Associative learning in flying phobia.
نویسندگان
چکیده
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Modern learning theories suggest that particularly strong associative learning contributes to the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders, thus explaining why some individuals develop an anxiety disorder after a frightening (conditioning) event, whereas others do not. However, associative learning has rarely been investigated experimentally in specific phobias. The current study investigated associative learning in patients with flying phobia and healthy controls using a modified version of Olson and Fazio's associative learning paradigm (Olson & Fazio, 2001). METHODS Under the guise of an attention task, patients with flying phobia (n = 33), and healthy controls (n = 39) viewed a series of distracters interspersed with pairings of novel objects (counterbalanced conditioned stimuli, CSs) with frightening and pleasant stimuli (unconditioned stimuli, USs). RESULTS After the conditioning procedure patients with flying phobia rated both CSs more frightening and showed stronger discrimination between the CSs for valence compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate a particularly stronger conditioning effect in flying phobia. These results contribute to the understanding of the etiology of specific phobia and may help to explain why only some individuals develop a flying phobia after an aversive event associated with flying.
منابع مشابه
Efficacy of virtual reality exposure therapy in reducing anxiety symptoms in Iranian individuals with flying phobia
Objective: Virtual reality exposure has recently emerged as an innovative tool for exposure therapy in the treatment of fear of flying. Fear of flying, a key component of which is anxiety, often remains uncured if no intervention procedures are employed. Not to point to the fact that about 10 to 25 percent of all the individuals experience anxiety and that causes the individual entirely to avo...
متن کاملEvaluating Perceived Probability of Threat-Relevant Outcomes and Temporal Orientation in Flying Phobia
Probability bias regarding threat-relevant outcomes has been demonstrated across anxiety disorders but has not been investigated in flying phobia. Individual temporal orientation (time perspective) may be hypothesised to influence estimates of negative outcomes occurring. The present study investigated whether probability bias could be demonstrated in flying phobia and whether probability estim...
متن کاملProcesses Contributing to the Maintenance of Flying Phobia: A Narrative Review
Flying phobia is a highly prevalent anxiety disorder, which causes sufferers significant distress and life interference. The processes which maintain flying phobia remain poorly understood. A systematic search of the literature was performed to identify what research has been conducted into the processes which may be involved in the fear of flying and whether processes which are believed to mai...
متن کاملAssociative learning and memory duration of Trichogramma brassicae
Learning ability and memory duration are two inseparable factors which can increase theefficiency of a living organism during its lifetime. Trichgramma brassice Bezdenko (Hym.:Trichogrammatidae) is a biological control agent widely used against different pest species.This research was conducted to study the olfactory associative learning ability and memoryduration of T. brassicae under laborato...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
عنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry
دوره 43 2 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2012