Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Behav Res Ther. 2013 Oct;51(10):633-40. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2013.07.004. Epub 2013 Jul 16.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders typically involves exposure to the conditioned stimulus (CS). Despite its status as an effective and primary treatment, many patients do not show clinical improvement or relapse. Contemporary learning theory suggests that treatment may be optimized by adding techniques that aim at revaluating the aversive consequence (US) of the feared stimulus. This study tested whether US devaluation via a dual task--imagining the US while making eye movements--decreases conditioned fear. Following fear acquisition one group recalled the US while making eye movements (EM) and one group merely recalled the US (RO). Next, during a test phase, all participants were re-presented the CSs. Dual tasking, relative to the control condition, decreased memory vividness and emotionality. Moreover, only in the dual task condition reductions were observed in self-reported fear, US expectancy, and CS unpleasantness, but not in skin conductance responses. Findings provide the first evidence that the dual task decreases conditioned fear and suggest it may be a valuable addition to exposure therapy.
认知行为疗法常用于治疗焦虑症，其通常包括暴露于条件刺激（CS）。尽管它是一种有效且主要的治疗方法，但许多患者并未表现出临床改善或复发。当代学习理论表明，通过添加旨在重新评估恐惧刺激的厌恶后果（US）的技术，可以优化治疗效果。本研究通过双重任务（想象 US 的同时进行眼球运动）检验了 US 的贬值是否会降低条件性恐惧。在恐惧习得之后，一组参与者在进行眼球运动（EM）的同时回忆 US，另一组仅回忆 US（RO）。接下来，在测试阶段，所有参与者都重新呈现 CS。与对照组相比，双重任务会降低记忆的生动性和情感性。此外，仅在双重任务条件下，报告的恐惧、US 预期和 CS 不愉快程度降低，但皮肤电反应没有降低。研究结果首次提供了双重任务降低条件性恐惧的证据，并表明它可能是暴露疗法的有效补充。
