Thinking of attachment figures blocks differential fear conditioning

Thinking of attachment figures can potentially impact acquisition and extinction of fear memories. In this study, 50 participants underwent a fear conditioning and extinction paradigm. Half the participants thought about a supportive attachment figure and half thought about a non-attachment positive...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 2018-09, Vol.13 (9), p.989-994
Main Authors: Toumbelekis, Metaxia, Liddell, Belinda J, Bryant, Richard A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conditioning (Psychology) - physiology
Extinction, Psychological
Fear - psychology
Female
Humans
Male
Object Attachment
Original
Reflex, Startle
Self Report
Social Support
Young Adult
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Summary:Thinking of attachment figures can potentially impact acquisition and extinction of fear memories. In this study, 50 participants underwent a fear conditioning and extinction paradigm. Half the participants thought about a supportive attachment figure and half thought about a non-attachment positive experience prior to the fear conditioning. All participants then underwent a differential fear conditioning and fear extinction paradigm, and returned 2 days later for an extinction recall task. Fear-potentiated startle and subjective expectancy of shock ratings were measured as the primary indicators of fear learning across trials. The attachment prime significantly reduced the acquisition of fear-potentiated startle, and this lower level of fear was maintained at the extinction recall task. These results demonstrate that attachment primes can modulate the acquisition of conditioned fear. These findings provide preliminary evidence for the protective nature of attachment relationships at times that are characterized by fear learning.
ISSN:1749-5016
1749-5024
DOI:10.1093/scan/nsy065