Fear of Hypoglycemia and Self Reported Posttraumatic Stress in Adults with Type I Diabetes Treated by Intensive Regimens

This study investigated the prevalence of hypoglycemic fear (FH) and hypoglycemia-specific posttraumatic stress (PTS) among individuals with Type I diabetes. Over 25% of participants met diagnostic criteria for current PTSD. High percentages of participants endorsed PTS symptom clusters, suggesting that individuals may be experiencing distress without necessarily meeting diagnostic criteria. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that perceived threat of death from hypoglycemia and FH were significantly related to PTS. Number of recent hypoglycemic episodes did not predict PTS/PTSD. Depression and nonspecific anxiety did not contribute to the statistical prediction of PTSD, suggesting that symptomatology endorsed represents hypoglycemia-specific anxiety rather than global psychological distress. The hypothesis that greater PTS symptomatology would relate to poorer glycemic control was unsubstantiated. Perceived death-threat from hypoglycemia and nonspecific anxiety were the only variables that contributed to prediction of glycemic control, suggesting that PTS did not represent a significant barrier for glycemic control in this sample.     

The effect of on‐ or off‐line extinction of a first‐order conditioned stimulus on a second‐order conditioned response in rats

In a water‐licking experiment with rats, the effects of the extinction of a first‐order conditioned stimulus (CS1) on the suppression of licking established for a second‐order conditioned stimulus (CS2) were explored. Extinction of the first‐order conditioned response (CR1) attenuated the conditioned suppression induced by CS2 when the rats had been allowed to lick water during the CR1 extinction phase. However, if water had been unavailable during the CR1 extinction phase, suppression by CS2 was not affected. The latter result is consistent with other studies of rats' conditioned suppression and suggests that the underlying mechanism of second‐order conditioning in this experiment is a connection between CS2 and the response elicited by CS1 rather than a CS2‐CS1 connection. The former result was interpreted as the CR1 extinction phase encouraging the rats to lick water despite the fear elicited by CS1, and thus, in testing, they licked despite the fear elicited by CS2.     

条件性恐惧记忆提取消退干预范式

提取消退(retrieval-extinction, Ret+Ext)范式是基于记忆再巩固理论, 利用消退训练(extinction, Ext)能改变条件刺激(conditioned stimulus, CS)的恐惧效价特点, 把消退训练应用到再巩固时间窗内来改写(rewrite)恐惧记忆, 消除恐惧反应。提取消退范式是对传统暴露疗法和药物治疗的创新和拓展, 不仅为创伤性记忆的治疗提供一种非侵入性的技术, 而且也为改写人类记忆、积极心理学探索人类幸福感方面开辟了一种全新的理论视角。     

愤怒和恐惧情绪对个体危机决策的影响

危机情景下个体和群体的决策行为已经成为学术界关注的焦点。为探讨愤怒和恐惧情绪对个体危机决策的影响,本研究采用实验和问卷调查相结合的方法,通过观看电影片段的方式有效地诱发了愤怒和恐惧两种情绪,在问卷调查的基础上编制危机决策情景进行研究,结果发现：（1）恐惧情绪状态下,被试的危机决策时间显著长于其在愤怒情绪状态下的危机决策时间,且情绪变量和性别变量在危机决策时间上存在显著的交互作用;（2）恐惧情绪状态下,女性被试的危机决策时间显著长于其在愤怒情绪状态下的危机决策时间,并且也显著地长于男性被试的危机决策时间。同时,男性被试对其危机决策的满意程度显著地高于女性被试,且情绪变量和性别变量在危机决策自信程度指标上存在显著的交互作用;（3）随着方案数量的增加,尤其当方案数量为4时,被试的危机决策时间较其他两种情况显著增长。     

中小学生的灾难暴露程度对创伤后应激障碍的影响：中介和调节效应

汶川地震后1年时,采用灾难暴露程度问卷、主观害怕程度问卷、社会支持问卷和创伤后应激障碍症状量表,对地震极重灾区的3058名中小学生进行调查,考察灾难暴露程度、主观害怕程度、社会支持与创伤后应激障碍的关系。结果发现：（1）震后1年时中小学生创伤后应激障碍的发生率为9.6%,其中有目睹他人死亡经历的学生的创伤后应激障碍发生率为16.2%;（2）灾难暴露程度能正向预测创伤后应激障碍,而主观害怕程度在灾难暴露程度对创伤后应激障碍的影响中起部分中介作用;（3）社会支持在灾难暴露程度与创伤后应激障碍的关系中起调节作用,但不能调节主观害怕程度与创伤后应激障碍之间的关系。其中,无论支持的性质如何,父母和教师的支持都能缓解灾难暴露程度对创伤后应激障碍的影响,而同学和其他人的支持则不具有调节效应。     

非条件刺激降低再评估对条件性恐惧消退的影响

诸多情绪障碍治疗的关键在于促进条件性恐惧反应的消退, 研究证明非条件刺激再评估能够引起恐惧反应的变化。本研究将非条件刺激降低再评估范式应用于消退训练, 以主观预期值、皮电反应作为恐惧反应指标, 考察恐惧习得后非条件刺激强度降低对条件性恐惧消退的影响, 并运用评价性条件作用探讨非条件刺激再评估的作用机制。结果表明：在消退阶段, 降低组对条件刺激的皮电反应显著低于控制组。同时评价性条件作用结果显示：经过非条件刺激再评估, 降低组较控制组对条件刺激的评价更为正性。说明非条件刺激降低再评估有效改变条件刺激的负性效价, 降低个体的恐惧反应、促进恐惧消退。     

女性生理周期对条件性恐惧习得和消退的影响

动物研究显示, 雌激素调节条件性恐惧习得和消退, 但是, 人类的性激素对条件性恐惧习得和消退的影响还不太清楚。因此, 本研究以大学生为研究对象, 考察女性不同生理周期对条件性情境恐惧的习得和消退的影响。20名经前期和20名经期女被试暴露于3种情境下：无厌恶刺激情境(N)、可预测情境(P)和不可预测情境(U), 预测此3种情境下是否出现厌恶刺激。以在线索条件下和无线索条件下对厌恶刺激的主观预期值为因变量。研究结果显示:在习得阶段, 经期女性在P情境下的条件性线索恐惧的主观预期值高于经前期女性; 经前期女性在3种情境下的条件性情境恐惧的主观预期值都高于经期女性, 但只在N情境和P情境, 与经期女性相比, 经前期女性对厌恶刺激的主观预期值存在显著差异。在消退阶段, 与经期女性相比, 经前期女性在3种情境下的条件性情境恐惧的主观预期值更高, 且经前期女性对厌恶刺激的主观预期值在N情境和P情境显著高于经期女性。该结果显示, 经前期女性对条件性情境恐惧易习得难消退, 表明此生理阶段的性激素影响大脑的情绪调节功能, 从而影响条件性情境恐惧。     

“成功恐惧”的研究述评

自20世纪60年代霍纳提出"成功恐惧"概念以来,它一直是学者们争相争论的神秘焦点,本文尝试解开"成功恐惧"之谜,介绍"成功恐惧"的概念,研究现状和原因.研究的测量方式.最后提出展望。     

Simul What? Toward a Grace for the Fearful

The doctrines of forensic justification and simul iustus et peccator assume a primarily moral theo‐cosmology. However, the former constricts the excessiveness of divine grace, while the latter fails to adequately capture the fullness of the human condition. Freeing divine grace and theological anthropology from the moral requires a shift in emphasis toward suffering and an acknowledgment that a deep root of sin is creaturely vulnerability. In this case, the incurved self might symbolize the fearful, pulling goods toward the self for protection. While accountability for sin remains important, the first response to the fearful, who act from a sense of deep vulnerability, is compassion rather than judgment. In this way grace attends to but ultimately exceeds the moral.     

Differential impact of emotional task relevance on three indices of prioritised processing for fearful and angry facial expressions

It is commonly assumed that threatening expressions are perceptually prioritised, possessing the ability to automatically capture and hold attention. Recent evidence suggests that this prioritisation depends on the task relevance of emotion in the case of attention holding and for fearful expressions. Using a hybrid attentional blink (AB) and repetition blindness (RB) paradigm we investigated whether task relevance also impacts on prioritisation through attention capture and perceptual salience, and if these effects generalise to angry expressions. Participants judged either the emotion (relevant condition) or gender (irrelevant condition) of two target facial stimuli (fearful, angry or neutral) imbedded in a stream of distractors. Attention holding and capturing was operationalised as modulation of AB deficits by first target (T1) and second target (T2) expression. Perceptual salience was operationalised as RB modulation. When emotion was task-relevant (Experiment 1; N?=?29) fearful expressions captured and held attention, and were more perceptually salient than neutral expressions. Angry expressions captured attention, but were less perceptually salient and capable of holding attention than fearful and neutral expressions. When emotion was task-irrelevant (Experiment 2; N?=?30), only fearful attention capture and perceptual salience effects remained significant. Our findings highlight the importance for threat-prioritisation research to heed both the type of threat and prioritisation investigated.