Attentional Control and Fear Extinction in Subclinical Fear: An Exploratory Study.

ABSTRACT: Attentional control (AC) and fear extinction learning are known to be involved in pathological anxiety. In this study we explored whether individual differences in non-emotional AC were associated with individual differences in the magnitude and gradient of fear extinction (learning and recall). In 50 individuals with fear of spiders, we collected measures of non-emotional AC by means of self-report and by assessing the functioning of the major attention networks (executive control, orienting, and alerting). The participants then underwent a paradigm assessing fear extinction learning and extinction recall. The two components of the orienting network functioning (costs and benefits) were significantly associated with fear extinction gradient over and above the effects of trait anxiety. Spe

SUBMITTER: Forcadell E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5622961 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature