Validation of cross-modality fear generalization: Influence of cross-modality directions and anxiety levels on generalization effect
Description
Background: Fear generalization is an important mechanism for individuals to avoid potential threats, but excessive fear generalization will cause physical and mental disturbance, which is an important feature of various anxiety disorders. However, cross sensory modality fear generalization is rarely studied. This study aimed to verify the phenomenon of cross-modality fear generalization using an experimental task, and further compare generalization effects between different cross-modality directions and anxiety levels. Methods: In experiment 1, 53 normal adults were randomized into two groups to examine the cross-modality fear generalization from visual to auditory and from auditory to visual. In experiment 2, 28 high anxious people and 27 low anxious people completed visual to auditory task. In both experiments, pictures and sounds of animals were used as stimulus materials, and unconditioned expectancy ratings, subjective fear ratings and skin conductance response (SCR) were used as measurement indicators. Results: Both behavioral (η2 = 0.32 for expectancy; η2 = 0.19 for subjective fear) and physiological (η2 = 0.19 for SCR) results supported cross-modality fear generalization and the generalization effects were similar between visual to auditory group and auditory to visual group. Compared to low anxiety group, the high anxiety group showed overgeneralization of fear in subjective fear (η2 = 0.05) but not expectancy (η2 = 0.00) and SCR (η2 = 0.02). Conclusions: Cross-modality fear generalization can be manipulated validly in experimental studies, which promotes ecological validity of fear learning. Overgeneralization of learned fear from conditioned pictures to semantically related sounds is observed in high anxiety individuals.
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SPSS
Institutions
- Jiangxi Normal University