Abstract
Associative learning plays an important role in the development of anxiety disorders, but a thorough understanding of the variables that impact such learning is still lacking. We investigated whether individual differences in autobiographical memory specificity are related to discrimination learning and generalization. In an associative learning task, participants learned the association between two pictures of female faces and a non-aversive outcome. Subsequently, six morphed pictures functioning as generalization stimuli (GSs) were introduced. In a sample of healthy participants (Study 1), we did not find evidence for differences in discrimination learning as a function of memory specificity. In a sample of anxiety disorder patients (Study 2), individuals who were characterized by low memory specificity showed deficient discrimination learning relative to high specific individuals. In contrast to previous findings, results revealed no effect of memory specificity on generalization. These results indicate that impaired discrimination learning, previously shown in patients suffering from an anxiety disorder, may be—in part—due to limited memory specificity. Together, these studies emphasize the importance of incorporating cognitive variables in associative learning theories and their implications for the development of anxiety disorders. In addition, re-analyses of the data (Study 3) showed that patients suffering from panic disorder showed higher outcome expectancies in the presence of the stimulus that was never followed by an outcome during discrimination training, relative to patients suffering from other anxiety disorders and healthy participants. Because we used a neutral, non-aversive outcome (i.e., drawing of a lightning bolt), these data suggest that learning abnormalities in panic disorder may not be restricted to fear learning, but rather reflect a more general associative learning deficit that also manifests in fear irrelevant contexts.
Highlights
The role of associative learning in the development and the course of anxiety disorders is wellestablished (Mineka and Zinbarg, 2006)
In a sample of patients suffering from an anxiety disorder, we found evidence for poorer discrimination learning in participants who are characterized by limited memory specificity, relative to their high specific counterparts
We investigated the relationship between autobiographical memory specificity and discrimination learning and generalization in an associative learning task
Summary
The role of associative learning in the development and the course of anxiety disorders is wellestablished (Mineka and Zinbarg, 2006). During a robbery, a number of neutral stimuli (e.g., the color of the sweater the bank robber was wearing) may become associated with an aversive. Autobiographical memory, discrimination learning, and generalization outcome (e.g., suffering violent force). As a result, these previously neutral stimuli may come to trigger fear. Only a small subset of individuals who are confronted with an aversive learning experience will develop anxiety complaints (e.g., Breslau, 2009). With respect to learning history, it has been shown that individual differences in, for example, extinction learning predict subsequent onset of anxiety symptomatology. A neutral stimulus (S+) that was previously paired with an aversive outcome was presented in the absence of the outcome, typically resulting in a reduction in responding to the S+. Results showed that post-deployment anxiety symptoms were more severe in individuals who displayed impaired extinction learning before deployment (see Guthrie and Bryant, 2006)
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