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MAPD 2 > L7: Acquisition of fear > Flashcards

L7: Acquisition of fear Flashcards

1
Q

who developed classical conditioning & classic fear conditioning?

A
  • pavlov: classical conditioning
    then used by
  • watson: classic fear conditioning (made a very loud sound whenever boy interacted w rat. so trained him to fear rat)
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2
Q

explain Watson’s Little Albert experiment and how it illustrates classical fear conditioning?

A

Neutral Stimulus (NS): white rat
Orientation Response (OR): looking, feeling
Unconditioned Stimulus (US, stimulus that is naturally automatically aversive): aversive loud noise
Unconditioned Response (UR, automatic natural response to the stimulus): startle reflex, fear
Conditioned Stimulus (CS, rat becomes conditioned stimulus since for the child it is now associated with the loud sound): white rat
Conditioned Response: Startle reflect, fear
so associate neutral stimulus & unconditioned stimulus so child has unconditioned response everytime neutral stimulus is presented
Generalization to other animals and objects

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3
Q

what is learned during fear conditioning?

A

fear response (UR) shifts from aversive stimulus (US) to previously neutral stimulus (CS)
so, CS-CR association

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4
Q

how does the contemporary view on fear conditioning differ from the original one?

A

original: CS-CR association
contemporary: CS-US association

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5
Q

What is the Two-Process model?

A

explains why fear persist even though CS is “harmless”
Fear acquisition: classical fear conditioning
Maintenance of fear: operant conditioning

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6
Q

How does operant conditioning maintain fear?

A

avoidance of feared object (CS) -> decrease fear (positive punishment)
Decreased fear -> increased avoidance behaviour
but prevents someone from learning that fear for CS is irrational -> fear persists

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7
Q

How does fear conditioning work on animals in the lab?

A

a conditioned stimulus (light) is linked to an unconidtioned stimulus (shock)
animal is placed in cage with electrocution device and a light. everytime light goes on, a shock is given. animal will start fearing (freezing) when light goes on even without electric shock.

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8
Q

How does fear conditioning work on humans in the lab?

A

CS+ and CS- shown alternatively (different pictures of same stimulus), with loud sounds occuring with each, and electric shocks only happening with CS+, and we measure fear response at the same time.
eventually CS+ is associated with higher US expectancy and higher startle response than CS- -> indicative of fear learning (conditioning)

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9
Q

how is fear measured in humans?

A

physiological: fear potentiated startle reflex
- its a universal startle reflex to loud noise
- protective function w motor responses
- eye blink reflex measured w EMG of muscle activity under eye
- this reflex is strengthed when tense
subjective: ask how much they were expecting a shock (US)

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10
Q

What is an important difference between fear conditioning research in humans vs animals? why does this exist?

A

in humans we use differential fear conditioning: both a CS+ and CS-
CS+ is the conditioned stimulus (initially this was neutral) associated with the electric shock everytime
CS-: just the conditioned stimulus is presented (but a different picture of it)
Why? CS- is the control response, we need to see what the person’s natural response is to the stimulus so we can compare the CS+ to a baseline

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11
Q

How does fear conditioning work in the brain?

A

animal brain research: CS & US affect Lateral Nucleus in amygdala, this nucleus interacts with both the Basal Nucleus and Central nucleus which then all lead to the fear response (CR)

but fMRI shows no real evidence for this role of amydala in humans!

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12
Q

What are the criticisms of traditional learning theory aka classical conditioning?

A
  • direct US experience not necessary for fear learning: many phobics cannot remember a traumatic event (US) associated with their feared stimuli or even ever having encountered their feared stimuli sometimes
  • US not sufficient for fear learning: many ppl who undergo a traumatic experience (US) do not develop an AD
  • Phobias are selective: fear of spiders/heights much more common than fear of eg cars
  • Conditioned does not always equal Unconditioned Response (initial response to unconditioned stimulus like loud sound may be different than the conditioned response that becomes associated with the neutral stimulus). to the aversive sound (US) with the white rat (CS) we may react with increased hear rate, but to only white rat later on we might freeze
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13
Q

How are the criticisms on traditional learning theory addressed by the contemporary learning theory?

A
  • criticism: direct US experience not necessary for fear learning: 3 pathways of fear learning (direct/observational/info transfer)
  • criticism: US not sufficient for fear learning: individual differneces in genetics/psych traits and differences in learning history affect what is experienced and learned about traumatic events
  • criticism: selectivity of phobias: preparedness & belongingness
  • criticism: CR not always to UR: association between CS and cognitive representation of US (CS-US). feared stimulus (CS) predicts occurence of catastrophe (US). CR (like freezing) prepares the body for impeding catastrophy (US) and doesnt have to be equal to UR. CS-US association
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14
Q

how does panic disorder illustrate that unconditioned responses are not always to equal to the conditioned response?

A

Conditioned stimulus (mild physical sensations) + Unconditioned stimulus (panic attack) -> Unconditioned response (panic reaction)

Conditioned stimulus (mild physical sensations) -> Conditioned response (anticipation anxiety & panic reaction)

combination of learning theory & cognitive theory

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15
Q

what is preparedness in contemporary learning theory?

A

fear for prepared stimuli (imporant for evolution) easier to learn and more difficult to extinguish

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16
Q

what is the concept of belongingness and the research on it?

A

Garcia research
Rats exposed to sound (CS1) and fresh water (CS2)
G1: sound and water, both -> nauseating radiation
G2: sound and water, both -> shock
test of avoidance response (CR)
G1: avoidance (CR) of water, but not of sound
G2: avoidance (CR) of sound, but not of water
-> we are more likely to associate water with nauseating radiation (taste + pain) and sound with shock (sound + pain) which leads to increased fear learning between evolutionary naturally associated stimuli (CS-US combinations)

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17
Q

where do the individual differences in fear learning arise from?

A
  • individual differences in genetic predisposition & psych traits
  • latent inhibition in learning history: prior neutral experiences with a stimulus (CS) reduces amount of fear conditioning when paired with an aversive event (US) ie protective factor (ex: if u have many neutral experiences at dentist u have reduced risk of developing dental anxiety when having a subsequent aversive dentist experience)
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18
Q

what are, according to the contemporary learning theory, the 3 pathways of fear learning?

A
  • trauma (direct learning)
  • vicarious learning (observational/modelling)
  • information transfer (learning by instruction)
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19
Q

what is the experimental evidence for the 3 pathways of fear learning from the contemporary learning theory?

A

Olssen & Phelps: conditioning phase with CS+ and CS-
G1: receiving shock (US) after CS+ (direct learning)
G2: watching video w other person receiving shock (US) after CS+ (observational)
G3: instruction that shock (US) will follow CS+ (info transfer)

test fear response to CS+ and CS-
-> showed that G2 and G3 also developed fear, so fear learning happens not only through direct experiences, but also indirectly

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20
Q

what are the clinicial implications of the 3 pathways of fear learning experimental research?

A
  • fear is ALSO learned by observing fearful behaviours of parents or significant others
  • children of parents w ADs may be vulnerable to develop ADs
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21
Q

how does fear acquisition look in clinical anxiety?

A
  • reduced differential fear learning linked to ADs:
  • participants w high anxiety often show similar rate of fear acquisition to CS+ to controls, but elevated responses to the CS-
  • this differentation predicts AD development later on (see article)
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22
Q

when can you say that an appropiate fear has turned into a maladaptive/irrational fear?

A
  • when they persist when threat has passed
  • they generalize to other safe situations or stimuli
  • when accompanied by avoidance beahviour that interferes w daily functioning
23
Q

how can we use these fear conditioning paradigms to better understand the development and maintenance of fear?

A

we can model maladaptive processes like
- generalization (anxious ppl have steeper generalization slope)
- avoidance (anxious ppl more likely to avoid US even when offered reward so less likely to learn that US no longer occurs)
- resistance to exctinction (anxious ppl show higher responses to the CS+ during extinction, & increased differentiation between CS+ and CS- throughout extinction)

24
Q

why were the early learning approaches to anxiety disorders criticized?

A
  • because it didnt account for individual differences in anxiety disorder development (why do 2 ppl who’ve gone through the same trauma not both develop a phobia?)
25
Q

What was the early learning approach’s explanation of specific phobias?

A

Watson: phobias are simply intense classicaly conditioned fears that develop when a neutral stimulus is paired with a traumatic event (unconditioned stimulus)

26
Q

why was the early learning approach’s explanation of specific phobias criticized? how does the modern learning theory make up for this?

A
  1. many ppl with phobias don’t have any history of classical conditioning (MLT: vicarious conditioning of fears and phobias)
  2. many ppl who do undergo traumatic experiences do not develop phobias (vulnerability factors)
  3. did not account for how prior experiences can affect phobia dev.
    all these problems reflects a general ignorance by the early learning model of vulnerability/invulnerability factors that can make you more vulnerable/resistant to developing a phobia
27
Q

How does vicarious conditioning of fears and phobias work?

A

simply observing others (digitally or real life) experiencing a trauma or behaving fearfully could be sufficient for some phobias to develop

28
Q

What vulnerability factors influence the development or lack of dev of phobias?

A
  • modest genetically based vulnerability
  • behaviourally inhibition in children (like shy kids)
  • prior (life) experiences
  • contextual variables during conditioning
  • postevent variables
29
Q

How can prior experiences affect phobia development?

A
  • Latent inhibition : prior exposure to CS before CS and US are ever paired together reduces amount of subsequent conditioning to the CS when paired with the US
    so if child has extensive pre-exposure to a nonfearful parent behaving nonfearfully with the phobic object/situation of the other parent, this may immunize child against later effects of seeing phobic parent behave fearfully
  • persons history of control over their environment can also affect their reactions to frightening situations
30
Q

What contextual variables impact fear conditioning in specific phobia?

A
  • control over a traumatic event
  • escapability of event (less fear conditioned when its escapable)
31
Q

What postevent variables impact fear conditioning for specific phobias?

A
  • intensity of traumatic expereinces post conditioning affects fear strength
  • “inflation effect” suggests increased fear of CS after intense trauma unrelated to CS
  • verbal/social transmission of danger info can increase fear response to CS
  • simple mental rehearsal of CS-US relationships can enhance fear response
31
Q

how are fear conditioning associations selective in phobias?

A
  • certain objects (snakes, spiders, water, heights) more likely to induce phobias
  • evolutionary preparedness theory suggests rapid association of objects mentioend w aversive events
  • these prepared fears are easily acquired & resistant to exctinction & cognitive control (like even if we tell ourselves its not dangerous, we will still fear it instinctively)
  • many mammals share this evolutionary preparedness
32
Q

How does social phobia develop?

A

direct traumatic conditioning experiences often reported by patients (like being bullied)

33
Q

What types of social learning play a role in the dev of social phobia?

A
  • vicarious learning experiences (like observing others being ridiculed/anxious in social situations can lead to it)
  • modeling of social anxiety behaviours within fam
34
Q

What contributes to the dev of social phobia?

A
  • social learning (vicarious learning & modelling)
  • cultural influences
  • preparedness (evolutionary & to angry facial expressions)
  • behavioural inhibition
  • uncontrollability
35
Q

How does preparedness play a role in social phobia?

A
  • evolutionary factors: our brains might be wired to be more anxious in social situations due to previous dominance hierarchies where we had to listen to leader
  • we might be prewired to angry facial expressions since could have bad consequences
36
Q

How does behavioural inhibition play a role in social phobia?

A
  • some temperamental factors like behavioural inhibition can make us more vulnerable to social phobia
  • predicts onset of social phobia
37
Q

How does uncontrollability play a role in social phobia dev?

A
  • perceptions of uncontrollability contribute to vulnerability to social phobia & is generally associated w social phobia
  • animal research suggests uncontrollable stressors incrase submissive behaviour & fear responses
38
Q

What was the early conditioning explanation by Goldstein of panic disorder w/o agoraphobia?

A
  • it arises from both exteroceptive (via external cues) & interoceptive (via internal bodily sensations) conditioning
  • suggested that fear of experiencing more panic attacks (fear of fear) develops from interoceptive conditioning
39
Q

What was the contemporary learning theory perspective on panic disorder?

A
  • response to early conditioning approaches
  • suggested that anxiety & panic are at least partially unique emotional experiences:
  • panic is accompanied by strong autonomic arousal, extreme fear, and fight or flight action tendencies
  • anxiety is accompanied by apprehension, worry, and tension
40
Q

How did contemporary learning persepctive see conditioning in panic disorder?

A
  • initial panic attacks become associated w both internal & external cues through conditioning
  • certain bodily sensations (interoceptive cues) and external environments (exteroceptive cues) become linked w panic
  • interoceptive cues ( CS) near onset of panic attacks may serve as triggers for PA
41
Q

How come agoraphobia often develops from panic disorder?

A
  • often develops as result of avoiding situations associated w panic attacks
  • Anxiety and avoidance behaviors extend beyond typical agoraphobic situations to various everyday activities.
  • Gender and employment status are risk factors, with women and those who can avoid situations more prone to agoraphobia.
42
Q

What makes the role of conditionign in panic disorder & agoraphobia so complex?

A
  • CS (both exteroceptive & interoceptive ones) not only elicit responses but can also facilitate or inhibit other responess
  • anxiety may lower treshold for panic reactions
  • both anxiety & panic can be conditioned to various cues
43
Q

What are some vulnerability factors for panic disorder?

A
  • Genetic, temperamental, and experiential factors
  • Prior experiences of uncontrollable stress and perceptions of helplessness
  • Specific learning experiences, like reinforcement of sick role behavior during panic attacks
44
Q

What are the similarities between PTSD symptoms & effects of uncontrollable & unpredictable stress in animals?

part of modern learning perspective on PTSD

A
  • both heightened generalized anxiety & arousal
  • avoidance symptoms
  • numbing symptoms
  • emotional reactions to trauma reminders (including fear & distress)
  • the stressors that cause it can be similar
    -> learning theory perspective
45
Q

What are the 3 phases in PTSD and how do they contribute?

A
  1. pretrauma: prior experiences w control (or lack therof) influence responses to subsequent trauma. sensitization to trauma occurs w repeated exposure, while prior control in similar situations can immunize against effects of trauma
  2. trauma phase: trauma perceived as uncontrollable & unpredicatable more likely to lead to PTSD, individual differences in response to trauma affect PTSD likelihood (psych state during trauma plays crucial role)
  3. Postrauma phase: reexperiencing symptoms after trauma predicts course of PTSD & posttrauma events can influence symptom intensity
46
Q

in GAD, what are the perceived benefits & functions of worry?

A
  • believe that worry hyelps avoid catastrophe
  • actual function: suppressing emotional & physiological responses to aversive imagery & its a cogntivie avoidance response, reinforced by suppression of responses and rarity of worry related catastrophes
47
Q

How do perceptions of uncontrollability play a role in GAD?

A
  • worry is perceived as uncontrollable despite attemps to suppress/control it
  • attempting to control worry may paradoxically lead to increased intrusive thoughts & heightened sense of uncontrollability
  • this cycle perpetuates anxiety & reinforces perception of being unable to control worry in GAD
48
Q

What may contribute to the dev of GAD?

A
  • uncontrollable & unpredictable aversive events
  • childhood trauma
  • low tolerance fo uncertainty
  • lack of safety signals
  • neuroticism & trait anxiety
  • those who have experienced controlling important aspects of their lives may be PROTECTED against GAD
49
Q

What contributes to OCD?

A
  • verbal conditioning
  • social learning (like parental influence & cultural bliefs)
  • avoidance tendencies
  • preparedness (lrituals may be more centered around evolutionary themes like dirt or contamination)
50
Q

Why is the contemporary learning theory on fear better than early approaches?

A
  • generally: its more complex & rich
  • its models have testable predictions
  • provides more comprehensive explanations (while cognitive models may lack clarity on distinctions between panic and anxiety states)
  • treatments derived from it are effective (like exposure therapy)
  • ## it informs prevention strategies
51
Q

What is aversive learning? how is it relevant in anxiety disorder dev?

A

the pairing of a neutral stimulus with an aversive one, until the initially neutral stimulus starts evoking a fear reaction
-> faulty aversive learning can lead to anxiety disorders (have a hard time distinguishing safety from danger)
-> can also generalize: getting the fear response from stimuli other than the initial aversive stimulus
pathological when fear response to unthreatening stimuli (too much generalization?)

52
Q

What was the design of Lenaert’s study on how aversive learning & generlization predicts anxiety?

A
  • participants rated their baseline anxiety
  • underwent aversive learning task involving nasty pictures
  • aversion & generalization were self reported (did fear generalize to other sized circles as well? how aversive did circle become?)
  • 2 groups: CS+ (circle followed by nasty pics) and CS- (circle not followed by nasty pics)
  • H1: differentitation of circles negatively associated w anxiety after 6m
  • H2: generalization positively related to anxiety after 6m
53
Q

What were the results to Lenaerts study?

A

most ppl expected the aversive stimulus more in response to CS+ than to CS-
generalization was present
poor discriminitation learning & generalization related to higher anxiety at 6m

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