Virtual reality for the psychophysiological assessment of phobic fear: responses during virtual tunnel driving

An overall assessment of phobic fear requires not only a verbal self-report of fear but also an assessment of behavioral and physiological responses. Virtual reality can be used to simulate realistic (phobic) situations and therefore should be useful for inducing emotions in a controlled, standardized way. Verbal and physiological fear reactions were examined in 15 highly tunnel-fearful and 15 matched control participants in 3 virtual driving scenarios: an open environment, a partially open tunnel (gallery), and a closed tunnel. Highly tunnel-fearful participants were characterized by elevated fear responses specifically during tunnel drives as reflected in verbal fear ratings, heart rate reactions, and startle responses. Heart rate and fear ratings differentiated highly tunnel-fearful from control participants with an accuracy of 88% and 93%, respectively. Results indicate that virtual environments are valuable tools for the assessment of fear reactions and should be used in future experimental research.     

Conceptions of Research Methods Learning Among Psychology Undergraduates: A Q Methodology Study*

Abstract

A range of conceptions held about research methods learning have previously been identified. This study aimed to examine in-depth shared conceptions among undergraduate psychology students. Utilizing Q methodology, which links both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to uncover the subjective viewpoints that a group of individuals hold toward a particular domain, participants ranked statements reflecting different conceptions of research methods learning. Ranks were then factor analyzed and four distinct profiles of student conceptions were identified, labelled, and described in qualitative detail: research methods as integral to psychology, research methods as a digression from psychology, research methods as disconnected from psychology, and research methods as beneficial to psychology. Some of the perspectives displayed a clear understanding about the reasons for undertaking research and learning about research methods in psychology, whereas other standpoints saw research as being something that was difficult to relate to the practice of psychology. Findings are considered in terms of how some conceptions appear to be more beneficial or problematic to hold than others and recommendations are made to educators about how they could support students to change their views.     

Development of a therapists’ self-report measure of pluralistic thought and practice: the Therapy Pluralism Inventory

This study aimed to develop a self-report measure of pluralistic thought and practice. Following pilot development, a 23-item inventory was placed on an online survey site, and 474 participants satisfactorily completed the measure. Respondents were trainee or qualified therapists, predominantly female, based in the UK, and of a humanistic or integrative/eclectic orientation. A principal components analysis resulted in two scales, Pluralistic Philosophy and Pluralistic Practice, which had good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α?=?.72 and .80, respectively). Confirmatory factor analysis showed good model fit for this two factor solution. The Therapy Pluralism Inventory (TPI) has potential for use in training and research, although additional validity and normative data are needed.     

Virtual social interactions in social anxiety--the impact of sex, gaze, and interpersonal distance

In social interactions, interpersonal distance between interaction partners plays an important role in determining the status of the relationship. Interpersonal distance is an important nonverbal behavior, and is used to regulate personal space in a complex interplay with other nonverbal behaviors such as eye gaze. In social anxiety, studies regarding the impact of interpersonal distance on within-situation avoidance behavior are so far rare. Thus the present study aimed to scrutinize the relationship between gaze direction, sex, interpersonal distance, and social anxiety in social interactions. Social interactions were modeled in a virtual-reality (VR) environment, where 20 low and 19 high socially anxious women were confronted with approaching male and female characters, who stopped in front of the participant, either some distance away or close to them, and displayed either a direct or an averted gaze. Gaze and head movements, as well as heart rate, were measured as indices of avoidance behavior and fear reactions. High socially anxious participants showed a complex pattern of avoidance behavior: when the avatar was standing farther away, high socially anxious women avoided gaze contact with male avatars showing a direct gaze. Furthermore, they showed avoidance behavior (backward head movements) in response to male avatars showing a direct gaze, regardless of the interpersonal distance. Overall, the current study proved that VR social interactions might be a very useful tool for investigating avoidance behavior of socially anxious individuals in highly controlled situations. This might also be the first step in using VR social interactions in clinical protocols for the therapy of social anxiety disorder.     

The impact of changes in spatial distance on emotional responses

Drawing on motivational approaches to emotion, the authors propose that the perceived change in spatial distance to pictures that arouse negative emotions exerts an influence on the significance of these pictures. Two experiments induced the illusion that affective pictures approach toward the observer, recede from the observer, or remain static. To determine the motivational significance of the pictures, emotional valence and arousal ratings as well as startle responses were assessed. Approaching unpleasant pictures were found to exert an influence on both the valence and the arousal elicited by the pictures. Furthermore, movement of pleasant or neutral pictures did not influence startle responses, while the second experiment showed that approaching unpleasant pictures elicited enhanced startle responses compared to receding unpleasant pictures. These findings support the view that a change of spatial distance influences motivational significance and thereby shapes emotional responses.     

Predicting maternal reactivity/sensitivity: The role of infant emotionality,maternal depressiveness/anxiety,and social support

It was hypothesized that an accumulation of unfavorable conditions, i.e., high negative emotionality and low positive emotionality of the infant, maternal depression and anxiety, and lacking social and emotional support can attenuate mothers' reactivity/sensitivity. Maternal reactivity/sensitivity was observed during home visits and in the laboratory. Infant negative and positive emotionality was assessed by mother reports and behavioral observations. Maternal depressiveness/anxiety as well as social support were assessed via questionnaires. All mothers were primiparous and had healthy infants. Data collection was conducted at the infants' ages of four months (37 dyads) and eight months (33 dyads). The sample consisted of 19 male and 18 female infants (four‐months' measurement). Whereas the presence of a single risk factor was not related to maternal reactivity/sensitivity, the combination was. A decrease in maternal reactivity/sensitivity over the course of time was demonstrated for mothers who had to deal with high negative emotionality of the infant in combination with either high depressiveness/anxiety or low social support at the infants' age of four months. No significant main or interaction effects could be shown for infant positive emotionality. ©2004 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Probing the attentional control theory in social anxiety: An emotional saccade task

Volitional attentional control has been found to rely on prefrontal neuronal circuits. According to the attentional control theory of anxiety, impairment in the volitional control of attention is a prominent feature in anxiety disorders. The present study investigated this assumption in socially anxious individuals using an emotional saccade task with facial expressions (happy, angry, fearful, sad, neutral). The gaze behavior of participants was recorded during the emotional saccade task, in which participants performed either pro- or antisaccades in response to peripherally presented facial expressions. The results show that socially anxious persons have difficulties in inhibiting themselves to reflexively attend to facial expressions: They made more erratic prosaccades to all facial expressions when an antisaccade was required. Thus, these findings indicate impaired attentional control in social anxiety. Overall, the present study shows a deficit of socially anxious individuals in attentional control—for example, in inhibiting the reflexive orienting to neutral as well as to emotional facial expressions. This result may be due to a dysfunction in the prefrontal areas being involved in attentional control.     

Abstract stimuli associated with threat through conditioning cannot be detected preattentively

Studies of anxiety suggest that threat stimuli can be identified preattentively, but this conclusion is questionable because of possible low-level perceptual confounds. Two experiments used visual search tasks in which abstract shapes were conditioned to carry neutral or negative valence. Experiment 1 found generally faster responses to threat-associated abstract stimuli but no evidence that they were detected preattentively, irrespective of trait anxiety level. A similar pattern was found in Experiment 2, in which individuals high in snake or spider fear showed no evidence of preattentive detection of abstract stimuli associated with their feared object. In contrast, implicit behavioral measures showed significant effects of conditioning, demonstrating that targets associated with threat were negatively evaluated in these experiments.     

Contextual fear conditioning predicts subsequent avoidance behaviour in a virtual reality environment

Avoidance behaviour is a crucial component of fear and is importantly involved in the maintenance of anxiety disorders. Presumably, fear conditioning leads to avoidance of the feared object or context. A virtual reality contextual fear conditioning paradigm was used to investigate the association between explicit conditioning effects and subsequent avoidance behaviour. Mild electric shocks were administered in one context (anxiety context), but never in a second context (safety context). Subsequent avoidance behaviour was assessed by asking participants to choose two out of three contexts (a neutral context was added) to visit again. Participants avoided the anxiety context, but did not prefer the safety over the neutral context. Participants with substantial conditioning effects, as reflected in differential valence, arousal and anxiety ratings, avoided the anxiety context but not the safety context. In sum, we demonstrated an association between context conditioning effects on an explicit level and later avoidance behaviour.     

Independent effects of emotion and attention on sensory and affective pain perception

The present study investigated whether attention and emotion independently influence sensory and affective pain ratings. Fifty-four (27 female) participants rated sensory and affective pain in response to painful mechanic pressure stimulation while exposed to positive, neutral and negative slides from the International Affective Picture System. In doing so, participants were assigned to one of three groups, which focused attention either on the pictures or on the sensory or on the affective aspects of the pressure stimulation. Consistent with the motivational priming hypothesis, sensory and affective pain ratings were generally lower during exposure to positive compared to negative and neutral slides. In line with our assumptions, attention modulated sensory pain ratings with lowest ratings in the picture focusing group and highest in the affective pain focusing group. No attention effect for affective pain ratings and no interactions between emotional and attentional effects on pain perception were found.