Fujino Misako, Haruno Masahiko
Neural Information Engineering Laboratory, Center for Information and Neural Networks, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Suita 565-0871, Osaka, Japan.
Graduate School of Frontier Biosciences, Osaka University, Suita 565-0871, Osaka, Japan.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 May 20;122(20):e2416920122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2416920122. Epub 2025 May 13.
Previous studies on fear extinction have primarily focused on repeated exposure to fear-inducing context without negative consequences. However, it is also possible that an individual can reduce fear responses by predicting that they can transition to a safe environment through their own actions, even if a fear-inducing context appears. Here, by conducting two virtual reality (VR) experiments (Exp 1 and Exp 2) involving height and flight scenarios, we examined whether participants' fear responses to height decrease after actively experiencing low-altitude VR flight, which allowed them to predict that they would be in a safe state by flying even if they fell from a height. Specifically, participants in the flight group (n = 44 and 46) flew over a city at altitudes below 5 m for 7 min, while participants in the control group (n = 41 and 28) watched a video of a flight group participant's experience. Before and after the active flight or passive viewing task, both groups walked on a plank while having their skin conductance response (SCR) and subjective fear score (SFS) measured. In both Exp 1 and Exp 2, the active flight group exhibited a greater reduction in both SCR and SFS compared to the control group. Additionally, a multivariate regression of SCR using the questionnaires collected in Exp 2 revealed that the action-dependent safety prediction has a positive contribution to the SCR reduction in the flight group. These results clarified that the ability to transition to safe states by self-actions can reduce physiological and subjective fear responses.
以往关于恐惧消退的研究主要集中在反复暴露于引发恐惧的情境而无负面后果。然而，即使出现引发恐惧的情境，个体也有可能通过预测自己可以通过自身行动过渡到安全环境来减少恐惧反应。在此，通过进行两项涉及高空和飞行场景的虚拟现实（VR）实验（实验1和实验2），我们研究了参与者在积极体验低空VR飞行后对高空的恐惧反应是否会降低，这种飞行使他们能够预测即使从高空坠落也会处于安全状态。具体而言，飞行组的参与者（n = 44和46）在5米以下的高度飞越城市7分钟，而对照组的参与者（n = 41和28）观看飞行组参与者体验的视频。在主动飞行或被动观看任务前后，两组参与者都在木板上行走，同时测量他们的皮肤电导反应（SCR）和主观恐惧评分（SFS）。在实验1和实验2中，与对照组相比，主动飞行组的SCR和SFS均有更大程度的降低。此外，使用实验2中收集的问卷对SCR进行多元回归分析发现，基于行动的安全预测对飞行组SCR的降低有积极贡献。这些结果表明，通过自我行动过渡到安全状态的能力可以减少生理和主观恐惧反应。
