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Enhancing effects of contingency instructions on fear acquisition and extinction in anxiety disorders.
J Abnorm Psychol. 2017 May; 126(4):378-391.JA

Abstract

Explicit instructions regarding stimulus-threat associations increase acquisition and extinction of fear in healthy participants. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of contingency instructions on fear acquisition and extinction in patients with anxiety disorders. Patients with various anxiety disorders (N = 104) and healthy comparison participants (N = 93) participated in a differential fear conditioning task (within-subjects design). Approximately halfway through the acquisition phase, participants were instructed about the stimulus-threat association, and approximately halfway through the extinction phase, participants were informed that the unconditioned stimulus (US) would no longer be administered. Outcome measures were: fear-potentiated startle, skin conductance, fearfulness ratings, and US expectancy ratings. Patients demonstrated overall increased physiological and subjective fear responses during acquisition and extinction phases, relative to the comparison group. There were no major differences in fear acquisition and extinction between patients with different anxiety disorders. During acquisition, instructions led to increased discrimination of fear responses between a danger cue (conditioned stimulus [CS]+) and safety cue (CS-) in both patients and comparison participants. Moreover, instructions strengthened extinction of fear responses in the patient and comparison group. Patients and healthy comparison participants are better able to discriminate between danger and safety cues when they have been explicitly informed about cues that announce a threat situation. Considering the analogies between fear extinction procedures and exposure therapy, this suggests that specific instructions on stimulus-threat associations during exposure therapy might improve short-term treatment efficacy. The question remains for future studies whether instructions have a positive effect on extinction learning in the longer term. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Duits P
Department of Clinical Psychology.
Richter J
Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Greifswald.
Baas JMP
Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University.
Engelhard IM
Department of Clinical Psychology.
Limberg-Thiesen A
Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Greifswald.
Heitland I
Department of Experimental Psychology, Utrecht University.
Hamm AO
Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, University of Greifswald.
Cath DC
Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University.

MeSH

AdultAnxiety DisordersConditioning, ClassicalElectroshockExtinction, PsychologicalFearFemaleGalvanic Skin ResponseHumansMale

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Language

eng

PubMed ID

28414478

Citation

Duits, Puck, et al. "Enhancing Effects of Contingency Instructions On Fear Acquisition and Extinction in Anxiety Disorders." Journal of Abnormal Psychology, vol. 126, no. 4, 2017, pp. 378-391.
Duits P, Richter J, Baas JMP, et al. Enhancing effects of contingency instructions on fear acquisition and extinction in anxiety disorders. J Abnorm Psychol. 2017;126(4):378-391.
Duits, P., Richter, J., Baas, J. M. P., Engelhard, I. M., Limberg-Thiesen, A., Heitland, I., Hamm, A. O., & Cath, D. C. (2017). Enhancing effects of contingency instructions on fear acquisition and extinction in anxiety disorders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126(4), 378-391. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000266
Duits P, et al. Enhancing Effects of Contingency Instructions On Fear Acquisition and Extinction in Anxiety Disorders. J Abnorm Psychol. 2017;126(4):378-391. PubMed PMID: 28414478.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Enhancing effects of contingency instructions on fear acquisition and extinction in anxiety disorders. AU - Duits,Puck, AU - Richter,Jan, AU - Baas,Johanna M P, AU - Engelhard,Iris M, AU - Limberg-Thiesen,Anke, AU - Heitland,Ivo, AU - Hamm,Alfons O, AU - Cath,Danielle C, Y1 - 2017/04/17/ PY - 2017/4/18/pubmed PY - 2018/3/9/medline PY - 2017/4/18/entrez SP - 378 EP - 391 JF - Journal of abnormal psychology JO - J Abnorm Psychol VL - 126 IS - 4 N2 - Explicit instructions regarding stimulus-threat associations increase acquisition and extinction of fear in healthy participants. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of contingency instructions on fear acquisition and extinction in patients with anxiety disorders. Patients with various anxiety disorders (N = 104) and healthy comparison participants (N = 93) participated in a differential fear conditioning task (within-subjects design). Approximately halfway through the acquisition phase, participants were instructed about the stimulus-threat association, and approximately halfway through the extinction phase, participants were informed that the unconditioned stimulus (US) would no longer be administered. Outcome measures were: fear-potentiated startle, skin conductance, fearfulness ratings, and US expectancy ratings. Patients demonstrated overall increased physiological and subjective fear responses during acquisition and extinction phases, relative to the comparison group. There were no major differences in fear acquisition and extinction between patients with different anxiety disorders. During acquisition, instructions led to increased discrimination of fear responses between a danger cue (conditioned stimulus [CS]+) and safety cue (CS-) in both patients and comparison participants. Moreover, instructions strengthened extinction of fear responses in the patient and comparison group. Patients and healthy comparison participants are better able to discriminate between danger and safety cues when they have been explicitly informed about cues that announce a threat situation. Considering the analogies between fear extinction procedures and exposure therapy, this suggests that specific instructions on stimulus-threat associations during exposure therapy might improve short-term treatment efficacy. The question remains for future studies whether instructions have a positive effect on extinction learning in the longer term. (PsycINFO Database Record SN - 1939-1846 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/28414478/Enhancing_effects_of_contingency_instructions_on_fear_acquisition_and_extinction_in_anxiety_disorders_ L2 - http://content.apa.org/journals/abn/126/4/378 DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -