Discrimination training to reduce generalized conditioned defensive responses in healthy individuals with high levels of anxiety.
L’essentiel
Patients with anxiety disorders overgeneralize conditioned defensive responses to cues, which have never been associated with threat and should therefore be considered safe. Such overgeneralization can be impairing calling for strategies to reduce it. Discrimination training may offer a simple way to enhance individuals' ability to distinguish between threat-predicting stimuli and similar but safe cues. In this study, we investigated the effects of discrimination training on fear generalization in 224 healthy participants who differed in their level of anxiety. Following a classical acquisition and a generalization phase, participants underwent discrimination training with either learning-relevant or learning-irrelevant stimuli. Additionally, half of the participants received feedback on their performance during training. We found significant reduction in generalization of all conditioned defensive responses (ratings and skin conductance), independent of the type of stimuli used during training. Feedback ameliorated the generalization of US-expectancy ratings, whereas the reduction of affective ratings and physiological responses was greater when no feedback was provided. Individuals with higher level of anxiety benefited more pronouncedly from the discrimination training. Discrimination training led to stronger reduction of the generalization of subjective arousal in individuals with higher level of anxiety. In summary, discrimination training is a simple yet effective method to reduce generalization of conditioned defensive responses, and anxious individuals showed the greatest benefit from this simple training. Such beneficial discrimination effects have important implications for treatments as such a training could be easily integrated into therapeutic interventions.
Synthèse détaillée
Résumé original
Patients with anxiety disorders overgeneralize conditioned defensive responses to cues, which have never been associated with threat and should therefore be considered safe. Such overgeneralization can be impairing calling for strategies to reduce it. Discrimination training may offer a simple way to enhance individuals' ability to distinguish between threat-predicting stimuli and similar but safe cues. In this study, we investigated the effects of discrimination training on fear generalization in 224 healthy participants who differed in their level of anxiety. Following a classical acquisition and a generalization phase, participants underwent discrimination training with either learning-relevant or learning-irrelevant stimuli. Additionally, half of the participants received feedback on their performance during training. We found significant reduction in generalization of all conditioned defensive responses (ratings and skin conductance), independent of the type of stimuli used during training. Feedback ameliorated the generalization of US-expectancy ratings, whereas the reduction of affective ratings and physiological responses was greater when no feedback was provided. Individuals with higher level of anxiety benefited more pronouncedly from the discrimination training. Discrimination training led to stronger reduction of the generalization of subjective arousal in individuals with higher level of anxiety. In summary, discrimination training is a simple yet effective method to reduce generalization of conditioned defensive responses, and anxious individuals showed the greatest benefit from this simple training. Such beneficial discrimination effects have important implications for treatments as such a training could be easily integrated into therapeutic interventions.