The Link Between Mental Imagery and the Reduction of Fear in Imaginal Extinction
31. oktober 2019 oppdatert av: Uppsala University
Imaginal exposure is a widely used psychological treatment technique.
Imaginal extinction is an experimental analogue of imaginal exposure, that allows the study of this treatment technique under controlled circumstances (Agren, Björkstrand, & Fredrikson, 2017).
During imaginal extinction, experimentally induced fear is diminished through repeated exposure to mental imagery of the feared (conditioned) stimulus.
However, it is not known to what extent fear reduction depends on the mental imagery produced during this procedure.
A better understanding of the mechanisms driving the effects of imaginal exposure and the factors moderating fear reduction could have significant clinical utility, by suggesting mechanistically informed ways to improve this treatment.
Studieoversikt
Status
Fullført
Forhold
Intervensjon / Behandling
Detaljert beskrivelse
The study takes part over three consecutive days, with fear conditioning to visual stimuli on day 1, imaginal extinction on day 2, and a fear reinstatement procedure, again to visual stimuli, on day 3. Skin conductance is used to measure fear responses.
Participants' are randomized to receive conditioning, extinction and reinstatement with either complex or simple stimuli. During imaginal extinction, imagery of each experimental stimulus is prompted through different verbal instructions.
Studietype
Intervensjonell
Registrering (Faktiske)
60
Fase
- Ikke aktuelt
Kontakter og plasseringer
Denne delen inneholder kontaktinformasjon for de som utfører studien, og informasjon om hvor denne studien blir utført.
Studiesteder
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Uppsala, Sverige
- Uppsala University, Departement of Psychology
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Deltakelseskriterier
Forskere ser etter personer som passer til en bestemt beskrivelse, kalt kvalifikasjonskriterier. Noen eksempler på disse kriteriene er en persons generelle helsetilstand eller tidligere behandlinger.
Kvalifikasjonskriterier
Alder som er kvalifisert for studier
18 år og eldre (Voksen, Eldre voksen)
Tar imot friske frivillige
Ja
Kjønn som er kvalifisert for studier
Alle
Beskrivelse
Inclusion Criteria:
Age 18 or over
Fluent in Swedish
Willing and able to provide informed consent and complete study procedures
Exclusion Criteria:
Current psychiatric disorder
Use of psychotropic medication within 6 months prior to study start
Receiving psychological treatment within 6 months prior to study start
Current neurological condition
Studieplan
Denne delen gir detaljer om studieplanen, inkludert hvordan studien er utformet og hva studien måler.
Hvordan er studiet utformet?
Designdetaljer
- Primært formål: Grunnvitenskap
- Tildeling: Randomisert
- Intervensjonsmodell: Parallell tildeling
- Masking: Enkelt
Våpen og intervensjoner
Deltakergruppe / Arm |
Intervensjon / Behandling |
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Eksperimentell: Simple stimuli
Two perceptually simple stimuli are used during all experimental phases (geometrical figures).
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Day 1. Participants are exposed to two different visual stimuli.
One of these stimuli is paired with a mild electric shock (i.e.
conditioned stimuli).
Day 2 (24 hours after Day 1).
Participants are exposed to mental imagery of the stimuli used during fear conditioning.
Imagery is prompted through different verbal instructions presented in a pseudo-randomized order.
No shocks are delivered.
Prior to imaginal extinction, participants receive task specific training.
Day 3 (48 h after day1).
Participants are exposed to the same stimuli used during fear conditioning (day 1) and imaginal extinction (day 2).
Two unsignaled shocks are delivered at the beginning of the experiment, prior to the presentation of the first visual stimulus.
No further shocks are delivered.
This procedure allows the study of long term effects of imaginal extinction.
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Eksperimentell: Complex stimuli
Two complex stimuli are used in all experimental phases.
Stimuli consist of photographs of real objects of the same size and shape as the simple stimuli, but include perceptually more complex patterns, details and colors.
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Day 1. Participants are exposed to two different visual stimuli.
One of these stimuli is paired with a mild electric shock (i.e.
conditioned stimuli).
Day 2 (24 hours after Day 1).
Participants are exposed to mental imagery of the stimuli used during fear conditioning.
Imagery is prompted through different verbal instructions presented in a pseudo-randomized order.
No shocks are delivered.
Prior to imaginal extinction, participants receive task specific training.
Day 3 (48 h after day1).
Participants are exposed to the same stimuli used during fear conditioning (day 1) and imaginal extinction (day 2).
Two unsignaled shocks are delivered at the beginning of the experiment, prior to the presentation of the first visual stimulus.
No further shocks are delivered.
This procedure allows the study of long term effects of imaginal extinction.
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Hva måler studien?
Primære resultatmål
Resultatmål |
Tiltaksbeskrivelse |
Tidsramme |
|---|---|---|
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Skin conductance response (SCR)
Tidsramme: Day 1
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SCR is used as a measure of physiological fear responses.
Differences in fear responses are used to assess fear learning during fear acquisition and to explore main effects and interactions between fear learning, stimulus complexity and capacity for mental imagery.
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Day 1
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Skin conductance response (SCR)
Tidsramme: Day 2 (24 h after day1)
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SCR is used as a measure of physiological fear responses.Differences in fear responses are used to assess fear reduction during imaginal extinction, and to explore main effects and interactions between fear reduction, stimulus complexity and capacity for mental imagery.
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Day 2 (24 h after day1)
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Skin conductance response (SCR)
Tidsramme: Day 3 (48 h after day 1)
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SCR is used as a measure of physiological fear responses.Differences in fear response are used to assess return of fear during reinstatement, and to explore main effects and interactions between return of fear, stimulus complexity and capacity for mental imagery.
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Day 3 (48 h after day 1)
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Sekundære resultatmål
Resultatmål |
Tiltaksbeskrivelse |
Tidsramme |
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Fear ratings
Tidsramme: Day 1
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Ratings of subjective fear during the experimental procedure.
Scale: 0 -100 (no fear at all - extreme fear)
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Day 1
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State-Trait Anxiety Inventory
Tidsramme: Day 1
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This is a self-rated questionnaire measuring trait anxiety.
Higher scores indicate higher level of trait-anxiety (range 20-80)
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Day 1
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Difficulties in emotion regulation scale
Tidsramme: Day 1
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This is a self-rated questionnaire measuring difficulties in emotion regulation.
Higher scores indicate higher level of difficulties in emotion regulation (range 36-180)
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Day 1
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Fear ratings
Tidsramme: Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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Ratings of subjective fear during the experimental procedure.
Scale: 0 -100 (no fear at all - extreme fear)
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Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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Vividness of mental imagery during imaginal extinction
Tidsramme: Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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Scale: 1-5; no image at all - image as clear and vivid as real life
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Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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The Plymouth Sensory Imagery Questionnaire
Tidsramme: Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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This is a self-rated questionnaire measuring vividness of mental imagery across different sensory modalities.
Higher scores indicate higher level of vividness.
(range 0-70)
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Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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The Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire
Tidsramme: Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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This is a self-rated questionnaire measuring vividness of visual mental imagery.
Only eyes open section is administered.
Higher scores indicate higher level of vividness (range 0-80)
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Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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Spontaneous use of imagery scale
Tidsramme: Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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This is a self-rated questionnaire measuring spontaneous use of imagery.
Higher scores higher levels use of spontaneous use of imagery (range 12- 60)
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Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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Expectancy ratings
Tidsramme: Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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After the imaginal extinction procedure, participants are asked to rate to what extent they believed that electric shocks would be delivered during the procedure on a scale ranging from 0 - 100 %
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Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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Fear ratings
Tidsramme: Day 3 (48 h after day 1)
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Ratings of subjective fear during the experimental procedure.
Scale: 0 -100 (no fear at all - extreme fear)
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Day 3 (48 h after day 1)
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Expectancy ratings
Tidsramme: Day 3 (48 h after day 1)
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After the reinstatement procedure, participants are asked to rate to what extent they believed that electric shocks would be delivered during the procedure on a scale ranging from 0 - 100 %
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Day 3 (48 h after day 1)
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Andre resultatmål
Resultatmål |
Tiltaksbeskrivelse |
Tidsramme |
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Task compliance
Tidsramme: Day 1
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Questions asking participants to rate to what extent they followed the instructions during the experimental procedure on a scale ranging from 0 - 100 %.
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Day 1
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Task compliance
Tidsramme: Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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Questions asking participants to rate to what extent they followed the instructions during the experimental procedure on a scale ranging from 0 - 100 %.
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Day 2 (24 h after day 1)
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Task compliance
Tidsramme: Day 3 (48 h after day 1)
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Questions asking participants to rate to what extent they followed the instructions during the experimental procedure on a scale ranging from 0 - 100 %.
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Day 3 (48 h after day 1)
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Studierekorddatoer
Disse datoene sporer fremdriften for innsending av studieposter og sammendragsresultater til ClinicalTrials.gov. Studieposter og rapporterte resultater gjennomgås av National Library of Medicine (NLM) for å sikre at de oppfyller spesifikke kvalitetskontrollstandarder før de legges ut på det offentlige nettstedet.
Studer hoveddatoer
Studiestart (Faktiske)
25. februar 2019
Primær fullføring (Faktiske)
30. oktober 2019
Studiet fullført (Faktiske)
30. oktober 2019
Datoer for studieregistrering
Først innsendt
13. juni 2019
Først innsendt som oppfylte QC-kriteriene
13. juni 2019
Først lagt ut (Faktiske)
18. juni 2019
Oppdateringer av studieposter
Sist oppdatering lagt ut (Faktiske)
4. november 2019
Siste oppdatering sendt inn som oppfylte QC-kriteriene
31. oktober 2019
Sist bekreftet
1. oktober 2019
Mer informasjon
Begreper knyttet til denne studien
Andre studie-ID-numre
- 2019-00524
Plan for individuelle deltakerdata (IPD)
Planlegger du å dele individuelle deltakerdata (IPD)?
JA
IPD-delingstidsramme
Data will be available upon publication.
IPD-deling Støtteinformasjonstype
- STUDY_PROTOCOL
- ICF
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Studerer et amerikansk FDA-regulert medikamentprodukt
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Nei
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