Sometimes I feel the fear of uncertainty: How intolerance of uncertainty and trait anxiety impact fear acquisition, extinction and the return of fear

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Adrian Wroblewski - , University of Marburg (Author)
  • Maike Hollandt - , University of Greifswald (Author)
  • Yunbo Yang - , University of Marburg (Author)
  • Isabelle C. Ridderbusch - , University of Marburg (Author)
  • Anne Pietzner - , University of Greifswald (Author)
  • Christoph Szeska - , University of Greifswald (Author)
  • Martin Lotze - , University of Greifswald (Author)
  • Hans Ulrich Wittchen - , Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (Author)
  • Ingmar Heinig - , Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy (Author)
  • Andre Pittig - , Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Volker Arolt - , University of Münster (Author)
  • Katja Koelkebeck - , University of Duisburg-Essen (Author)
  • Constantin A. Rothkopf - , Technische Universität Darmstadt (Author)
  • Dirk Adolph - , Ruhr University Bochum (Author)
  • Jürgen Margraf - , Ruhr University Bochum (Author)
  • Ulrike Lueken - , University of Würzburg, Humboldt University of Berlin (Author)
  • Paul Pauli - , University of Würzburg (Author)
  • Martin J. Herrmann - , University of Würzburg (Author)
  • Markus H. Winkler - , University of Würzburg (Author)
  • Andreas Ströhle - , Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Author)
  • Udo Dannlowski - , University of Münster (Author)
  • Tilo Kircher - , University of Marburg (Author)
  • Alfons O. Hamm - , University of Greifswald (Author)
  • Benjamin Straube - , University of Marburg (Joint last author)
  • Jan Richter - , University of Greifswald (Joint last author)

Abstract

It is hypothesized that the ability to discriminate between threat and safety is impaired in individuals with high dispositional negativity, resulting in maladaptive behavior. A large body of research investigated differential learning during fear conditioning and extinction protocols depending on individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and trait anxiety (TA), two closely-related dimensions of dispositional negativity, with heterogenous results. These might be due to varying degrees of induced threat/safety uncertainty. Here, we compared two groups with high vs. low IU/TA during periods of low (instructed fear acquisition) and high levels of uncertainty (delayed non-instructed extinction training and reinstatement). Dependent variables comprised subjective (US expectancy, valence, arousal), psychophysiological (skin conductance response, SCR, and startle blink), and neural (fMRI BOLD) measures of threat responding. During fear acquisition, we found strong threat/safety discrimination for both groups. During early extinction (high uncertainty), the low IU/TA group showed an increased physiological response to the safety signal, resulting in a lack of CS discrimination. In contrast, the high IU/TA group showed strong initial threat/safety discrimination in physiology, lacking discriminative learning on startle, and reduced neural activation in regions linked to threat/safety processing throughout extinction training indicating sustained but non-adaptive and rigid responding. Similar neural patterns were found after the reinstatement test. Taken together, we provide evidence that high dispositional negativity, as indicated here by IU and TA, is associated with greater responding to threat cues during the beginning of delayed extinction, and, thus, demonstrates altered learning patterns under changing environments.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)125-140
Number of pages16
JournalInternational journal of psychophysiology
Volume181
Publication statusPublished - 15 Sept 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 36116610
ORCID /0000-0002-7762-4327/work/141543450

Keywords

Keywords

  • Dispositional negativity, Fear conditioning, fMRI, Intolerance of uncertainty, Psychophysiology, Trait anxiety, Galvanic Skin Response, Uncertainty, Humans, Anxiety, Fear/physiology, Extinction, Psychological/physiology