title: Fear conditioning and stimulus generalization in patients with social anxiety disorder.
abstract: Although overgeneralization seems to be a hallmark of several anxiety disorders, this until now has not been investigated in social anxiety disorder (SAD). Therefore, we examined fear generalization in 26 SAD patients and 29 healthy controls (HC) using two faces as conditioned stimuli (CS+, CS-), and a loud scream and a fearful face as unconditioned stimulus (US). Generalization was tested by presenting both CS and four morphs of the two faces (generalization stimuli [GSs]), while ratings, heart rate (HR) and skin conductance responses (SCR) were recorded. Results revealed that SAD patients rated all stimuli as less pleasant and more arousing compared to HC. Moreover, ratings and SCR indicated that both groups generalized their acquired fear from the CS+ to GSs. Remarkably, only SAD patients showed generalization in HR responses (fear bradycardia). Overall, SAD seems not to be characterized by strong overgeneralization but discrepancies in fear responses to both conditioned and generalized threat stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology I, University of Würzburg, Germany. Electronic address: lea.ahrens@uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Lea M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ahrens
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology I, University of Würzburg, Germany; Center of Mental Health, Medical Faculty, University of Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pauli
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reif
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology (Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), University of Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mühlberger
authors.affiliation: Schön Klinik Bad Bramstedt, Germany.
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Langs
authors.affiliation: Schön Klinik Bad Bramstedt, Germany.
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aalderink
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology I, University of Würzburg, Germany; Institute of Psychology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands.
authors.forename: Matthias J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Wieser
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005795:Generalization, Stimulus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000072861:Phobia, Social / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Fear conditioning; Fear generalization; Heart rate; Patients; Skin conductance response; Social anxiety disorder