Extinction, avoidance and generalization in the onset and treatment of anxiety

A key issue in understanding the basis of anxiety disorders is the identification of the learning mechanisms that are involved in the transition from adaptive fear into an anxiety disorder. Within a ‘learning/conditioning’ approach, three central processes have surfaced as fundamental. Impaired extinction (E) of fear responses to a stimulus that is no longer harmful; excessive avoidance (A) of feared stimuli and situations; and overgeneralization (G) of fear to harmless stimuli and situations. In order to build a framework, it is imperative to uncover how these processes correlate, interact, and predict the development and treatment of anxiety. The current project will examine behavioral outcomes of these EAG processes. Both in their ability to predict changes in anxiety/depression symptoms in healthy subjects, and in their ability to predict changes in anxiety symptoms over the course of exposure therapy in phobic individuals.