye-gaze patterns did not reflect response time patterns (Experiments 3 and 4). Results indicate that the interaction between social category cues and emotion does not require holistic processing and is not driven by differences in visual sampling.

Premovement inhibition can protect motor actions from interference by response-irrelevant sensory stimulation.

KEY POINTS: Suppression of corticospinal excitability is reliably observed during preparation for a range of motor actions, leading to the belief that this preparatory inhibition is a physiologically obligatory component of motor preparation. The neurophysiological function of this suppression is uncertain. We restricted the time available for participants to engage in preparation and found no evidence for preparatory inhibition. The function of preparatory inhibition can be inferred from our findings that sensory stimulation can disrupt motor output in the absence of preparatory inhibition, but enhance motor output when inhibition is present. These findings suggest preparatory inhibition may be a strategic process which acts to protect prepared actions from external interference. Our findings have significant theoretical implications for preparatory processes. Findings may also have a pragmatic benefit in that acoustic stimulation could be used therapeutically to facilitate movement, but only if the action can be prepared well in advance. ABSTRACT: Shortly before movement initiation, the corticospinal system undergoes a transient suppression. This phenomenon has been observed across a range of motor tasks, suggesting that it may be an obligatory component of movement preparation. We probed whether this was also the case when the urgency to perform a motor action was high, in a situation where little time was available to engage in preparatory processes. We controlled the urgency of an impending motor action by increasing or decreasing the foreperiod duration in an anticipatory timing task. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS; experiment 1) or a loud acoustic stimulus (LAS; experiment 2) were used to examine how corticospinal and subcortical excitability were modulated during motor preparation. Preparatory inhibition of the corticospinal tract was absent when movement urgency was high, though motor actions were initiated on time. In contrast, subcortical circuits were progressively inhibited as the time to prepare increased. Interestingly, movement force and vigour were reduced by both TMS and the LAS when movement urgency was high, and enhanced when movement urgency was low. These findings indicate that preparatory inhibition may not be an obligatory component of motor preparation. The behavioural effects we observed in the absence of preparatory inhibition were induced by both TMS and the LAS, suggesting that accessory sensory stimulation may disrupt motor output when such stimulation is presented in the absence of preparatory inhibition. We conclude that preparatory inhibition may be an adaptive strategy which can serve to protect the prepared motor action from external interference.

Cumulative distribution functions: An alternative approach to examine the triggering of prepared motor actions in the StartReact effect.

There has been much debate concerning whether startling sensory stimuli can activate a fast-neural pathway for movement triggering (StartReact) which is different from that of voluntary movements. Activity in sternocleidomastoid (SCM) electromyogram is suggested to indicate activation of this pathway. We evaluated whether SCM activity can accurately identify trials which may differ in their neurophysiological triggering and assessed the use of cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of reaction time (RT) data to identify trials with the shortest RTs for analysis. Using recent data sets from the StartReact literature, we examined the relationship between RT and SCM activity. We categorised data into short/longer RT bins using CDFs and used linear mixed-effects models to compare potential conclusions that can be drawn when categorising data on the basis of RT versus on the basis of SCM activity. The capacity of SCM to predict RT is task-specific, making it an unreliable indicator of distinct neurophysiological mechanisms. Classification of trials using CDFs is capable of capturing potential task- or muscle-related differences in triggering whilst avoiding the pitfalls of the traditional SCM activity-based classification method. We conclude that SCM activity is not always evident on trials that show the early triggering of movements seen in the StartReact phenomenon. We further propose that a more comprehensive analysis of data may be achieved through the inclusion of CDF analyses. These findings have implications for future research investigating movement triggering as well as for potential therapeutic applications of StartReact.

Be careful what you say! - Evaluative change based on instructional learning generalizes to other similar stimuli and to the wider category.

In evaluative conditioning, a conditional stimulus (CS; e.g. a neutral picture) acquires positive/negative valence if it is paired with a pleasant/unpleasant unconditional stimulus (US; e.g. a positive/negative picture). This valence generalises to other stimuli similar to the CS and to the wider CS category. Being informed that the CS will be paired with the US induces a similar change in valence (instructional learning), but it is not clear whether instructional learning would also generalise. In Experiment 1, participants were informed that one shape would be paired with pleasant and another with unpleasant images. These instructions instilled conditional valence to the CSs which generalised to different shapes from the same category (generalisation stimuli). In Experiment 2, we replicated this finding in an implicit measure using stimuli varying in perceptual features. Participants were informed that three CSs from one category (e.g. vegetables) would be paired with pleasant images and three CSs from a second category (e.g. office supplies) would be paired with unpleasant images. This instruction instilled conditional valence to the CSs which generalised to novel exemplars from the same categories. This suggests that conditional valence instilled via instructions generalises to other stimuli - a finding with implications for prejudice and racism.

Measuring unconditional stimulus expectancy during evaluative conditioning strengthens explicit conditional stimulus valence.

During evaluative conditioning, a neutral conditional stimulus (CS) becomes pleasant or unpleasant after pairings with a positive/negative unconditional stimulus (US). Measures of US expectancy are commonly assessed during conditioning but it is unclear whether this affects evaluative learning. In Experiment 1, we examined whether the concurrent assessment of US expectancy alongside measures of CS valence would influence the acquisition, extinction, and reinstatement of explicit CS valence. Participants rated both valence and expectancy during conditioning (valence/expectancy group) or only CS valence (valence only group). Evaluative conditioning was acquired in both groups during acquisition, but its magnitude was enhanced in the valence/expectancy group. Measuring US expectancy did not influence the extinction or reinstatement of conditional valence. In Experiment 2, we confirmed the enhancement of evaluative conditioning due to concurrent measurement of US expectancy in an explicit measure, but did not find corresponding evidence in an implicit measure of conditional valence. In Experiment 3, we replicated the results using a different US expectancy scale and demonstrated that measuring CS valence multiple times throughout conditioning also strengthens conditional valence. Overall, the results suggest that the measurement of US expectancy and CS valence throughout conditioning draws attention to the contingencies and strengthens explicit evaluative learning.

Individual differences in higher-level cognitive abilities do not predict overconfidence in complex task performance.

Even when people perform tasks poorly, they often report unrealistically positive estimates of their own abilities in these situations. To better understand the origins of such overconfidence, we investigated whether it could be predicted by individual differences in working memory, attentional control, and self-reported trait impulsivity. Overconfidence was estimated by contrasting objective and subjective measures of situation awareness (the ability to perceive and understand task-relevant information in the environment), acquired during a challenging air traffic control simulation. We found no significant relationships between overconfidence and either working memory or attentional control. However, increased impulsivity significantly predicted greater overconfidence. In addition, overall levels of overconfidence were lower in our complex task than in previous studies that used less-complex lab-based tasks. Our results suggest that overconfidence may not be linked to high-level cognitive abilities, but that dynamic tasks with frequent opportunities for performance feedback may reduce misconceptions about personal performance.

Food healthiness versus tastiness: Contrasting their impact on more and less successful healthy shoppers within a virtual food shopping task.

A virtual shopping task was employed to illuminate why women who intend to shop healthily are differentially successful in doing so. Female undergraduates (N = 68) performed a modified approach and avoidance task that employed food items differing in healthiness and tastiness, and yielded relative speed to select and reject food items in a stylised supermarket. Participants categorised a food item either in terms of healthiness or tastiness, then pulled (selected) or pushed (rejected) the item using a joystick. Participants showed faster selection of tasty food after categorisation in terms of tastiness, irrespective of the food's healthiness. However, after categorisation in terms of healthiness, only more successful healthy food shoppers showed faster selection of healthy items regardless of tastiness. Less successful healthy food shoppers showed this effect only for tasty food, and displayed faster rejection of food items not considered tasty, regardless of their assessed healthiness. Thus, when participants who reported the greatest gap between their shopping intention and shopping behaviour were judging the healthiness of food items, their speed to select and reject items continued to be influenced by tastiness. This suggests that reducing incidental processing of food tastiness may reduce the intention-behaviour gap in healthy food shopping.

Attenuated Psychophysiological Reactivity following Single-Session Group Imagery Rescripting versus Verbal Restructuring in Social Anxiety Disorder: Results from a Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of psychotherapies for social anxiety disorder (SAD) is typically evaluated using self- and clinician-reported symptom change, while biomarkers of treatment response are rarely measured. The current study aimed to compare biomarkers of response following two brief group interventions for SAD. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial evaluated the effectiveness of single-session group interventions for SAD (n = 58) - imagery rescripting (IR) and verbal restructuring (VR) versus waitlist control (WC). The IR intervention guided participants to rescript autobiographical memories through visualization whilst the VR intervention focused on thought challenging. Trial outcomes included change in psychophysiological reactivity (heart rate variability (HRV) and electrodermal responding) to social stress, and symptom-based measures (social interaction anxiety, negative self-portrayal, cognitive avoidance, repetitive negative thinking, memory modification, anxious behaviors). RESULTS: Psychophysiological reactivity was selectively attenuated following IR treatment, compared to VR and WC groups. The specific influence of the imagery-based intervention in modulating autonomic reactivity was evident across HRV parameters, including the standard deviation of intervals between heartbeats (IR vs. WC, d = 0.67, p = 0.021; IR vs. VR, d = 0.58, p = 0.041), and high frequency power - an indicator of parasympathetically mediated emotion regulation (IR vs. WC, d = 0.75, p = 0.034; IR vs. VR, d = 0.95, p = 0.006). Few group differences were observed across self-report measures. CONCLUSION: The current study highlights the specificity of brief imagery-based interventions in influencing psychophysiological reactivity in SAD and establishes the sensitivity of objective markers of treatment response in quantifying change over symptom-based measurements.

Facial age cues and emotional expression interact asymmetrically: age cues moderate emotion categorisation.

Facial attributes such as race, sex, and age can interact with emotional expressions; however, only a couple of studies have investigated the nature of the interaction between facial age cues and emotional expressions and these have produced inconsistent results. Additionally, these studies have not addressed the mechanism/s driving the influence of facial age cues on emotional expression or vice versa. In the current study, participants categorised young and older adult faces expressing happiness and anger (Experiment 1) or sadness (Experiment 2) by their age and their emotional expression. Age cues moderated categorisation of happiness vs. anger and sadness in the absence of an influence of emotional expression on age categorisation times. This asymmetrical interaction suggests that facial age cues are obligatorily processed prior to emotional expressions. Finding a categorisation advantage for happiness expressed on young faces relative to both anger and sadness which are negative in valence but different in their congruence with old age stereotypes or structural overlap with age cues suggests that the observed influence of facial age cues on emotion perception is due to the congruence between relatively positive evaluations of young faces and happy expressions.

Verbal instructions targeting valence alter negative conditional stimulus evaluations (but do not affect reinstatement rates).

Negative conditional stimulus (CS) valence acquired during fear conditioning may enhance fear relapse and is difficult to remove as it extinguishes slowly and does not respond to the instruction that unconditional stimulus (US) presentations will cease. We examined whether instructions targeting CS valence would be more effective. In Experiment 1, an image of one person (CS+) was paired with an aversive US, while another (CS-) was presented alone. After acquisition, participants were given positive information about the CS+ poser and negative information about the CS- poser. Instructions reversed the pattern of differential CS valence present during acquisition and eliminated differential electrodermal responding. In Experiment 2, we compared positive and negative CS revaluation by providing positive/negative information about the CS+ and neutral information about CS-. After positive revaluation, differential valence was removed and differential electrodermal responding remained intact. After negative revaluation, differential valence was strengthened and differential electrodermal responding was eliminated. Unexpectedly, the instructions did not affect the reinstatement of differential electrodermal responding.

Emotional responding in NSSI: examinations of appraisals of positive and negative emotional stimuli, with and without acute stress.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is commonly used by young adults to regulate emotional responses. Yet, experimental examination of how people who self-injure appraise and respond to emotional stimuli is limited. We examined appraisals of, and responses to, emotive images in young adults who did and did not self-injure, and assessed whether these were impacted by exposure to a stressor. Study 1 (N = 51) examined whether participants differed in their appraisals of emotional images. Study 2 (N = 78) assessed whether appraisals of images changed after exposure to the Trier Social Stress Test. Ratings of emotional valence and arousal were collected in both studies; skin conductance was measured as an indicator of physiological arousal in Study 2. In Study 1 participants reporting NSSI rated positively valenced images as less pleasant than participants not reporting NSSI. In Study 2, after acute stress, participants reporting NSSI displayed dampened physiological reactions to positive images whereas participants who did not self-injure displayed heightened physiological reactions to these and rated them as more pleasant. Individuals who self-injure seem less able to engage in strategic mood repair after exposure to stress compared to people who do not self-injure.

Is the devil in the detail? Evidence for S-S learning after unconditional stimulus revaluation in human evaluative conditioning under a broader set of experimental conditions.

Whether valence change during evaluative conditioning is mediated by a link between the conditional stimulus (CS) and the unconditional stimulus (US; S-S learning) or between the CS and the unconditional response (S-R learning) is a matter of continued debate. Changing the valence of the US after conditioning, known as US revaluation, can be used to dissociate these accounts. Changes in CS valence after US revaluation provide evidence for S-S learning but if CS valence does not change, evidence for S-R learning is found. Support for S-S learning has been provided by most past revaluation studies, but typically the CS and US have been from the same stimulus category, the task instructions have suggested that judgements of the CS should be based on the US, and USs have been mildly valenced stimuli. These factors may bias the results in favour of S-S learning. We examined whether S-R learning would be evident when CSs and USs were taken from different categories, the task instructions were removed, and more salient USs were used. US revaluation was found to influence explicit US evaluations and explicit and implicit CS evaluations, supporting an S-S learning account and suggesting that past results are stable across procedural changes.

Using Situation Awareness and Workload to Predict Performance in Submarine Track Management: A Multilevel Approach.

OBJECTIVE: Examine the extent to which subjective workload and situation awareness (SA) can predict variance in performance at the between- and within-person levels of analysis in a simulated submarine track management task. BACKGROUND: SA and workload are crucial constructs in human factors that are conceptualized as states that change within individuals over time. Thus, a change in an individual's subjective workload or SA over the course of performing a task should be predictive of their subsequent performance (within-person effects). However, there is little empirical evidence for this. METHOD: Participants monitored displays to track the behaviors of contacts in relationship to their own ship (Ownship) and landmarks. The Situational Awareness Global Assessment Technique measured SA, and the Air Traffic Workload Input Technique measured subjective workload. RESULTS: When a participant's subjective workload rating increased, their subsequent performance decreased, but there was no evidence for within-person effects of SA on performance. We replicated prior between-person level effects of SA; participants with higher SA performed better than those with lower SA. CONCLUSION: Change in an individual's subjective workload rating (but not SA) was predictive of their subsequent performance. Because an increase in SA should increase the extent to which operators hold the knowledge required to perform subsequent tasks, further research is required to examine SA effects on performance at the within-person level. APPLICATION: Adapting automation is more likely to produce optimal outcomes if based on measurement of operator states that predict future task performance, such as workload.

Catching up with wonderful women: The women-are-wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies.

Inequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies-there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect-that women are evaluated more positively than men overall-is also common. Cross-cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self-reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women-are-wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.