TY - JOUR
T1 - Generalization of conditioned disgust and the attendant maladaptive avoidance
T2 - Validation of a novel paradigm and effects of trait disgust-proneness
AU - Berg, Hannah
AU - Hunt, Christopher
AU - Cooper, Samuel E.
AU - Olatunji, Bunmi O.
AU - Lissek, Shmuel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - Overgeneralization of conditioned fear to safe stimuli that resemble a previously-learned threat-cue is a well-studied correlate of clinical anxiety, yet whether conditioned disgust generalizes remains unknown, as does the extent to which such generalization is associated with disgust-related traits and maladaptive outcomes. The present study addresses this gap by adapting a validated fear-generalization paradigm to assess conditioned disgust and behavioral avoidance to a disgust-cue (CS+) paired with a disgusting video clip, and safe generalization stimuli parametrically varying in perceptual similarity to CS+. For comparison, levels of fear generalization were also assessed using the original fear-generalization paradigm. In both paradigms, costly and unnecessary avoidance to safe threat-cue approximations analogues maladaptive outcomes of generalization. In the disgust paradigm only, disgust-proneness was associated with elevated perceived risk to safe stimuli and increases in the extent to which such elevations were accompanied by maladaptive avoidance. Comparable levels of generalization, and positive associations between generalization and maladaptive avoidance, were found across disgust and fear paradigms. Results confirm that conditioned disgust is subject to generalization, implicate generalized disgust as a source of maladaptive avoidance particularly among those prone to disgust, and suggest a potential role for these processes in the etiology and maintenance of disgust-related disorders.
AB - Overgeneralization of conditioned fear to safe stimuli that resemble a previously-learned threat-cue is a well-studied correlate of clinical anxiety, yet whether conditioned disgust generalizes remains unknown, as does the extent to which such generalization is associated with disgust-related traits and maladaptive outcomes. The present study addresses this gap by adapting a validated fear-generalization paradigm to assess conditioned disgust and behavioral avoidance to a disgust-cue (CS+) paired with a disgusting video clip, and safe generalization stimuli parametrically varying in perceptual similarity to CS+. For comparison, levels of fear generalization were also assessed using the original fear-generalization paradigm. In both paradigms, costly and unnecessary avoidance to safe threat-cue approximations analogues maladaptive outcomes of generalization. In the disgust paradigm only, disgust-proneness was associated with elevated perceived risk to safe stimuli and increases in the extent to which such elevations were accompanied by maladaptive avoidance. Comparable levels of generalization, and positive associations between generalization and maladaptive avoidance, were found across disgust and fear paradigms. Results confirm that conditioned disgust is subject to generalization, implicate generalized disgust as a source of maladaptive avoidance particularly among those prone to disgust, and suggest a potential role for these processes in the etiology and maintenance of disgust-related disorders.
KW - Anxiety disorders
KW - Behavioral avoidance
KW - Disgust conditioning
KW - Fear conditioning
KW - Stimulus generalization
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85115190103&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103966
DO - 10.1016/j.brat.2021.103966
M3 - Article
C2 - 34560412
AN - SCOPUS:85115190103
SN - 0005-7967
VL - 146
JO - Behaviour Research and Therapy
JF - Behaviour Research and Therapy
M1 - 103966
ER -