Does US expectancy mediate the additive effects of CS-US pairings on contingency instructions?
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Does US expectancy mediate the additive effects of CS-US pairings on contingency instructions? Results from subjective, psychophysiological and neural measures. / Mertens, Gaëtan; Braem, Senne; Kuhn, Manuel; Lonsdorf, Tina B; van den Hout, Marcel A; Engelhard, Iris M.
in: BEHAV RES THER, Jahrgang 110, 11.2018, S. 41-46.Publikationen: SCORING: Beitrag in Fachzeitschrift/Zeitung › SCORING: Zeitschriftenaufsatz › Forschung › Begutachtung
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Does US expectancy mediate the additive effects of CS-US pairings on contingency instructions?
T2 - Results from subjective, psychophysiological and neural measures
AU - Mertens, Gaëtan
AU - Braem, Senne
AU - Kuhn, Manuel
AU - Lonsdorf, Tina B
AU - van den Hout, Marcel A
AU - Engelhard, Iris M
N1 - Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Verbal instructions are a powerful pathway to learn new fear relations, and an important question has been what fear experience can still add to the effect of such instructions. Therefore, in previous studies, we investigated the effects of pairings between conditioned stimuli (CS) and unconditioned stimuli (US) after CS-US contingency instructions. Although these studies found that CS-US pairings do indeed add to the effects of contingency instructions on subjective, psychophysiological and neural measures of conditioned fear, they also produce increases in US expectancy ratings. In the current report we address whether these enhanced US expectancy ratings can account for the additive effects of CS-US pairings as suggested by expectancy models of fear conditioning. To address this question we made use of pathway models to investigate mediation in within-subjects designs. Our results demonstrate that US expectancy ratings do not mediate the effects of CS-US pairings on fear ratings, the startle reflex or amygdala activation pattern similarity. Additional exploratory analyses, however, revealed that subjective fear ratings do explain the effects of CS-US pairings on the other measures. We discuss how these results relate to expectancy models of fear conditioning and what they implicate for the validity of US expectancy and fear ratings.
AB - Verbal instructions are a powerful pathway to learn new fear relations, and an important question has been what fear experience can still add to the effect of such instructions. Therefore, in previous studies, we investigated the effects of pairings between conditioned stimuli (CS) and unconditioned stimuli (US) after CS-US contingency instructions. Although these studies found that CS-US pairings do indeed add to the effects of contingency instructions on subjective, psychophysiological and neural measures of conditioned fear, they also produce increases in US expectancy ratings. In the current report we address whether these enhanced US expectancy ratings can account for the additive effects of CS-US pairings as suggested by expectancy models of fear conditioning. To address this question we made use of pathway models to investigate mediation in within-subjects designs. Our results demonstrate that US expectancy ratings do not mediate the effects of CS-US pairings on fear ratings, the startle reflex or amygdala activation pattern similarity. Additional exploratory analyses, however, revealed that subjective fear ratings do explain the effects of CS-US pairings on the other measures. We discuss how these results relate to expectancy models of fear conditioning and what they implicate for the validity of US expectancy and fear ratings.
U2 - 10.1016/j.brat.2018.09.003
DO - 10.1016/j.brat.2018.09.003
M3 - SCORING: Journal article
C2 - 30223152
VL - 110
SP - 41
EP - 46
JO - BEHAV RES THER
JF - BEHAV RES THER
SN - 0005-7967
ER -
