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Measuring human trace fear conditioning.
Psychophysiology. 2022 Dec; 59(12):e14119.P

Abstract

Trace fear conditioning is an important research paradigm to model aversive learning in biological or clinical scenarios, where predictors (conditioned stimuli, CS) and aversive outcomes (unconditioned stimuli, US) are separated in time. The optimal measurement of human trace fear conditioning, and in particular of memory retention after consolidation, is currently unclear. We conducted two identical experiments (N1 = 28, N2 = 28) with a 15-s trace interval and a recall test 1 week after acquisition, while recording several psychophysiological observables. In a calibration approach, we explored which learning and memory measures distinguished CS+ and CS- in the first experiment and confirmed the most sensitive measures in the second experiment. We found that in the recall test without reinforcement, only fear-potentiated startle but not skin conductance, pupil size, heart period, or respiration amplitude, differentiated CS+ and CS-. During acquisition without startle probes, skin conductance responses and pupil size responses but not heart period or respiration amplitude differentiated CS+ and CS-. As a side finding, there was no evidence for extinction of fear-potentiated startle over 30 trials without reinforcement. These results may be useful to inform future substantive research using human trace fear conditioning protocols.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Wehrli JM
Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Xia Y
Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Gerster S
Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Bach DR
Computational Psychiatry Research, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging & Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, UK.

MeSH

HumansFearConditioning, ClassicalMemoryConditioning, OperantLearningReflex, StartleExtinction, Psychological

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

35675529

Citation

Wehrli, Jelena M., et al. "Measuring Human Trace Fear Conditioning." Psychophysiology, vol. 59, no. 12, 2022, pp. e14119.
Wehrli JM, Xia Y, Gerster S, et al. Measuring human trace fear conditioning. Psychophysiology. 2022;59(12):e14119.
Wehrli, J. M., Xia, Y., Gerster, S., & Bach, D. R. (2022). Measuring human trace fear conditioning. Psychophysiology, 59(12), e14119. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.14119
Wehrli JM, et al. Measuring Human Trace Fear Conditioning. Psychophysiology. 2022;59(12):e14119. PubMed PMID: 35675529.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - JOUR T1 - Measuring human trace fear conditioning. AU - Wehrli,Jelena M, AU - Xia,Yanfang, AU - Gerster,Samuel, AU - Bach,Dominik R, Y1 - 2022/06/08/ PY - 2022/02/17/revised PY - 2021/08/20/received PY - 2022/05/02/accepted PY - 2022/6/9/pubmed PY - 2022/11/11/medline PY - 2022/6/8/entrez KW - calibration KW - fear conditioning KW - fear memory KW - fear-potentiated startle KW - human neuroscience KW - psychophysiological modeling KW - retrodictive validity KW - trace fear memory SP - e14119 EP - e14119 JF - Psychophysiology JO - Psychophysiology VL - 59 IS - 12 N2 - Trace fear conditioning is an important research paradigm to model aversive learning in biological or clinical scenarios, where predictors (conditioned stimuli, CS) and aversive outcomes (unconditioned stimuli, US) are separated in time. The optimal measurement of human trace fear conditioning, and in particular of memory retention after consolidation, is currently unclear. We conducted two identical experiments (N1 = 28, N2 = 28) with a 15-s trace interval and a recall test 1 week after acquisition, while recording several psychophysiological observables. In a calibration approach, we explored which learning and memory measures distinguished CS+ and CS- in the first experiment and confirmed the most sensitive measures in the second experiment. We found that in the recall test without reinforcement, only fear-potentiated startle but not skin conductance, pupil size, heart period, or respiration amplitude, differentiated CS+ and CS-. During acquisition without startle probes, skin conductance responses and pupil size responses but not heart period or respiration amplitude differentiated CS+ and CS-. As a side finding, there was no evidence for extinction of fear-potentiated startle over 30 trials without reinforcement. These results may be useful to inform future substantive research using human trace fear conditioning protocols. SN - 1540-5958 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/35675529/Measuring_human_trace_fear_conditioning_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -