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  • Overt verbalization of strategies to attend to and retain learning about the threat conditioned stimulus reduces US expectancy generalization during extinction

    Author(s)
    Howley, Jordan
    Waters, Allison M
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Waters, Allison M.
    Howley, Jordan
    Year published
    2017
    Metadata
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    Abstract
    Exposure-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), are leading psychological treatments for anxiety disorders. However, non-response and relapse are common. Extinction principles underlie exposure-based treatments and emphasise that anxiety declines with repeated exposure to the threat conditional stimulus (CS+) in the absence of the aversive unconditional stimulus (US). Attention allocation towards threat stimuli enhances extinction learning and CBT outcomes. Overt verbalization promotes self-regulated learning by enhancing attention to important stimulus features, encoding and retention. This study ...
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    Exposure-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), are leading psychological treatments for anxiety disorders. However, non-response and relapse are common. Extinction principles underlie exposure-based treatments and emphasise that anxiety declines with repeated exposure to the threat conditional stimulus (CS+) in the absence of the aversive unconditional stimulus (US). Attention allocation towards threat stimuli enhances extinction learning and CBT outcomes. Overt verbalization promotes self-regulated learning by enhancing attention to important stimulus features, encoding and retention. This study examined whether overt verbalization of strategies to attend to and retain learning about the threat conditioned stimulus during extinction enhanced fear reduction and retention. A discriminative Pavlovian conditioning and extinction procedure was used. During acquisition, one geometric shape (CS+) was paired with an unpleasant tone (US), and another (CS-) was always presented alone. During extinction, both CSs were presented alone. Prior to extinction, the Verbalization group was instructed to verbalize strategies to enhance attention to (i.e., “look and learn”) and the retention of learning about (i.e., “lock it in”) the threat conditioned stimulus. The Control group completed ‘extinction-as-usual’ without verbalization strategies. Compared with the control group, overt verbalization (a) prevented generalization of US expectancies to the CS- during initial extinction trials, (b) produced more stable extinction of US expectancies during later extinction trials, and (c) yielded significant declines in self-reported anxiety from immediate to delayed post-extinction assessments. There were no verbalization effects on CS evaluations. Verbalization of attention-learning strategies produced less US expectancy generalization when stimulus relationships were initially uncertain, more stable extinction effects when sustained attention was required and greater anxiety reductions. Verbalization may be a simple, cost-effective way to enhance learning during exposure-based interventions and warrants further research with clinical samples.
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    Journal Title
    Learning and Motivation
    Volume
    59
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lmot.2017.05.013
    Subject
    Health, Clinical and Counselling Psychology
    Specialist Studies in Education
    Psychology
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/346282
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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