Biological preparedness and resistance to extinction of skin conductance responses conditioned to fear relevant animal pictures: A systematic review

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.017

. 2018 Dec:95:430-437.

doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.017. Epub 2018 Oct 28.

Biological preparedness and resistance to extinction of skin conductance responses conditioned to fear relevant animal pictures: A systematic review

Fredrik Åhs¹, Jörgen Rosén², Granit Kastrati³, Mats Fredrikson³, Thomas Agren², Johan N Lundström⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
³ Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

PMID: 30381252
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.017

Biological preparedness and resistance to extinction of skin conductance responses conditioned to fear relevant animal pictures: A systematic review

Fredrik Åhs et al. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2018 Dec.

. 2018 Dec:95:430-437.

doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.017. Epub 2018 Oct 28.

Authors

Fredrik Åhs¹, Jörgen Rosén², Granit Kastrati³, Mats Fredrikson³, Thomas Agren², Johan N Lundström⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
³ Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

PMID: 30381252
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2018.10.017

Abstract

Preparedness theory is one of the most influential ideas in explaining the origin of specific phobias. The theory proposes that fear conditioning is selective to animals that have posed a threat to survival throughout human evolution, and that acquired fear memories to such threats are resistant to extinction. We reviewed fear conditioning studies testing whether autonomic responses conditioned to pictures of snakes and spiders show greater resistance to extinction than neutral cues. We identified 32 fear conditioning experiments published in 23 studies including 1887 participants. Increased resistance to extinction of conditioned responses to snake and spider pictures was found in 10 (31%) of the experiments, whereas 22 (69%) experiments did not support the hypothesis. Thus, the body of evidence suggests that preparedness theory does not explain the origin of specific phobias.

Keywords: Emotion; Evolution; Fear conditioning; Phobia; Resistance to extinction; SCR.

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Comment in

Åhs et al.'s (2018) Systematic review on biological preparedness and resistance to extinction: A commentary and reanalysis.
Del Giudice M. Del Giudice M. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2021 Jan;120:13-15. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.11.009. Epub 2020 Nov 18. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2021. PMID: 33220348 No abstract available.

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Biological preparedness and resistance to extinction of skin conductance responses conditioned to fear relevant animal pictures: A systematic review

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Biological preparedness and resistance to extinction of skin conductance responses conditioned to fear relevant animal pictures: A systematic review

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