Brief Training to Modify the Breadth of Attention Influences the Generalisation of Fear
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Brief Training to Modify the Breadth of Attention Influences the Generalisation of Fear Mohith M. Varma1 · Riddhi J. Pitliya1 · Tomislav D. Zbozinek2 · Tomer Shechner3 · Tom J. Barry1,4 Accepted: 16 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract Background Generalisation of fear from dangerous to safe stimuli is an important process associated with anxiety disorders. However, factors that contribute towards fear (over)-generalisation remain poorly understood. The present investigation explored how attentional breadth (global/holistic and local/analytic) influences fear generalisation and, whether people trained to attend in a global vs. local manner show more or less generalisation. Methods Participants (N = 39) were shown stimuli which comprised of large ‘global’ letters and smaller ‘local’ letters (e.g. an F comprised of As) and they either had to identify the global or local letter. Participants were then conditioned to fear a face by pairing it with an aversive scream (75% reinforcement schedule). Perceptually similar, but safe, faces, were then shown. Self-reported fear levels and skin conductance responses were measured. Results Compared to participants in Global group, participants in Local group demonstrated greater fear for dangerous stimulus (CS +) as well as perceptually similar safe stimuli. Conclusions Participants trained to attend to stimuli in a local/analytical manner showed higher magnitude of fear acquisition and generalisation than participants trained to attend in a global/holistic way. Breadth of attentional focus can influence overall fear levels and fear generalisation and this can be manipulated via attentional training.
Introduction Fear is adaptive as it enables us to anticipate and react to potentially dangerous stimuli in our environment based on our previous experiences with dangerous stimuli. However, fear can be maladaptive if it is expressed in the presence of safe stimuli that only merely resemble a previously fear-evoking stimulus. This process of enhanced fear Mohith M. Varma, and Riddhi J. Pitliya are co-first authors and contributed equally to this work * Tom J. Barry [email protected]; [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, 6.58 Jockey Club Tower, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China
2
Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
3
School of Psychological Sciences and the Integrated Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
4
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UK
generalisation is central to the aetiology and maintenance of anxiety and traumatic disorders (Dunsmoor & Paz 2015; Dymond et al. 2015; Struyf et al. 2015). However, the process by which fear generalisation occurs and the factors that contribute towards individual differences in generalisation remain poorly understood. Early (Hovland 1937) and contemporary fear generalisation investigations (e.g.
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