ERIC Number: EJ979349
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Sep
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0145-4455
EISSN: N/A
Context Effects on Habituation to Disgust-Relevant Stimuli
Viar-Paxton, Megan A.; Olatunji, Bunmi O.
Behavior Modification, v36 n5 p705-722 Sep 2012
Although exposure-based treatments appear to be efficacious for the treatment of anxiety-related disorders, many individuals experience a renewal of the original fear response at follow-up. In an effort to prevent fear renewal, researchers have begun to use exposure of the conditioned stimulus in different contexts during extinction. Although studies continue to accumulate, showing that conducting exposure in multiple contexts buffers against the renewal of distress responses to fear-relevant stimuli, it remains unclear how conducting exposure in multiple contexts affects the renewal of distress responses to disgust-relevant stimuli. In the present study, participants (N = 52) were randomized to repeated presentations of disgust stimuli (vomiting in a toilet) in a single context or multiple contexts. Results revealed that those in the single context condition reported less distress after the exposure manipulation compared with the multiple context condition. Although there were no significant group differences in distress toward a novel disgust stimulus, the single context condition reported greater distress renewal than the multiple context condition. Furthermore, individuals in the multiple context condition showed significant reductions in distress at 1-week follow-up whereas distress in the single context condition remained stable. Subsequent analyses also provided moderate evidence for an effect of the disgust context manipulation on physiological arousal and disgust propensity, but not disgust-related behavioral avoidance. These findings offer preliminary evidence that renewal of distress toward disgust cues can be attenuated by conducting extinction in multiple contexts. (Contains 1 note, 1 table and 4 figures.)
Descriptors: Evidence, Context Effect, Fear, Cues, Habituation, Therapy, Anxiety Disorders, Prevention, Conditioning, Stimuli, Emotional Disturbances, Physiology, Outcomes of Treatment, Behavior Modification
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
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