title: No effect of trait anxiety on differential fear conditioning or fear generalization.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that individuals with anxiety disorders exhibit deficits in fear inhibition and excessive generalization of fear, but little data exist on individuals at risk from these disorders. The present study examined the role of trait anxiety in the acquisition and generalization of fear in 126 healthy participants selected on the basis of their trait-anxiety scores. Measures of conditioning included fear-potentiated startle, skin conductance response and online risk ratings for the unconditioned stimulus. Contrary to our hypotheses, trait anxiety did not have any effect either on the acquisition or the generalization of fear. Our results suggest that these fear conditioning processes are not impaired in individuals at risk from anxiety.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain. David.Torrents@uab.cat
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Torrents-Rodas
authors.forename: Miquel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Fullana
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bonillo
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Caseras
authors.forename: Oscar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Andión
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Torrubia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013216:Reflex, Startle / Q000502:physiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D055815:Young Adult