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Conditioned inhibition of fear-potentiated startle and skin conductance in humans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 September 2001

CHRISTIAN GRILLON  and
REZVAN AMELI
CHRISTIAN GRILLON
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, USA Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, USA
REZVAN AMELI
Affiliation:
Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, USA Rezvan Ameli's current address: National Institute of Mental Health, Mood & Anxiety Disorder Program, Bethesda, MD 20892-0135, USA.
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Abstract

Conditioned inhibition of classical conditioning was investigated with the startle reflex and the skin conductance response (SCR) in humans using a serial presentation of the conditioned inhibitor (X) and of the conditioned stimulus (CS). The unconditioned stimulus (US) was a shock. During conditioning, participants were presented with two different reinforced CS (A, B) and with X preceding A (noted X → A). During X → A, A was not reinforced with the US. During the summation test, B, X → B, and Y → B were presented (Y was a new stimulus that tested the specificity of the inhibitory properties of X). B was not reinforced during the summation test. A, B, X, and Y were lights of different colors. Participants were divided into a low and a high anxious group based on the TPQ (C.R. Cloninger, 1987). In the low anxious group, conditioned startle potentiation and SCR responses to A were inhibited when X preceded A (noted AXA). This differential responding to A and AXA emerged earlier with the SCR than with startle. During the summation test, the inhibitory properties of X did not transfer to B. In the high anxious group, there was only a differential SCR to A and AXA. X did not inhibit startle potentiation to A.

Keywords

StartleConditioningConditioned inhibitionTrait anxietyHumans
Type
Research Article
Information
Psychophysiology , Volume 38 , Issue 5 , September 2001 , pp. 807 - 815
Copyright
2001 Society for Psychophysiological Research

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