Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany; Department of Psychology, Education, and Child Studies, University of Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2020 Sep;155:140-151. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2020.06.006. Epub 2020 Jun 17.
Contextual information can modulate the conditioned response to a threat signal (conditioned stimulus, CS+): fear responses are either potentiated or attenuated depending on whether the context is threatening or safe. In this study, we investigated the influence of context on conditioned fear as well as on generalization of conditioned fear. Thirty-two participants underwent a cue-in-context learning protocol in virtual reality (VR). On Day 1 (acquisition), participants received a mild painful electric shock (unconditioned stimulus, US) in one virtual room (fear context, CTX+) at the offset of one colored light (CS+), but never at the offset of another colored light (CS-). In a second room (safety context, CTX-), the two lights were also presented, but not the US. Successful cue conditioning was indicated by aversive ratings and startle potentiation but not skin conductance responses (SCR) to CS+ versus CS- in CTX+ and not in CTX-. On Day 2 (generalization), participants re-visited both fear and safety contexts plus a generalization context (G-CTX), which was an equal mix of CTX+ and CTX-. The two CSs were shown again in all three contexts. Generalization of conditioned fear was revealed in affective ratings (CS+ was rated more aversive than CS- in G-CTX), but not in physiological measures (equal startle potentiation to CS+ versus CS- in all contexts). In sum, contextual information modulates the responses to a threat signal such that a safety context can inhibit conditioned fear. Interestingly, generalization processes also depend on contextual information.
语境信息可以调节对威胁信号（条件刺激，CS+）的条件反应：根据上下文是威胁还是安全，恐惧反应要么增强，要么减弱。在这项研究中，我们研究了上下文对条件恐惧以及条件恐惧泛化的影响。32 名参与者在虚拟现实（VR）中进行了线索-情境学习方案。在第 1 天（获得），参与者在一个虚拟房间（恐惧情境，CTX+）中收到一个轻微的疼痛电击（非条件刺激，US），在一个彩色灯光（CS+）的结束时，但从未在另一个彩色灯光（CS-）的结束时收到。在第二个房间（安全情境，CTX-）中，也呈现了两种灯光，但没有 US。成功的线索条件作用表现为厌恶评分和惊吓增强，但 CS+与 CS-的皮肤电反应（SCR）在 CTX+中没有，在 CTX-中没有。在第 2 天（泛化），参与者重新访问了恐惧和安全情境以及一个泛化情境（G-CTX），这是 CTX+和 CTX-的混合。在所有三个情境中再次呈现了两个 CS。条件恐惧的泛化表现在情感评分上（G-CTX 中 CS+的评分比 CS-更不愉快），而不是生理测量上（在所有情境中 CS+与 CS-的惊吓增强相等）。总之，语境信息调节对威胁信号的反应，使得安全情境可以抑制条件恐惧。有趣的是，泛化过程也依赖于语境信息。
