Intolerance of uncertainty and physiological responses during instructed uncertain threat: a multi-lab investigation

Individuals with high self-reported Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) tend to interpret uncertainty negatively. Recent research has been inconclusive on evidence of an association between IU and physiological responses during instructed uncertain threat. To address this gap, we conducted secondary analyses of IU and physiology data recorded during instructed uncertain threat tasks from two lab sites (Wisconsin-Madison; n = 128; Yale, n = 103). Higher IU was associated with: (1) greater corrugator supercilii activity to predictable and unpredictable threat of shock, compared to the safety from shock, and (2) poorer discriminatory skin conductance response between the unpredictable threat of shock, relative to the safety from shock. No IU-related effects were observed for the orbicularis oculi. These findings suggest that IU-related biases may be captured differently depending on the physiological measure during instructed uncertain threat. Implications of these findings for neurobiological models of uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety are discussed.

Download Full-text

What do I do now? Intolerance of uncertainty is associated with discrete patterns of anticipatory physiological responding to different uncertain contexts

10.1101/527317 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Jayne Morriss

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Trait Anxiety ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Physiological Responses ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Physiological Measures ◽

Corrugator Supercilii ◽

The Relationship

AbstractHeightened physiological responses to uncertainty are a common hallmark of anxiety disorders. Many separate studies have examined the relationship between individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and physiological responses to uncertainty during different contexts. Despite this, little is known about the extent to which physiological responses during different uncertain contexts covary within individuals based on IU. Anticipatory physiological responses to uncertainty were assessed in three different contexts (associative threat learning, basic threat uncertainty, decision-making) within the same sample (n = 45). During these tasks, behavioural responses (i.e. reaction times, choices), skin conductance and corrugator supercilli activity were recorded. In addition, self-reported IU and trait anxiety were measured. IU made different contributions to the physiological measures during each task. IU was found to modulate both skin conductance and corrugator supercilii activity for the associative threat learning and decision-making contexts. However, trait anxiety was found to modulate corrugator supercilii activity during the basic threat uncertainty context. Ultimately, this research helps us further tease apart the role of IU in different uncertain contexts, which will be relevant for future IU-related models of psychopathology.

Download Full-text

The role of intolerance of uncertainty in the acquisition and extinction of reward

10.1101/2020.05.18.101212 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jayne Morriss ◽

Nicolo Biagi ◽

Tina B. Lonsdorf ◽

Marta Andreatta

Keyword(s):

Associative Learning ◽

Conceptual Understanding ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Acquisition Training ◽

Learning Task ◽

Partial Reward ◽

Extinction Training ◽

Corrugator Supercilii

AbstractIndividuals, who score high in self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU), tend to find uncertainty anxiety-provoking. IU has been reliably associated with disrupted threat extinction. However, it remains unclear whether IU would be related to disrupted extinction to other arousing stimuli that are not threatening (i.e., rewarding). We addressed this question by conducting a reward associative learning task with acquisition and extinction training phases (n = 58). Throughout the associative learning task, we recorded valence ratings (i.e. liking), skin conductance response (SCR) (i.e. sweating), and corrugator supercilii activity (i.e. brow muscle indicative or negative and positive affect) to learned reward and neutral cues. During acquisition training with partial reward reinforcement, higher IU was associated with greater corrugator supercilii activity to neutral compared to reward cues. IU was not related to valence ratings or SCR’s during the acquisition or extinction training phases. These preliminary results suggest that IU-related deficits during extinction may be limited to situations with threat. The findings further our conceptual understanding of IU’s role in the associative learning and extinction of reward, and in relation to the processing of threat and reward more generally.

Download Full-text

Intolerance of uncertainty is associated with heightened responding in the prefrontal cortex during cue-signalled uncertainty of threat

Cognitive Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience ◽

10.3758/s13415-021-00932-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jayne Morriss ◽

Tiffany Bell ◽

Nicolò Biagi ◽

Tom Johnstone ◽

Carien M. van Reekum

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Neural Circuitry ◽

Negative Valence ◽

Amygdala Activation ◽

Prefrontal Cortical ◽

Cortical Regions ◽

Rostral Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Threat Of Shock

AbstractHeightened responding to uncertain threat is considered a hallmark of anxiety disorder pathology. We sought to determine whether individual differences in self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a key transdiagnostic dimension in anxiety-related pathology, underlies differential recruitment of neural circuitry during cue-signalled uncertainty of threat (n = 42). In an instructed threat of shock task, cues signalled uncertain threat of shock (50%) or certain safety from shock. Ratings of arousal and valence, skin conductance response (SCR), and functional magnetic resonance imaging were acquired. Overall, participants displayed greater ratings of arousal and negative valence, SCR, and amygdala activation to uncertain threat versus safe cues. IU was not associated with greater arousal ratings, SCR, or amygdala activation to uncertain threat versus safe cues. However, we found that high IU was associated with greater ratings of negative valence and greater activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial rostral prefrontal cortex to uncertain threat versus safe cues. These findings suggest that during cue-signalled uncertainty of threat, individuals high in IU rate uncertain threat as aversive and engage prefrontal cortical regions known to be involved in safety-signalling and conscious threat appraisal. Taken together, these findings highlight the potential of IU in modulating safety-signalling and conscious appraisal mechanisms in situations with cue-signalled uncertainty of threat, which may be relevant to models of anxiety-related pathology.

Download Full-text

Intolerance of uncertainty and novelty facilitated extinction: The impact of reinforcement schedule

10.31234/osf.io/7qgrh ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Shannon Jade Wake ◽

Helen Dodd ◽

Jayne Morriss

Keyword(s):

Skin Conductance ◽

Reinforcement Schedule ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Learning Task ◽

Stress Disorders ◽

The Novel ◽

Extinction Learning ◽

The Impact ◽

Novel Associations

Individuals who score high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) display reduced threat extinction learning and retention. Recently, it was shown that replacing threat associations with novel associations (i.e. presenting a novel non-aversive tone 100% of the time vs. presenting nothing) can promote threat extinction retention in individuals with high IU. This effect could be driven by the tone’s novelty or reliability. Here we seek to address this question by adjusting the reliability via the reinforcement schedule of the novel tone. We propose to measure skin conductance response during an associative learning task in which participants (n = 90) will be assigned to one of three conditions; standard extinction, 100% reinforcement NFE or 50% reinforcement NFE. This work will further our understanding of the role novelty, reliability and IU in threat extinction. Ultimately, this research will inform future models of IU and clinical treatments of anxiety and stress disorders.

Download Full-text

I doubt it is safe: A meta-analysis of self-reported intolerance of uncertainty and threat extinction training

10.31234/osf.io/nrqv6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jayne Morriss ◽

Shannon Jade Wake ◽

Charlotte Elizabeth ◽

Carien M. van Reekum

Keyword(s):

Trait Anxiety ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Mental Health Disorders ◽

Extinction Training ◽

The Self ◽

Target Uncertainty ◽

Health Disorders

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU), the tendency to find uncertainty distressing, is an important transdiagnostic dimension in mental health disorders. Higher self-reported IU has been linked to poorer threat extinction training (i.e., the updating of threat to safe associations), a key process that is targeted in exposure-based therapies. However, it remains to be seen whether IU-related effects during threat extinction training are reliably and specifically driven by the IU construct or a particular subcomponent of the IU construct over other self-reported measures of anxiety. A meta-analysis of studies from different laboratories (experiment n = 18; sample n = 1006) was conducted on associations between different variants of self-reported IU (i.e., 27-item, 12-item, inhibitory and prospective subscales), trait anxiety and threat extinction training via skin conductance response. The specificity of IU and threat extinction training was assessed against measures of trait anxiety. All of the self-reported variants of IU, but not trait anxiety, were associated with threat extinction training via skin conductance response (i.e., continued responding to the old threat cue). Specificity was observed for the majority of self-reported variants of IU over of trait anxiety. The findings suggest that the IU construct broadly accounts for difficulties in threat extinction training and is specific over other measures of self-reported anxiety. These findings demonstrate the robustness and specificity of IU-related effects during threat extinction training and highlight potential opportunities for translational work to target uncertainty in therapies that rely on threat extinction principles such as exposure therapy.

Download Full-text

Your guess is as good as mine: Assessing physiological markers of fear and anxiety to the unknown in individuals with varying levels of intolerance of uncertainty

10.31234/osf.io/ys4ju ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Jayne Morriss ◽

Nicolò Biagi ◽

Helen Dodd

Keyword(s):

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Blink Reflex ◽

Stress Disorders ◽

Corrugator Supercilii ◽

Startle Blink ◽

N 93 ◽

Fear And Anxiety ◽

Physiological Markers ◽

The Impact

Individuals who score high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) have a tendency to find uncertainty and the unknown aversive. However, there is a dearth of literature on the extent to which known vs. unknown threat induce fear and anxiety in individuals with high IU. Here we seek to address this question by varying the level of known and unknown threat using a modified version of the NPU-threat test. We will use the standard instructed conditions of the NPU-threat test (known unpredictable shock, known predictable shock and known no shock), as well as an uninstructed condition (unknown threat). We propose to measure ratings, skin conductance response, pupil dilation, orbicularis occuli (startle blink reflex) and corrugator supercilii activity during the modified NPU-threat test (n = 93). This work will further our understanding of the impact of known and unknown threat upon physiological markers of fear and anxiety in IU. Ultimately, this research will inform future models of IU and clinical treatments of anxiety and stress disorders.

Download Full-text

Modeling Skin Conductance Response Time Series during Consecutive Rapid Decision-Making under Concurrent Temporal Pressure and Information Ambiguity

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11091122 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 1122

Author(s):

Takahiro Soshi ◽

Mitsue Nagamine ◽

Emiko Fukuda ◽

Ai Takeuchi

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Skin Conductance ◽

Risk Taking ◽

State Anxiety ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Physiological Responses ◽

Model Fitting ◽

Moderate Risk ◽

Temporal Pressure ◽

Information Ambiguity

Emergency situations promote risk-taking behaviors associated with anxiety reactivity. A previous study using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) has demonstrated that prespecified state anxiety predicts moderate risk-taking (middle-risk/high-return) after salient penalty events under temporal pressure and information ambiguity. Such moderate risk-taking can be used as a behavioral background in the case of fraud damage. We conducted two psychophysiological experiments using the IGT and used a psychophysiological modeling approach to examine how moderate risk-taking under temporal pressure and information ambiguity is associated with automatic physiological responses, such as a skin conductance response (SCR). The first experiment created template SCR functions under concurrent temporal pressure and information ambiguity. The second experiment produced a convolution model using the SCR functions and fitted the model to the SCR time series recorded under temporal pressure and no temporal pressure, respectively. We also collected the participants’ anxiety profiles before the IGT experiment. The first finding indicated that participants with higher state anxiety scores yielded better model fitting (that is, event-related physiological responses) under temporal pressure. The second finding demonstrated that participants with better model fitting made consecutive Deck A selections under temporal pressure more frequently. In summary, a psychophysiological modeling approach is effective for capturing overlapping SCRs and moderate risk-taking under concurrent temporal pressure and information ambiguity is associated with automatic physiological and emotional reactivity.

Download Full-text

An examination of intolerance of uncertainty effects on subjective, psychophysiological, and neural markers during uninstructed and instructed threat acquisition and extinction training

10.31234/osf.io/bnw53 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Julia Wendt ◽

Jayne Morriss

Keyword(s):

Skin Conductance ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Secondary Analysis ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Extinction Training ◽

Fmri Data ◽

Future Research ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Resonance Imaging ◽

Tentative Evidence

Individuals who score high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) tend to find uncertainty aversive. Prior research has demonstrated that under uncertainty individuals with high IU display difficulties in updating learned threat associations to safety associations. Importantly, recent research has shown that providing contingency instructions about threat and safety contingencies (i.e. reducing uncertainty) to individuals with high IU promotes the updating of learned threat associations to safety associations. Here we aimed to conceptually replicate IU and contingency instruction-based effects by conducting a secondary analysis of self-reported IU, ratings, skin conductance, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data recorded during uninstructed/instructed blocks of threat acquisition and threat extinction training (n = 48). Self-reported IU was not associated with differential responding to learned threat and safety cues for any measure during uninstructed/instructed blocks of threat acquisition and threat extinction training. There was some tentative evidence that higher IU was associated with greater ratings of unpleasantness and arousal to the safety cue after the experiment and greater skin conductance response to the safety cue during extinction generally. Potential explanations for these null effects and directions for future research are discussed.

Download Full-text

Intolerance of uncertainty and threat reversal: A conceptual replication of Morriss et al. (2019)

10.31234/osf.io/qdjp9 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Gaëtan Mertens ◽

Jayne Morriss

Keyword(s):

Skin Conductance ◽

Electric Shock ◽

Skin Conductance Response ◽

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Conditioning Phase ◽

Fear Potentiated Startle ◽

Threat Cues ◽

Adaptive Ability ◽

Current Report

The ability to update responding to threat cues is an important adaptive ability. Recently, Morriss and colleagues (2019) demonstrated that participants scoring high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) were more capable of threat reversal. The current report aimed to conceptually replicate these results of Morriss et al. (2019) in an independent sample using a comparable paradigm (n = 102). Following a threat conditioning phase, participants were told that cues associated with threat and safety from electric shock would reverse. Responding was measured with skin conductance and fear potentiated startle. We failed to replicate the results of Morriss et al., (2019). Instead, we found that individuals with lower IU, relative to higher IU, who received contingency instructions prior to acquisition were more capable of threat reversal, indexed via skin conductance response. These results suggest that IU and contingency instructions differentially modulate the course of threat reversal.

Download Full-text

I told you it was safe: Associations between intolerance of uncertainty and different types of uncertainty during instructed threat of shock

10.31234/osf.io/tzrsv ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Jayne Morriss ◽

Kenneth Bennett ◽

Christine Larson

Keyword(s):

Intolerance Of Uncertainty ◽

Temporal Uncertainty ◽

Shock Condition ◽

Data Set ◽

Different Types ◽

Secondary Analyses ◽

Startle Blink ◽

Shock Outcome ◽

Existing Data ◽

Threat Of Shock

Background and Objectives. Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a dispositional tendency to find uncertainty aversive. There is a lack of research on how IU modulates physiological responding to different types of uncertainty. Methods. Here, we conducted exploratory secondary analyses on an existing data set (n = 45) to examine whether IU is related to a particular type of uncertainty during instructed threat of shock (i.e. certain shock, certain safety from shock, outcome uncertainty of shock, temporal uncertainty of shock). Results. Analyses revealed that IU was associated with larger auditory startle blink during the anticipatory period for the certain safety from shock condition, relative to the certain shock condition. Limitations. The sample was relatively small. Conclusions. Individuals higher in IU may be more inclined to generalize threat to safety cues in the context of instructed threat of shock with multiple types of uncertainty

Download Full-text