Department of Psychology and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Abba Hushi 199, Mt Carmel, Haifa, Israel.
Department of Psychology and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Abba Hushi 199, Mt Carmel, Haifa, Israel.
Behav Res Ther. 2019 May;116:131-139. doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2019.03.008. Epub 2019 Mar 14.
Fear generalization, while adaptive, can be detrimental when occurring in excess. To this end a perceptual discrimination training task was created with a goal of decreasing fear overgeneralization. The current study tested the effectiveness of the training task among typically-developing children. Participants (n = 73) were randomly assigned into a training, placebo or no task group. Following a differential fear-conditioning task, participants in the first two groups underwent the discrimination training or placebo task. An assessment task was then administered. Finally, all participants completed a fear generalization test, consisting of 11 morphs ranging in perceptual similarity from the threat cue to the safety cue. Physiological and self-report measures were collected. Fear-conditioning was achieved in both physiological and self-report measures. Further, in the assessment task, the training group showed better perceptual discrimination than did the placebo group. Last, the training group exhibited less overgeneralization of affective stimuli as indicated by a physiological measure than did the two control conditions. Findings suggest that the perceptual discrimination training task effectively moderated fear overgeneralization in children. This adds to previous evidence of the task's effectiveness among adults.
恐惧泛化虽然具有适应性，但如果过度发生，可能会造成危害。为此，我们设计了一项知觉辨别训练任务，旨在减少过度的恐惧泛化。本研究测试了该训练任务在正常发育儿童中的有效性。参与者（n=73）被随机分配到训练组、安慰剂组或无任务组。在进行差异恐惧条件反射任务后，前两组参与者接受了辨别训练或安慰剂任务。然后进行评估任务。最后，所有参与者都完成了一个恐惧泛化测试，该测试包含 11 个形态，从威胁线索到安全线索，在知觉相似性上逐渐变化。收集生理和自我报告的测量数据。在生理和自我报告的测量中都实现了恐惧条件反射。此外，在评估任务中，与安慰剂组相比，训练组表现出更好的知觉辨别能力。最后，与两个对照组相比，生理测量显示训练组对情感刺激的过度泛化程度较低。研究结果表明，知觉辨别训练任务有效地调节了儿童的恐惧泛化。这增加了该任务在成人中的有效性的证据。
