Journal
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Volume 164, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2021.108151
Keywords
Acute stress; MAST; Fear conditioning; Fear generalization; Avoidance generalization
Funding
- Dutch Research Council (Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, NWO) [452-14003]
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Research has shown that stress can enhance the generalization of fear, where fear of a specific stimulus may generalize to similar stimuli. This study focused on the impact of acute stress on the generalization of fear and avoidance responses, revealing that stress heightened generalization of shock expectancy to stimuli resembling the threatening stimulus.
Research has demonstrated the spreading of fear from threat-related stimuli to perceptually similar, but innocuous, stimuli. Less is known, however, about the generalization of avoidance behavior. Given that stress is known to affect learning and memory, we were interested in the effect of acute stress on (over)generalization of fear and avoidance responses. On the first day, one geometrical shape was paired with a mild electrical stimulus (CS+), whereas another shape was not (CS-). One day later, after participants had been exposed to the Maas-tricht Acute Stress Test or a control task, generalization of avoidance responses and fear (shock expectancy and skin conductance responses) was tested to a range of perceptual generalization stimuli. Generalization gradients were observed across different outcome measures. Stress enhanced generalization of shock expectancy to the stimulus most similar to the CS+. Our findings confirm that stress can affect the generalization of fear, but further studies are warranted.
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