Effects of Context Preexposure and Delay Until Anxiety Retrieval on Generalization of Contextual Anxiety

Autor/inn/en	Andreatta, Marta; Neueder, Dorothea; Glotzbach-Schoon, Evelyn; Mühlberger, Andreas; Pauli, Paul
Titel	Effects of Context Preexposure and Delay Until Anxiety Retrieval on Generalization of Contextual Anxiety
Quelle	In: Learning & Memory, 24 (2017) 1, S.43-54 (12 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1072-0502
DOI	10.1101/lm.044073.116
Schlagwörter	Anxiety; Generalization; Memory; Safety; Responses; Animals; Computer Simulation; Time; Tests; Context Effect; Prior Learning; Cognitive Processes; Learning Processes + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Angst; Gedächtnis; Sicherheit; Animal; Tier; Tiere; Computergrafik; Computersimulation; Zeit; Examination; Prüfung; Examen; Vorkenntnisse; Cognitive process; Kognitiver Prozess; Learning process; Lernprozess
Abstract	Animal studies suggest that time delay between acquisition and retrieval of contextual anxiety increases generalization. Moreover, such generalization is prevented by preexposure to the context (CTX), presumably due to an improved representation of such context. We investigated whether preexposure and time-passing modulate generalization of contextual anxiety, in humans. On Day 1, 42 participants (preexposure group) explored two virtual offices, while 41 participants (no-preexposure group) explored a virtual stadium. On Day 2 (24 h later), all participants learned to associate one office (CTX+) with unpredictable unconditioned stimuli (USs), and another office (CTX-) with safety. On Day 3, either 24 h (recent test) or 2 wk (remote test) later, participants revisited CTX- and CTX+ without USs, as well as a generalization context (G-CTX). Results revealed successfully conditioned anxiety and anxiety generalization for ratings (G-CTX was as aversive as CTX+ was), while safety generalization was found for startle responses (G-CTX elicited startle attenuation as CTX- did). Time between learning and testing enhanced generalization as reflected by comparable startle responses to all three offices in the remote test. Contextual preexposure facilitated extinction of explicit conditioned anxiety assessed with ratings. These results suggest that memory trace of a context degrades with passage of time in humans like in animals and, consequently, anxiety generalization enhances. After context preexposure, high cognitive processes seem to be crucially involved in facilitating extinction (or safety) learning. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. 500 Sunnyside Boulevard, Woodbury, NY 11797-2924. Tel: 800-843-4388; Tel: 516-367-8800; Fax: 516-422-4097; e-mail: cshpres@cshl.edu; Web site: http://learnmem.cshlp.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01