CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 209Memory and Neural MechanismsAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesStress Responses and Cortisol

Context conditioning and behavioral avoidance in a virtual reality environment: effect of predictability

Grillon, Christian, Baas, Johanna M.P., Cornwell, Brian, Johnson, Linda·2006·Biological Psychiatry
DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.03.072
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Background Sustained anxiety can be modeled using context conditioning, which can be studied in a virtual reality environment. Unpredictable stressors increase context conditioning in animals. This study examined context conditioning to predictable and unpredictable shocks in humans using behavioral avoidance, potentiated startle, and subjective reports of anxiety.Methods Subjects were guided through three virtual rooms (no-shock, predictable, unpredictable contexts). Eight-sec duration colored lights served as conditioned stimuli (CS). During acquisition, no shock was administered in the no-shock context. Shocks were paired with the CS in the predictable context and were administered randomly in the unpredictable context. No shock was administered during extinction. Startle stimuli were delivered during CS and between CS to assess cued and context conditioning, respectively. To assess avoidance, subjects freely navigated into two of the three contexts to retrieve money.Results Startle between CS was potentiated in the unpredictable context compared to the two other contexts. Following acquisition, subjects showed a strong preference for the no-shock context and avoidance of the unpredictable context.Conclusions Consistent with animal data, context conditioning is increased by unpredictability. These data support virtual reality as a tool to extend research on physiological and behavioral signs of fear and anxiety in humans.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.03.072

Cites

54 of 54 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In the VR study, context conditioning was greater in the unpredictable context compared with the no shock and predictable contexts.

    “Consistent with the animal data, context conditioning was found to be greater in the unpredictable context compared with that in the no shock and predictable contexts (Figure 4).”

    From Phasic vs Sustained Fear in Rats and Humans: Role of the Extended Amygdala in Fear vs Anxiety (2010) · cites this paper as Grillon et al, 2006a

  • In a VR context conditioning study, startle was significantly potentiated by the light only in the paired context condition, reflecting cued phasic fear.

    “As expected, startle was significantly potentiated by the light in the paired context condition only, reflecting cued phasic fear.”

    From Phasic vs Sustained Fear in Rats and Humans: Role of the Extended Amygdala in Fear vs Anxiety (2010) · cites this paper as Grillon et al, 2006a

  • In the VR study, subjects' first choice was overwhelmingly the no shock context, and when forced to choose between predictable and unpredictable contexts, 80% avoided the unpredictable context.

    “Their first choice was overwhelmingly the no shock context. However, when they were forced to choose between the predictable and unpredictable contexts, most subjects (80%) avoided the unpredictable context (Grillon et al, 2006a).”

    From Phasic vs Sustained Fear in Rats and Humans: Role of the Extended Amygdala in Fear vs Anxiety (2010) · cites this paper as Grillon et al, 2006a

  • The third personal domain in which GU and low HRV may occur is in situations or environments that are neutral (safe) by themselves, but that have acquired a threat value by their association with a stressor, through context conditioning.

    “So, the third personal domain in which GU and low HRV may occur is in situations, or environments that are neutral (safe) by themselves, but that have acquired a threat value by their association with a stressor, through context conditioning (Grillon et al., 2006;Melzig et al., 2009).”

    From Exposed to events that never happen: generalized unsafety, the default stress response, and prolonged autonomic activity (2017) · cites this paper as Grillon et al., 2006

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Grillon, C., Baas, J. M. P., Cornwell, B., & Johnson, L.
Affiliations
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • Utrecht University (NL)
Corresponding author
Grillon, Christian
ORCID
Venue
Biological Psychiatry
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2006-10
Volume
60
Issue
7
Pages
752-759
ISSN
0006-3223 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.03.072
OpenAlex
W2016404527
Cited by
209
References
54
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 15
FWCI
3.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Biological Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
National Institutes of Health
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
Keywords
contextual conditioning, behavioral avoidance, unpredictability, anxiety, virtual reality, fear conditioning, conditioned stimulus, extinction
MeSH terms
Adult, Analysis of Variance, Anxiety, Association Learning, Avoidance Learning, Computer Simulation, Conditioning, Classical, Environment, Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Female, Forecasting, Humans, Male, Reference Values, Reflex, Startle, User-Computer Interface

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review