The predictive value of inhibitory capacity in the regulation of interoceptive fear

The three mechanism of fear acquisition (direct fear conditioning, indirect observational fear learning and indirect instructed fear learning) give insight into the various ways to design behavioral therapy interventions in order to extinguish or reduce fear. The basic principles of fear acquisition</> can be extended to interoceptive fear conditioning to interoceptive cues/bodily sensations (e.g. respiratory) and to indirect ways of learning  fear, such as social observation and verbal instruction. The main objective of this project will be the improvement of extinction-based exposure</> of interoceptive fear. This project will create opportunities to obtain experimental evidence for the three means of interoceptive exposure and extinction in line with the three pathways of fear acquisition, and will hopefully allow us to refine this intervention technique currently being applied in behavioral treatment programs around the world.

Keywords:interoceptive fear, respiration, exposur

Disciplines:Biological and physiological psychology, General psychology, Other psychology and cognitive sciences

Project type:PhD project