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Project

Generalization of classically conditioned responses via symbolic and functional relations.

Anxiety disorders are common. There is little doubt about the central role of associative learning processes in their development and maintenance. An underinvestigated topic in this context concerns the generalization of acquired fear responses. If one experiences an aversive event in relation to a certain stimulus/situation, the acquired fear responses typically generalize to related stimuli. Most generalization research has focused on perceptual forms of generalization: fear responses are transferred to stimuli that share perceptual features with the original conditioned stimulus. Clinical practice, however, clearly suggests that other forms of generalization exist. An example is the obsessive client who fears to cause the dead of his child and avoids an ever increasing range of dangerous stimuli, such as herbicides or knives. These stimuli do not share perceptual features, but rather a symbolic/semantic relation (of being dangerous). Other forms of generalization can be considered as functional. The present project aims at an experimental analysis of non-perceptual forms of fear generalization. Employing paradigms from the study of equivalence learning, we will (a) study the generalization of a diverse set of fear responses (behavioral, psychophysiological, verbal), and (b) will analyze mechanisms of extinction generalization. This work will be conducted in human as well as in rodents.
Date:1 Jan 2011 →  31 Dec 2014
Keywords:Generalization, Associative learning, Equivalence classes, Classical conditioning, Non-perceptual generalization
Disciplines:Psychiatry and psychotherapy, Nursing, Other paramedical sciences, Clinical and counselling psychology, Other psychology and cognitive sciences, Animal experimental and comparative psychology, Applied psychology, Human experimental psychology