Acquisition of CS-US contingencies during Pavlovian fear conditioning and extinction in social anxiety disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Fear-based disorders, like social anxiety disorder (SAD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), are characterized by an exaggerated fear response and avoidance to trigger cues, suggesting a transdiagnostic mechanism of psychopathology. Current theories suggest that abnormalities in conditioned fear is a primary contributor to the pathophysiology of these disorders. The primary goal of this study was to compare acquisition of conditioned stimulus (CS) and aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) contingencies during fear learning and extinction in individuals with SAD and PTSD.

Methods

In a standard Pavlovian fear conditioning-extinction paradigm we measured subjective US expectancy ratings to different CSs in patients with SAD (n=16) compared to patients with PTSD

SUBMITTER: Rabinak CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6642659 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature