Biomaterial Database

Fear but not awareness predicts enhanced sensory processing in fear conditioning. 2006

Stephan Moratti, and Andreas Keil, and Gregory A Miller

Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany. Stephan.Moratti@uni-konstanz.de

It is not clear whether enhanced cortical processing of reinforced stimuli as reported by neuroimaging studies is due to expectancy of an aversive event alone or to activation of the fear system. The present study investigated cortical and autonomic responses of aware participants using an instructed fear conditioning design. Steady-state visual evoked fields (ssVEF) and heart rate change were recorded to assess sensory processing and activation of the fear system by reinforced (CS+) and nonreinforced stimuli (CS-). Participants who showed heart rate acceleration demonstrated increased ssVEFs in visual and parietal cortex during CS+ in acquisition trials. Heart rate decelerators did not show enhanced cortical activation with respect to the CS+. Participants in both groups reported awareness of CS-US contingencies. Awareness of stimulus contingency in fear conditioning seems not to be sufficient to elicit enhanced visual cortical processing.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D003213	Conditioning, Psychological	Simple form of learning involving the formation, strengthening, or weakening of an association between a stimulus and a response.	Conditioning, Psychology,Psychological Conditioning,Social Learning Theory,Social Learning Theories,Theory, Social Learning
D003627	Data Interpretation, Statistical	Application of statistical procedures to analyze specific observed or assumed facts from a particular study.	Data Analysis, Statistical,Data Interpretations, Statistical,Interpretation, Statistical Data,Statistical Data Analysis,Statistical Data Interpretation,Analyses, Statistical Data,Analysis, Statistical Data,Data Analyses, Statistical,Interpretations, Statistical Data,Statistical Data Analyses,Statistical Data Interpretations
D005071	Evoked Potentials	Electrical responses recorded from nerve, muscle, SENSORY RECEPTOR, or area of the CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM following stimulation. They range from less than a microvolt to several microvolts. The evoked potential can be auditory (EVOKED POTENTIALS, AUDITORY), somatosensory (EVOKED POTENTIALS, SOMATOSENSORY), visual (EVOKED POTENTIALS, VISUAL), or motor (EVOKED POTENTIALS, MOTOR), or other modalities that have been reported.	Event Related Potential,Event-Related Potentials,Evoked Potential,N100 Evoked Potential,P50 Evoked Potential,N1 Wave,N100 Evoked Potentials,N2 Wave,N200 Evoked Potentials,N3 Wave,N300 Evoked Potentials,N4 Wave,N400 Evoked Potentials,P2 Wave,P200 Evoked Potentials,P50 Evoked Potentials,P50 Wave,P600 Evoked Potentials,Potentials, Event-Related,Event Related Potentials,Event-Related Potential,Evoked Potential, N100,Evoked Potential, N200,Evoked Potential, N300,Evoked Potential, N400,Evoked Potential, P200,Evoked Potential, P50,Evoked Potential, P600,Evoked Potentials, N100,Evoked Potentials, N200,Evoked Potentials, N300,Evoked Potentials, N400,Evoked Potentials, P200,Evoked Potentials, P50,Evoked Potentials, P600,N1 Waves,N2 Waves,N200 Evoked Potential,N3 Waves,N300 Evoked Potential,N4 Waves,N400 Evoked Potential,P2 Waves,P200 Evoked Potential,P50 Waves,P600 Evoked Potential,Potential, Event Related,Potential, Event-Related,Potential, Evoked,Potentials, Event Related,Potentials, Evoked,Potentials, N400 Evoked,Related Potential, Event,Related Potentials, Event,Wave, N1,Wave, N2,Wave, N3,Wave, N4,Wave, P2,Wave, P50,Waves, N1,Waves, N2,Waves, N3,Waves, N4,Waves, P2,Waves, P50
D005239	Fear	The affective response to an actual current external danger which subsides with the elimination of the threatening condition.	Threat Cues,Threat Sensitivity,Cue, Threat,Fears,Sensitivity, Threat,Threat Cue,Threat Sensitivities
D005260	Female		Females
D006339	Heart Rate	The number of times the HEART VENTRICLES contract per unit of time, usually per minute.	Cardiac Rate,Chronotropism, Cardiac,Heart Rate Control,Heartbeat,Pulse Rate,Cardiac Chronotropy,Cardiac Chronotropism,Cardiac Rates,Chronotropy, Cardiac,Control, Heart Rate,Heart Rates,Heartbeats,Pulse Rates,Rate Control, Heart,Rate, Cardiac,Rate, Heart,Rate, Pulse
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000328	Adult	A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available.	Adults
D001288	Attention	Focusing on certain aspects of current experience to the exclusion of others. It is the act of heeding or taking notice or concentrating.	Focus of Attention,Selective Attention,Social Attention,Attention Focus,Attention, Selective,Attention, Social,Selective Attentions