I feel safe when i know: contingency instruction promotes threat extinction in high intolerance of uncertainty individuals

Morriss, J. and van Reekum, C. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1516-1101 (2019) I feel safe when i know: contingency instruction promotes threat extinction in high intolerance of uncertainty individuals. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 116. pp. 111-118. ISSN 0005-7967 doi: 10.1016/j.brat.2019.03.004

Abstract/Summary

Extinction-resistant threat is considered to be a central feature of pathological anxiety. Reduced threat extinction is observed in individuals with high intolerance of uncertainty (IU). Here we sought to determine whether contingency instructions could alter the course of threat extinction for individuals high in IU. We tested this hypothesis in two identical experiments (Exp 1 n = 60, Exp 2 n = 82) where we recorded electrodermal activity during threat acquisition with partial reinforcement, and extinction. Participants were split into groups based on extinction instructions (instructed, uninstructed) and IU score (low, high). All groups displayed larger skin conductance responses to learned threat versus safety cues during threat acquisition, indicative of threat conditioning. In both experiments, only the uninstructed high IU groups displayed larger skin conductance responses to the learned threat versus safety cue during threat extinction. These findings suggest that uncertain threat during extinction maintains conditioned responding in individuals high in IU.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/82744
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.brat.2019.03.004
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience
Publisher	Elsevier
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