scholarly journals Knowledge is power: Contingency instruction promotes threat extinction in high intolerance of uncertainty individuals

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Carien M. van Reekum
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Partial Reinforcement ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Conditioned Responding ◽  
Pathological Anxiety

AbstractExtinction-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 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.

scholarly journals Agents' pivotality and reward fairness modulate sense of agency in cooperative joint action

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Solène Le Bars ◽  
Alexandre Devaux ◽  
Tena Nevidal ◽  
Valerian Chambon ◽  
Elisabeth Pacherie
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Joint Action ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Motor Task ◽  
Sense Of Agency ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
The Individual ◽  
And Control ◽  
Individual Motor

The sense of agency (SoA) experienced in joint action is an essential subjective dimension of human cooperativeness, but we still know little about the specific factors that contribute to its emergence or alteration. In the present study, dyads of participants were instructed to coordinate their key presses to move a cursor up to a specific target (i.e., to achieve a common goal). We applied random deviations on the cursor’s trajectory to manipulate the motor fluency of the joint action, while the agents’ motor roles were either balanced (i.e., equivalent) or unbalanced (i.e., one agent contributed more than the other), making the agents more or less pivotal to the joint action. Then, the final outcomes were shared equally, fairly (i.e., reflecting individual motor contributions) or arbitrarily in an all-or none fashion, between the co-agents. Self and joint SoA were measured through self-reports about feeling of control (FoC), and electrodermal activity was recorded during the whole motor task. We observed that self and joint FoC were reduced in the case of low motor fluency, pointing out the importance of sensorimotor cues for both I- and we-modes. Moreover, while self FoC was reduced in the low pivotality condition (i.e., low motor role), joint FoC was significantly enhanced when agents’ roles and rewards were symmetrical (i.e. equal). Skin conductance responses to rewards were impacted by the way outcomes were shared between partners (i.e., fairly, equally or arbitrarily) but not by the individual gains, which demonstrates the sensitivity of low-level physiological reactions to external signs of fairness. Skin conductance level was also reduced in the fair context, where rewards were shared according to individual motor contributions, relative to the all-or-none context, which could mirror the feeling of effective responsibility and control over actions’ outcomes.

scholarly journals Pain-Related Fear in Virtual Reality: A New Experimental Paradigm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Hilger ◽  
Anne-Sophie Häge ◽  
Christina Zedler ◽  
Michael Jost ◽  
Paul Pauli
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Avoidance Behavior ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Ecological Validity ◽  
Arm Movements ◽  
Learning Mechanisms ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses

Background: Pain-related fear is critically involved in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Empirical research suggests a key role of operant learning mechanism, and first experimental paradigms were developed for their investigation within a controlled laboratory setting. We introduce a new virtual reality paradigm with improved ecological validity. Methods: The paradigm evaluated the effects of heat-pain stimuli applied contingent versus non-contingent with large arm movements in naturalistic virtual sceneries. Self-reported pain-related fear and pain expectancy, avoidance behavior, and electrodermal activity were assessed in 42 subjects during an acquisition phase (movements-pain association) and a modification phase (no movement-pain association). Results: Pain applications contingent to arm movements induced a gradual increase in pain-related fear and pain expectancy ratings. Both were continuously and ultimately reduced when the contingency was removed. Avoidance behavior demonstrated no such pattern; time-resolved post-hoc analyses revealed that changes in the avoidance behavior took place very fast within the first trial only. Skin conductance levels resemble the patterns observed for ratings, while skin conductance responses equal behavioral results. Conclusion: Our findings suggest the involvement of two different learning mechanisms in the acquisition and modification of pain-related fear: While affective and cognitive fear components evolve rather slow and more gradually, avoidance behavior seems to change much faster, both of which were accompanied by corresponding changes in physiological arousal. These results emphasize the importance of avoidance behavior in chronic pain development, maintenance and its therapy. The introduced virtual reality paradigm allows to examine such avoidance behavior in an ecological valid environment.

scholarly journals The devil is in the detail: The role of threat level and intolerance of uncertainty in extinction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Francesco Saldarini ◽  
Carien M. van Reekum
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Threat Level ◽  
The Devil

AbstractRecent evidence suggests that individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) are associated with disrupted threat extinction. However, it is unknown what maintains the learned threat association in high IU individuals: is it the experienced uncertainty during extinction or the combination of experienced uncertainty with potential threat during extinction? Here we addressed this question by running two independent experiments with uncertain auditory stimuli that varied in threat level (Experiment 1, aversive human scream (n = 30); Experiment 2, benign tone (n = 47) and mildly aversive tone (n = 49)). During the experiments, we recorded skin conductance responses and subjective ratings to the learned cues during acquisition and extinction. In experiment 1, high IU was associated with heightened skin conductance responding to the learned threat vs. safe cue during extinction. In experiment 2, high IU was associated only with larger skin conductance responding to the learned cues with threatening properties during extinction i.e. mildly aversive tone. These findings suggest that uncertainty in combination with threat, even when mild, disrupts extinction in high IU individuals. Such findings help us understand the link between IU and threat extinction, and its relevance to anxiety disorder pathology.

Familiarity of Faces: Sense or Feeling?

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Bonifacci ◽  
Lorenzo Desideri ◽  
Cristina Ottaviani
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Adaptive Process ◽  
Familiar Face ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Exploratory Investigation ◽  
Novel Approaches ◽  
Unfamiliar Faces

Where does the experience of familiarity come from? Is it the same as sensory perception? Two novel approaches were combined to investigate the highly adaptive process of familiar face recognition: the inclusion of friends and family members as personally familiar faces and measures of eye movements and skin conductance responses (SCR). A sample of 16 university students was asked to look at photographs of 8 personally familiar faces (friends and relatives) and 8 unfamiliar faces. From the analysis of eye movement patterns, a preference for internal features (mouth, eyes, nose) for both familiar and unfamiliar faces emerged and a significant increase in electrodermal activity was found for personally familiar compared to unfamiliar faces. Higher SCR recovery values were found in response to friends. Findings from this exploratory investigation suggest that familiar faces are not looked at in a special way; instead we “feel” a sense of familiarity that comes and goes faster for relatives than for close friends.

scholarly journals Ambulatory assessment of physiological arousal, emotion, and alcohol use

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Rachel L. Tomko
Keyword(s):  
Alcohol Consumption ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Blood Alcohol Concentration ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses

Research examining whether negative affect leads to drinking has produced mixed results (Greeley and Oei, 1999; Sher and Grekin, 2007). The current project enlisted participants (n=43) oversampled for affective instability, arguably making them at higher risk for negative affect-driven alcohol consumption. The goals of this study were to 1) validate an ambulatory device for measuring electrodermal activity (EDA) and to 2) examine the relations between emotion, EDA, and alcohol use in real-time. Multiple self-reports of emotion, alcohol use, and behavior were obtained from participants each day over the course of one week using electronic diaries. EDA was assessed continuously during waking hours. The results suggested that ambulatory measurement of EDA is feasible, and agreement between ambulatory measures and traditional laboratory measures was moderate to high for number of skin conductance responses per minute. Skin conductance level was less consistent across measures. With regard to ambulatory findings, high negative affect and high arousal states during the day were generally related to decreased likelihood of same-day drinking and decreased estimated blood alcohol concentration, while positive affect was related to increased likelihood of drinking. Hostility and number of skin conductance responses interacted, such that low hostility and low arousal was related to greater amounts of alcohol consumed. In sum, negative affect and arousal were related to alcohol use in real-time, but effects were small and both were generally protective against alcohol consumption at the day-level. This study helps to clarify the role of arousal in affect-related drinking, while also adding to accumulating evidence that suggests negative affect-related drinking may not be an immediate coping response. Positive-affect drinking may be most relevant in early stages of alcohol use, even in an emotionally dysregulated sample.

scholarly journals Covert Face Recognition without Prosopagnosia

1993 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. D. Ellis ◽  
A. W. Young ◽  
G. Koenken
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Face Recognition ◽  
Brain Injury ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Similar Work ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
Electrodermal Responses ◽  
Unfamiliar Faces

An experiment is reported where subjects were presented with familiar or unfamiliar faces for supraliminal durations or for durations individually assessed as being below the threshold for recognition. Their electrodermal responses to each stimulus were measured and the results showed higher peak amplitude skin conductance responses for familiar than for unfamiliar faces, regardless of whether they had been displayed supraliminally or subliminally. A parallel is drawn between elevated skin conductance responses to subliminal stimuli and findings of covert recognition of familiar faces in prosopagnosic patients, some of whom show increased electrodermal activity (EDA) to previously familiar faces. The supraliminal presentation data also served to replicate similar work by Tranel et al (1985). The results are considered alongside other data indicating the relation between non-conscious, “automatic” aspects of normal visual information processing and abilities which can be found to be preserved without awareness after brain injury.

Lying and perception of lies by bilingual speakers

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (05) ◽  
pp. 1313-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Kreyßig ◽  
Agnieszka Ewa Krautz
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Emotional Response ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Reading Aloud ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Task Requirements

AbstractMultiple studies on bilingualism and emotions have demonstrated that a native language carries greater emotional valence than the second language. This distinction appears to have consequences for other types of behavior, including lying. As bilingual lying has not been explored extensively, the current study investigated the psychophysiological differences between German (native language) and English (second language) in the lying process as well as in the perception of lies. The skin conductance responses of 26 bilinguals were measured during reading aloud true and false statements and listening to recorded correct and wrong assertions. The analysis revealed a lie effect, that is, statistically significant differences between valid and fictitious sentences. In addition, the values in German were higher compared to those in English, in accordance with the blunted emotional response account (Caldwell-Harris & Aycicegi-Dinn, 2009). Finally, the skin conductance responses were lower in the listening condition in comparison to the reading aloud. The results, however, are treated with caution given the fact that skin conductance monitoring does not allow assigning heightened reactivity of the skin to one exclusive cause. The responses may have been equally induced by the content of the statements, which prompted positive or negative associations in the participants’ minds or by the specific task requirements.

scholarly journals Behavioral Triggers of Skin Conductance Responses and Their Neural Correlates in the Primate Amygdala

2009 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 1749-1754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Laine ◽  
Kevin M. Spitler ◽  
Clayton P. Mosher ◽  
Katalin M. Gothard
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Single Unit ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Emotional Reaction ◽  
Neural Population ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Indirect Measure ◽  
Skin Conductance Responses ◽  
The Right ◽  
Sympathetic Arousal

The amygdala plays a crucial role in evaluating the emotional significance of stimuli and in transforming the results of this evaluation into appropriate autonomic responses. Lesion and stimulation studies suggest involvement of the amygdala in the generation of the skin conductance response (SCR), which is an indirect measure of autonomic activity that has been associated with both emotion and attention. It is unclear if this involvement marks an emotional reaction to an external stimulus or sympathetic arousal regardless of its origin. We recorded skin conductance in parallel with single-unit activity from the right amygdala of two rhesus monkeys during a rewarded image viewing task and while the monkeys sat alone in a dimly lit room, drifting in and out of sleep. In both experimental conditions, we found similar SCR-related modulation of activity at the single-unit and neural population level. This suggests that the amygdala contributes to the production or modulation of SCRs regardless of the source of sympathetic arousal.

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