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.     

Positive affect predicts less reacquisition of fear: relevance for long-term outcomes of exposure therapy

Much emphasis in fear conditioning research is placed on understanding extinction learning, partly because of its application in treating anxiety disorders. Return of fear after extinction is a problem affecting long-term maintenance of treatment gains. The present study evaluated whether positive affect (PA) is associated with lower rates of reacquisition, or, an increase in fear following re-pairings of the conditional stimulus (CS+) and unconditional stimulus (US; e.g. electric shock) after extinction. Results showed that higher PA before and after extinction was associated with less CS+ fear during reacquisition as measured by skin conductance arousal and US expectancy. Conversely, negative affect was not associated with reacquisition of fear using any measure. These results provide implications for reducing reacquisition with exposure therapy for anxiety disorders.     

分类和概念对恐惧泛化的影响机制

恐惧泛化与多种焦虑障碍的病理基础密切相关。例如创伤后应激障碍个体往往持续地逃避与创伤事件有关的刺激,遭受着创伤痛苦折磨。本文在厘清知觉辨别与恐惧泛化关系的基础上,着力于高级认知过程(分类与概念相似性、典型性和人工概念)对恐惧泛化的影响,回顾了恐惧泛化的相关神经机制,并揭示恐惧泛化对焦虑障碍患者的临床治疗启示。未来研究应将知觉和高级认知维度的恐惧泛化进行整合研究,同时扩充恐惧习得和泛化的神经回路,以促进人类恐惧泛化更深入的研究。     

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。     

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。     

干预条件性恐惧记忆表达的相关影响因素分析

创伤后应激障碍是个体经历严重应激后形成的一种焦虑障碍, 对其治疗的关键是熄灭由创伤应激导致的条件性恐惧记忆。条件性恐惧的动物模型研究发现恐惧记忆一旦获得后就难以熄灭, 容易复发, 而这一点也是PTSD的关键临床症状表现之一。因此, 如何更好更持久地熄灭恐惧记忆, 是一个具有重要理论和临床意义的研究热点。本文围绕促进恐惧记忆的长久消退和破坏恐惧记忆的再巩固两方面的行为或药理干预及机制进行综述。针对本文所述的几种基础实验处理, 临床上可以研究治疗创伤后应激障碍的相应疗法。     

Characteristics of Blood-Injection-Injury Fears in People Receiving Intravenous Chemotherapy

Blood-Injection-Injury (BII) phobia is associated with distress and avoidance in response to blood, injury, or receiving injections. BII phobia can therefore create problems for those receiving medical procedures such as chemotherapy. The prevalence rate of BII in the general population has been estimated to be less than 5% but as many as 19% of outpatients receiving chemotherapy surveyed by Carey and Harris (Behaviour Change 22:5–90, 2005) reported BII concerns. This study examined the extent and characteristics of BII concerns among outpatients receiving chemotherapy for the first time (n = 124). Almost 17% of the sample had scores on the Mutilation Questionnaire comparable to samples with clinical BII phobia. Those assigned to a high BII concern group based on Mutilation Questionnaire scores reported higher somatic and fainting responses to BII stimuli and elevated disgust sensitivity, compared to groups selected for low BII concerns. Females had significantly higher Mutilation Questionnaire scores than males. Thus, the BII concerns of outpatients receiving chemotherapy appear qualitatively similar to the concerns reported by clinical BII phobia samples and analogue student samples. We suggest that the standard inclusion of a brief, reliable screening measure of BII concerns for outpatients scheduled for chemotherapy, coupled with brief, effective interventions to reduce BII-related distress, may be warranted.     

The Fear of Death

Taking a somewhat indirect route that includes some autobiographical reflection, I address three questions. One is what it might mean to say, with Socrates, that philosophy is "studying for death". The second is why Christians should fear death at all, if the good of Heaven is really what they believe is beyond it. The third is the question what difference it makes to your philosophical view of death if you are a believer.     

Gender and Risk in Public Performance

The scarcity of women as contestants on the nationally televised quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire provided the impetus to study gender and risk. In three simulated studies we investigated perception of risk and decision making about whether to engage in a televised public performance. Gender differences consistent with the risk assessment literature were found. Women considered going on the show to be more personally risky, were more concerned about doing poorly in public, and were less likely to risk entering their names. Results were discussed in terms of motivation to avoid negative social consequences. Implications of the findings for women's participation in public life are discussed.     

Is pain-related fear a predictor of somatosensory hypervigilance in chronic low back pain patients?

Pain-related fear has been found to be associated with increased disability and increased pain perception in patients with chronic low back pain. A possible mechanism by which pain-related fear could lead to increased pain perception is heightened attention to somatosensory sensations. In the present study, chronic pain patients reporting either a high or low level of pain related fear and control participants performed an auditory reaction time task, while occasionally non-painful electrical stimuli--accompanied by threatening instructions--were given to the arm or back. In the primary task condition, participants had to perform the auditory task while ignoring the electrical stimuli. Next, the task was presented under dual task conditions in which participants had to respond both to tones as well as to detection of electrical stimuli. It was hypothesized that for the primary task, high fearful patients would show greater disruption of performance on the auditory task than low fearful patients and controls when stimuli were presented to the back. For the dual task, slower reaction times for the auditory task, in combination with faster detection of electrical stimuli was expected. The hypotheses were not confirmed but patients scoring high on pain-related fear did show an overall increase in reaction time for all conditions of the primary task, with or without simultaneous stimulation. Regression analyses demonstrated that high pain-related fear was associated with increased reaction time to tones both in patients and healthy controls, and that within patients pain-related fear was a better predictor of reaction time to tones than present pain intensity. The findings may be interpreted as showing that patients with elevated levels of pain-related fear habitually attend to somatic sensations, giving less priority to other attention-demanding tasks.