Distorting Fear: Novelty-Facilitated Fear Extinction and The Effect of Perceived Stress

Anxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health problems affecting nearly 30 % of adults at some point in their life. Anxiety has detrimental consequences on one's wellbeing. While contemporary treatments have proven effective, relapse rates are very high. In fact, anxiety rates have remained the same in previous years, which highlights the pressing need to develop new treatments that are more effective and durable. Recent studies suggested a positive role of novelty in fear extinction and potential application of this in the clinical field of anxiety and related disorders. It has also been suggested that individual traits and differences in internal states have consequences on fear extinction. Perceived stress (PSS), which is the individual's appraisal of a particular situation as stressful, is highly correlated with anxiety disorders; however, no previous studies investigated the effect of PSS on novelty-facilitated fear extinction. The current study included a total...Show moreAnxiety disorders are among the most prevalent mental health problems affecting nearly 30 % of adults at some point in their life. Anxiety has detrimental consequences on one's wellbeing. While contemporary treatments have proven effective, relapse rates are very high. In fact, anxiety rates have remained the same in previous years, which highlights the pressing need to develop new treatments that are more effective and durable. Recent studies suggested a positive role of novelty in fear extinction and potential application of this in the clinical field of anxiety and related disorders. It has also been suggested that individual traits and differences in internal states have consequences on fear extinction. Perceived stress (PSS), which is the individual's appraisal of a particular situation as stressful, is highly correlated with anxiety disorders; however, no previous studies investigated the effect of PSS on novelty-facilitated fear extinction. The current study included a total of 60 participants and employed a fear conditioning paradigm with fearful, neutral, and control stimuli. Fear extinction was achieved by repeatedly presenting the conditioned stimuli alone (i.e., standard extinction) or by using replacement stimuli (i.e., novel or familiar). We assessed the role of novelty in fear extinction by comparing pupil sizes in response to the conditioned stimuli. We hypothesized that novelty would yield greater fear extinction as compared to standard extinction and extinction using familiarity. We also hypothesized that the effect of novelty on fear extinction would be durable. In line with previous studies, fear extinction using novelty was more pronounced than standard extinction and extinction using familiarity as assessed by smaller pupil size. In contrast to our expectations, no significant impact of novelty was found in a post-extinction phase (approx. one day after extinction). This study further investigated the role of perceived stress in novelty-facilitated fear extinction. We hypothesized a negative correlation between perceived stress (PSS) and novelty-facilitated fear extinction. Correlation analysis did not reveal any relationship between PSS and novelty-facilitated fear extinction. Future studies should aim to deepen our understanding of the mechanism underlying fear extinction by exploring other mental states and individual differences that might mediate the role of novelty in fear extinction.Show less

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Distorting Fear: Novelty-Facilitated Fear Extinction and The Effect of Perceived Stress