Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2024 Mar;82:101917. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2023.101917. Epub 2023 Oct 4.
Fear generalization to harmless stimuli characterizes anxiety-related disorders, but much remains unknown about its determinants. Based on studies showing that mental imagery of threat can increase conditioned fear responding, we tested whether it also facilitates fear generalization, and whether threat inflation moderates this effect.
In a fear conditioning study, 120 participants first completed an acquisition phase, in which one of two pictures was followed by an aversive sound (human scream). Then, the sound was presented 11 times at an increasing (threat inflation) or constant volume (no threat inflation). Finally, a generalization stimulus was presented, and some participants were asked to imagine the last sound (threat rehearsal) and others were not (no threat rehearsal).
Bayesian informative hypotheses tests indicated that imagery-based threat rehearsal increased generalization of threat expectancy, and, combined with threat inflation, it also resulted in stronger generalized distress.
due to the absence of a test phase, it is unclear whether our effects would transfer to other GSs and whether they would persist beyond the manipulation phase.
Mental imagery of threat may put individuals at risk for fear generalization. Future studies should examine whether modulating imagery may prevent clinical anxiety.
对无害刺激的恐惧泛化是焦虑相关障碍的特征，但关于其决定因素的了解还很有限。基于研究表明，威胁的心理意象可以增加条件性恐惧反应，我们测试了它是否也促进了恐惧泛化，以及威胁膨胀是否调节了这种效应。
在恐惧条件反射研究中，120 名参与者首先完成了一个获得阶段，在该阶段中，两张图片中的一张后面跟着一个不愉快的声音（人类的尖叫）。然后，声音以递增（威胁膨胀）或恒定的音量（无威胁膨胀）呈现 11 次。最后，呈现一个泛化刺激，一些参与者被要求想象最后一个声音（威胁排练），而另一些则没有（无威胁排练）。
贝叶斯信息假设检验表明，基于威胁的意象排练增加了对威胁预期的泛化，并且，与威胁膨胀相结合，它还导致了更强的泛化性痛苦。
由于缺乏测试阶段，我们的效果是否会转移到其他 GS 以及它们是否会在操纵阶段之外持续存在尚不清楚。
威胁的心理意象可能使个体面临恐惧泛化的风险。未来的研究应检验调节意象是否可以预防临床焦虑。
