Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Nat Protoc. 2017 Jul;12(7):1378-1386. doi: 10.1038/nprot.2017.027. Epub 2017 Jun 15.
Across the human life span, fear is often acquired indirectly by observation of the emotional expressions of others. The observational fear conditioning protocol was previously developed as a laboratory model for investigating socially acquired threat responses. This protocol serves as a suitable alternative to the widely used Pavlovian fear conditioning, in which threat responses are acquired through direct experiences. In the observational fear conditioning protocol, the participant (observer) watches a demonstrator being presented with a conditioned stimulus (CS) paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). The expression of threat learning is measured as the conditioned response (CR) expressed by the observer in the absence of the demonstrator. CRs are commonly measured as skin conductance responses, but behavioral and neural measures have also been implemented. The experimental procedure is suitable for divergent populations, can be administered by a graduate student and takes ∼40 min. Similar protocols are used in animals, emphasizing its value as a translational tool for studying socioemotional learning.
在人类的整个生命周期中，恐惧通常是通过观察他人的情绪表现而间接地获得。观察性恐惧条件反射协议以前被开发为一种实验室模型，用于研究社会获得的威胁反应。该协议是广泛使用的经典条件反射的合适替代品，在经典条件反射中，威胁反应是通过直接经验获得的。在观察性恐惧条件反射协议中，参与者（观察者）观察演示者接受条件刺激（CS）与厌恶的非条件刺激（US）配对。威胁学习的表现是通过在没有演示者的情况下观察者表达的条件反应（CR）来衡量的。CR 通常作为皮肤电反应来测量，但也已经实施了行为和神经测量。该实验程序适用于不同的人群，可以由研究生进行管理，大约需要 40 分钟。类似的协议也在动物中使用，强调了它作为研究社会情感学习的转化工具的价值。
