1,644
Views
44
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
REGULAR ARTICLES

Contextual fear conditioning predicts subsequent avoidance behaviour in a virtual reality environment

, , , &
Pages 1256-1272 | Received 10 Aug 2011, Accepted 06 Jan 2012, Published online: 03 May 2012

REFERENCES

  • Alvarez , R. P. , Biggs , A. , Chen , G. , Pine , D. S. and Grillon , C. 2008 . Contextual fear conditioning in humans: Cortical-hippocampal and amygdala contributions . The Journal of Neuroscience , 28 ( 24 ) : 6211 – 6219 .
  • Alvarez , R. P. , Johnson , L. and Grillon , C. 2007 . Contextual-specificity of short-delay extinction in humans: Renewal of fear-potentiated startle in a virtual environment . Learning & Memory , 14 ( 4 ) : 247 – 253 .
  • American Psychiatric Association . 2000 . Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders , 4th ed. text rev.DSM-IV-TR . Washington , DC : American Psychiatric Association .
  • Andreatta , M. , Mühlberger , A. , Yarali , A. , Gerber , B. and Pauli , P. 2010 . A rift between implicit and explicit conditioned valence in human pain relief learning . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Science , 277 : 2411 – 2416 .
  • Baas , J. M. , Nugent , M. , Lissek , S. , Pine , D. S. and Grillon , C. 2004 . Fear conditioning in virtual reality contexts: A new tool for the study of anxiety . Biological Psychiatry , 55 ( 11 ) : 1056 – 1060 .
  • Baas , J. M. P. , van Ooijen , L. , Goudriaan , A. and Kenemans , J. L. 2008 . Failure to condition to a cue is associated with sustained contextual fear . Acta Psychologica , 127 ( 3 ) : 581 – 592 .
  • Barlow , D. H. 2002 . Anxiety and its disorders: The nature and treatment of anxiety and panic , 2nd ed. , New York , NY : Guilford Press .
  • Beck , A. T. , Emery , G. and Greenberg , R. L. 2005 . Anxiety disorders and phobias: A cognitive perspective , New York , NY : Basic Books .
  • BGS98 . 2000 . Bundes-Gesundheitssurvey 1998 . Berlin , , Germany : Robert Koch-Institut .
  • Blanchard , R. J. , Yang , M. , Li , C. I. , Gervacio , A. and Blanchard , D. C. 2001 . Cue and context conditioning of defensive behaviors to cat odor stimuli . Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews , 25 ( 7–8 ) : 587 – 595 .
  • Bradley , M. and Lang , P. J. 2000 . “ Measuring emotion: Behavior, feeling, and physiology ” . In Cognitive neuroscience of emotion , Edited by: Lane , R. D. and Nadel , L. 242 – 276 . New York , NY : Oxford University Press .
  • Cloninger , C. R. 1986 . A unified biosocial theory of personality and its role in the development of anxiety states . Psychiatric Developments , 4 ( 3 ) : 167 – 226 .
  • Cloninger , C. R. 1987 . The Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire, Version IV , St Louis , MO : Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine .
  • Corr , P. J. , Kumari , V. , Wilson , G. D. , Checkley , S. and Gray , J. A. 1997 . Harm avoidance and affective modulation of the startle reflex: A replication . Personality and Individual Differences , 22 ( 4 ) : 591 – 593 .
  • Corr , P. J. , Pickering , A. D. and Gray , J. A. 1995 . Personality and reinforcement in associative and instrumental learning . Personality and Individual Differences , 19 ( 1 ) : 47 – 71 .
  • Davis , M. , Walker , D. L. , Miles , L. and Grillon , C. 2010 . Phasic vs sustained fear in rats and humans: Role of the extended amygdala in fear vs anxiety . Neuropsychopharmacology , 35 ( 1 ) : 105 – 135 .
  • De Houwer , J. , Crombez , G. , Baeyens , F. and Hermans , D. 2001 . On the generality of the affective Simon effect . Cognition and Emotion , 15 ( 2 ) : 189 – 206 .
  • Endres , T. and Fendt , M. 2007 . Conditioned behavioral responses to a context paired with the predator odor trimethylthiazoline . Behavioral Neuroscience , 121 ( 3 ) : 594 – 601 .
  • Field , A. P. 2006 . Is conditioning a useful framework for understanding the development and treatment of phobias? . Clinical Psychology Review , 26 ( 7 ) : 857 – 875 .
  • Gorman , J. M. , Kent , J. M. , Sullivan , G. M. and Coplan , J. D. 2000 . Neuroanatomical hypothesis of panic disorder, revised . American Journal of Psychiatry , 157 ( 4 ) : 493 – 505 .
  • Grillon , C. 2002a . Startle reactivity and anxiety disorders: Aversive conditioning, context, and neurobiology . Biological Psychiatry , 52 ( 10 ) : 958 – 975 .
  • Grillon , C. 2002b . Associative learning deficits increase symptoms of anxiety in humans . Biological Psychiatry , 51 ( 11 ) : 851 – 858 .
  • Grillon , C. 2008 . Models and mechanisms of anxiety: evidence from startle studies . Psychopharmacology , 199 ( 3 ) : 421 – 437 .
  • Grillon , C. , Baas , J. M. P. , Cornwell , B. and Johnson , L. 2006 . Context conditioning and behavioral avoidance in a virtual reality environment: Effect of predictability . Biological Psychiatry , 60 ( 7 ) : 752 – 759 .
  • Grillon , C. , Baas , J. P. , Lissek , S. , Smith , K. and Milstein , J. 2004 . Anxious responses to predictable and unpredictable aversive events . Behavioral Neuroscience , 118 ( 5 ) : 916 – 924 .
  • Grillon , C. , Lissek , S. , Rabin , S. , McDowell , D. , Dvir , S. and Pine , D. S. 2008 . Increased anxiety during anticipation of unpredictable but not predictable aversive stimuli as a psychophysiologic marker of panic disorder . The American Journal of Psychiatry , 165 ( 7 ) : 898 – 904 .
  • Grillon , C. , Pine , D. S. , Lissek , S. , Rabin , S. , Bonne , O. and Vythilingam , M. 2009 . Increased anxiety during anticipation of unpredictable aversive stimuli in posttraumatic stress disorder but not in generalized anxiety disorder . Biological Psychiatry , 66 ( 1 ) : 47 – 53 .
  • Hamm , A. O. , Greenwald , M. K. , Bradley , M. M. and Lang , P. J. 1993 . Emotional learning, hedonic change, and the startle probe . Journal of Abnormal Psychology , 102 ( 3 ) : 453 – 465 .
  • Hamm , A. O. and Vaitl , D. 1996 . Affective learning: Awareness and aversion . Psychophysiology , 33 ( 6 ) : 698 – 710 .
  • Hasler , G. , Fromm , S. , Alvarez , R. P. , Luckenbaugh , D. A. , Drevets , W. C. and Grillon , C. 2007 . Cerebral blood flow in immediate and sustained anxiety . The Journal of Neuroscience , 27 ( 23 ) : 6313 – 6319 .
  • Krieglmeyer , R. and Deutsch , R. 2010 . Comparing measures of approach–avoidance behaviour: The manikin task vs. two versions of the joystick task . Cognition and Emotion , 24 ( 5 ) : 810 – 828 .
  • Lang , S. , Kroll , A. , Lipinski , S. J. , Wessa , M. , Ridder , S. Christmann , C. 2009 . Context conditioning and extinction in humans: differential contribution of the hippocampus, amygdala and prefrontal cortex . European Journal of Neuroscience , 29 ( 4 ) : 823 – 832 .
  • Lau , J. Y. F. , Lissek , S. , Nelson , E. E. , Lee , Y. , Roberson-Nay , R. Poeth , K. 2008 . Fear conditioning in adolescents with anxiety disorders: results from a novel experimental paradigm . Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 47 ( 1 ) : 94 – 102 .
  • Laux , L. , Glanzmann , P. , Schaffner , P. and Spielberger , C. D. 1981 . Das State-Trait-Angstinventar [The State-Trait-Anxiety-Inventory] , Weinheim , , Germany : Beltz .
  • Leary , M. R. 1983 . A brief version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 9 ( 3 ) : 371 – 375 .
  • LeDoux , J. E. 2000 . Emotion circuits in the brain . Annual Review of Neuroscience , 23 : 155 – 184 .
  • Lissek , S. , Rabin , S. , Heller , R. E. , Lukenbaugh , D. , Geraci , M. Pine , D. S. 2010 . Overgeneralization of conditioned fear as a pathogenic marker of panic disorder . The American Journal of Psychiatry , 167 ( 1 ) : 47 – 55 .
  • Lissek , S. , Rabin , S. J. , McDowell , D. J. , Dvir , S. , Bradford , D. E. Geraci , M. 2009 . Impaired discriminative fear-conditioning resulting from elevated fear responding to learned safety cues among individuals with panic disorder . Behaviour Research and Therapy , 47 ( 2 ) : 111 – 118 .
  • Lovibond , P. F. , Mitchell , C. J. , Minard , E. , Brady , A. and Menzies , R. G. 2009 . Safety behaviours preserve threat beliefs: protection from extinction of human fear conditioning by an avoidance response . Behaviour Research and Therapy , 47 ( 8 ) : 716 – 720 .
  • Marks , I. M. 1987 . Fears, phobias, and rituals , New York , NY : Oxford University Press .
  • Marschner , A. , Kalisch , R. , Vervliet , B. , Vansteenwegen , D. and Büchel , C. 2008 . Dissociable roles for the hippocampus and the amygdala in human cued versus context fear conditioning . The Journal of Neuroscience , 28 ( 36 ) : 9030 – 9036 .
  • Michael , T. , Blechert , J. , Vriends , N. , Margraf , J. and Wilhelm , F. H. 2007 . Fear conditioning in panic disorder: Enhanced resistance to extinction . Journal of Abnormal Psychology , 116 ( 3 ) : 612 – 616 .
  • Mineka , S. and Zinbarg , R. 2006 . A contemporary learning theory perspective on the etiology of anxiety disorders . American Psychologist , 61 ( 1 ) : 10 – 26 .
  • Mowrer , O. H. 1953 . Neurosis, psychotherapy, and two-factor learning theory . In O. H. Mowrer , Psychotherapy: Theory and research ( 140 – 149 ). Oxford , , UK : Ronald Press Co .
  • Mühlberger , A. , Bülthoff , H. , Wiedemann , G. and Pauli , P. 2007 . Virtual reality for the psychophysiological assessment of phobic fear: Responses during virtual tunnel driving . Psychological Assessment , 19 ( 3 ) : 340 – 346 .
  • Mühlberger , A. , Herrmann , M. , Wiedemann , G. , Ellgring , H. and Pauli , P. 2001 . Treatment of fear of flying with exposure therapy in virtual reality . Behaviour Research and Therapy , 39 : 1033 – 1050 .
  • Mühlberger , A. , Weik , A. , Pauli , P. and Wiedemann , G. 2006 . One-session virtual reality exposure treatment for fear of flying: 1-Year follow-up and graduation flight accompaniment effects . Psychotherapy Research , 16 ( 1 ) : 26 – 40 .
  • Mühlberger , A. , Wieser , M. J. and Pauli , P. 2008 . Darkness-enhanced startle responses in ecologically valid environments: a virtual tunnel driving experiment . Biological Psychology , 77 ( 1 ) : 47 – 52 .
  • Rachman , S. 1984 . Agoraphobia—A safety-signal perspective . Behaviour Research and Therapy , 22 ( 1 ) : 59 – 70 .
  • Seibt , B. , Neumann , R. , Nussinson , R. and Strack , F. 2008 . Movement direction or change in distance? Self- and object-related approach–avoidance motions . Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , 44 ( 3 ) : 713 – 720 .
  • Seligman , M. E. 1968 . Chronic fear produced by unpredictable electric shock . Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology , 66 ( 2 ) : 402 – 411 .
  • Seligman , M. E. P. and Binik , Y. M. 1977 . “ The safety signal hypothesis ” . In Operant-Pavlovian interactions , Edited by: Davis , H. and Hurwitz , H. M. B. 165 – 187 . Hillsdale , NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc .
  • Spielberger , C. D. , Gorsuch , R. L. and Edward , L. R. 1970 . STAI manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory , Pala Alto , CA : Consulting Psychologists Press .
  • Vansteenwegen , D. , Crombez , G. , Baeyens , F. and Eelen , P. 1998 . Extinction in fear conditioning: Effects on startle modulation and evaluative self-reports . Psychophysiology , 35 : 729 – 736 .
  • Vansteenwegen , D. , Iberico , C. , Vervliet , B. , Marescau , V. and Hermans , D. 2008 . Contextual fear induced by unpredictability in a human fear conditioning preparation is related to the chronic expectation of a threatening US . Biological Psychology , 77 ( 1 ) : 39 – 46 .
  • Vormbrock , F. and Neuser , J. 1983 . Konstruktion zweier spezifischer Trait-Fragebogen zur Erfassung von Angst in sozialen Situationen (SANB und SVSS) [Construction of two specific trait-oriented questionnaires for the assessment of anxiety in social situations (SANB and SVSS)] . Diagnostica , 29 ( 2 ) : 165 – 182 .
  • Weike , A. I. , Schupp , H. T. and Hamm , A. O. 2008 . In dubio pro defensio: Initial activation of conditioned fear is not cue specific . Behavioral Neuroscience , 122 ( 3 ) : 685 – 696 .
  • Wessa , M. and Flor , H. 2007 . Failure of extinction of fear responses in posttraumatic stress disorder: evidence from second-order conditioning . The American Journal of Psychiatry , 164 ( 11 ) : 1684 – 1692 .
  • Weyers , P. , Krebs , H. and Janke , W. 1995 . Reliability and construct validity of the German version of Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire . Personality and Individual Differences , 19 ( 6 ) : 853 – 861 .
  • Yoshida , W. and Ishii , S. 2006 . Resolution of uncertainty in prefrontal cortex . Neuron , 50 ( 5 ) : 781 – 789 .

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.