Correlations between psychological tests and physiological responses during fear conditioning and renewal

Biology of Mood & Anxiety Disorders

Karen G Martínez²  Melissa Castro-Couch³  José A Franco-Chaves²  Brenda Ojeda-Arce²  Gustavo Segura⁴  Mohammed R Milad¹  Gregory J Quirk⁵ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA

[2] Department of Psychiatry, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, P.O. Box 365067, San Juan, PR, 00936, USA

[3] Clinical Psychology Program, Ponce School of Medicine, Ponce, PR, USA

[4] Clinical Psychology Program, Carlos Albizu University, San Juan, PR, USA

[5] Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine, San Juan, PR, USA

关键词: Personality traits;    Skin conductance;    Anxiety;    Extinction;    Conditioning;    Fear;   

Others  :  792102
DOI  :  10.1186/2045-5380-2-16

 received in 2012-06-18, accepted in 2012-08-22,  发布年份 2012

【 摘 要 】

Background

Anxiety disorders are characterized by specific emotions, thoughts and physiological responses. Little is known, however, about the relationship between psychological/personality indices of anxiety responses to fear stimuli.

Methods

We studied this relationship in healthy subjects by comparing scores on psychological and personality questionnaires with results of an experimental fear conditioning paradigm using a visual conditioned stimulus (CS). We measured skin conductance response (SCR) during habituation, conditioning, and extinction; subsequently testing for recall and renewal of fear 24 hours later.

Results

We found that multiple regression models explained 45% of the variance during conditioning to the CS+, and 24% of the variance during renewal of fear to the CS+. Factors that explained conditioning included lower levels of conscientiousness, increased baseline reactivity (SCL), and response to the shock (UCR). Low levels of extraversion correlated with greater renewal. No model could be found to explain extinction learning or extinction recall to the CS+.

Conclusions

The lack of correlation of fear extinction with personality and neuropsychological indices suggests that extinction may be less determined by trait variables and cognitive state, and may depend more on the subject’s current emotional state. The negative correlation between fear renewal and extraversion suggests that this personality characteristic may protect against post-treatment relapse of symptoms of anxiety disorders.

【 授权许可】

   
2012 Martinez et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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