关键词: 先前经验, 知觉信息, 概念信息, 注意偏向, 恐惧泛化

Abstract:

Excessive fear generalization is a core symptom of various anxiety disorders, where unbounded fear or avoidance imposes significant burdens on patients' lives. Previous studies have shown that human fear responses can propagate along the perceptual information (perceptual fear generalization) or conceptual information (conceptual fear generalization) of stimuli. In general, any stimulus inherently contains both perceptual and conceptual attributes. Following fear conditioning to stimulus compounds, the factors that regulate the two pathways of fear generalization are an intriguing topic. Recent research suggests that the object recognition process plays an important role in fear generalization. Given that attention orientation significantly influences object recognition, this study hypothesizes that prior experience may shape individuals' attentional biases, thereby affecting their recognition and categorization of generalized stimuli and ultimately regulating the pathways of fear generalization.
This study employed a classical differential fear conditioning paradigm using unconditioned stimulus (US) expectancy and skin conductance response (SCR) as measures to examine whether pre-acquisition learning experiences modulate the two fear generalization pathways. A set of 100 images was used as experimental material. These images were systematically categorized into eight groups: C+P+, C-P-, C-P+, C+P-, C+P0, C-P0, C0P-, C0P+ (where “C” = Conceptual, “P” = Perceptual, “+” = Threatening, “-” = Safe, and 0 = Neutral). Fifty university students were recruited and randomly assigned to perceptual or conceptual groups. During the pre-acquisition learning phase (40 trials), the perceptual group made judgments on the perceptual attributes of the stimuli (color discrimination) to enhance perceptual processing, whereas the conceptual group judged conceptual attributes (object categorization) to strengthen conceptual processing. Subsequently, both the groups underwent identical fear acquisition and generalization tests. In the fear acquisition phase (16 trials), participants underwent differential fear conditioning to compound stimuli that were either absolutely threatening or absolutely safe in both perceptual and conceptual dimensions (i.e., C+P+, C-P-). During the generalization test (two test phases, each with eight trials), eight different generalization stimuli blending perceptual and conceptual features (as previously described), were presented to assess fear generalization.
The results revealed that participants in the perceptual group exhibited significant perceptual fear generalization, whereas those in the conceptual group showed pronounced conceptual fear generalization. These findings indicated that prior experience significantly modulated the pathways of fear generalization and confirmed both pathways as effective routes for fear generalization. Additionally, an intriguing finding emerged: apart from conceptual fear generalization, the conceptual group also displayed a tendency for perceptual fear generalization, whereas the perceptual group showed no signs of conceptual fear generalization. This asymmetric pattern was consistently observed in both the US expectancy and SCR measures, demonstrating a robust effect. These findings can be explained by the differences in information processing and attentional biases between the two groups, suggesting distinct roles of perceptual and conceptual information in eliciting human fear responses. Theoretical and clinical implications were discussed.

Key words: prior experience, perceptual information, conceptual information, attentional bias, fear generalization pathways