Projects
Using Mental Imagery to Rescript Emotional Memories in a Fear Conditioning Paradigm KU Leuven
In classical fear conditioning, a neutral stimulus (for example, a red car) becomes associated with a fearful event (for example, being in a car crash). Because of this association, the original fear response becomes associated with the neutral stimulus. A reduction of this fear response can be achieved by extinction learning: repeated exposure to the neutral stimulus in the absence of the fearful event. A new memory trace is created where ...
Interoceptive fear conditioning to respiratory cues. KU Leuven
From Pavlov to visceroception? The role of interoceptive fear conditioning in the development of gastrointestinal symptom-specific anxiety, and its impact on visceroption. KU Leuven
As a cardinal symptom of most functional gastrointestinal disorders, visceral pain and discomfort are very common and disabling. Unfortunately, such symptoms remain poorly understood and are hard to treat. There is a general consensus that fear towards gastrointestinal sensations may play an important role, but the mechanisms underlying such fear as well as its impact on visceral symptom perception are unclear. The project aims to elucidate ...
Reconnecting learning and memory: the effect of retrieval manipulations effective conditioning. KU Leuven
! Any layman would agree that learning and memory are intimately connected
processes. Memories carry what has been learned; learning is only effective when it is
memorized. It is surprising that the influential domains of learning and memory have
largely evolved in separation over the last decades. With few exceptions, there have
been virtually no cross-fertilizations. In the domain of Pavlovian conditioning (a ...
“Implanting” a fear memory in the human mind: A new approach for fear generalization KU Leuven
Pain in context: The role of context in generalization, extinction and return of fear of contextual pain-related fear. KU Leuven
Growing evidence supports the idea that pain-related fear is even more disabling than pain itself, and contributes to the transition from acute to chronic pain. Some people fear movements that they associate with increased pain and bodily harm. Such proprioceptive fear is common in chronic back/neck pain, and a subgroup develops pain at multiple body locations. Patients with such widespread pain often fail to identify signals for increased ...
Learning to not respond rather than not learning to respond: behavioral, neurological and clinical tests of a novel theory of selective conditioning. KU Leuven
A propositional perspective on observational conditioning Ghent University
Observational conditioning refers to the finding that when people observe another person’s reaction to a certain stimulus, their own behaviour toward that stimulus changes. This learning effect is thought to play a vital role in many aspects of daily life. For example, observing someone’s fear in the presence of an animal increases the observer’s fear of the animal as well. It is often assumed that effects like these result from the ...
Sabbatical Johan Vlaeyen: COBOS: COnditioning of BOdlily Symptoms KU Leuven
In my sabbatical period, I would first of all like to present and consolidate the research results of the past 15 years from the Odysseus program “The psychology of pain and disability” and the Methusalem program “Asthenes: From acute aversive sensations to chronic bodily symptoms” (Review). In addition, I mainly want to focus on the “Next steps” in this fascinating and challenging research area (Preview). Review: - Writing a ...