Merel Kindt
University of Amsterdam, Clinical Psychology, Faculty Member
- My research is concerned with the understanding of neurobiological and psychological processes of fear and anxiety wi... moreMy research is concerned with the understanding of neurobiological and psychological processes of fear and anxiety with the main focus on the mechanisms of change in the treatment of anxiety and related disorders. Although cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is effective in reducing fear for most anxiety disorders, a high percentage of patients experience a relapse even after apparently successful treatment. The prevailing view on the return of fear is that CBT can eliminate all fearful responding , but does not erase the original fear memory. Partial or full reappearance of fear may be explained by intact fear memories that resurface. Once a fear memory has been established, it is held to be forever. Insights from neuroscience suggest that it is unnecessarily defeatist to regard fear memory as irreversible. Fear conditioning research in animals and humans shows that reactivation of a consolidated fear memory can turn it to a labile, sensitive state in which the memory trace can be changed. Disruption of fear memory reconsolidation may prevent the return of fear and is thereby a promising therapeutic strategy for patients with anxiety and related disorders. We utilise the fear-conditioning paradigm to achieve a better understanding of the optimal and boundary conditions of changing fear memory. I believe that basic research is required for a step-change improvement of treatment for psychiatric disorders.edit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The basic design used in our human fear-conditioning studies on disrupting reconsolidation includes testing over different phases across three consecutive days. On day 1 - the fear acquisition phase, healthy participants are exposed to a... more
The basic design used in our human fear-conditioning studies on disrupting reconsolidation includes testing over different phases across three consecutive days. On day 1 - the fear acquisition phase, healthy participants are exposed to a series of picture presentations. One picture stimulus (CS1+) is repeatedly paired with an aversive electric stimulus (US), resulting in the acquisition of a fear association, whereas another picture stimulus (CS2-) is never followed by an US. On day 2 - the memory reactivation phase, the participants are re-exposed to the conditioned stimulus without the US (CS1-), which typically triggers a conditioned fear response. After the memory reactivation we administer an oral dose of 40 mg of propranolol HCl, a β-adrenergic receptor antagonist that indirectly targets the protein synthesis required for reconsolidation by inhibiting the noradrenaline-stimulated CREB phosphorylation. On day 3 - the test phase, the participants are again exposed to the unreinf...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The original model of behavior change suggests that extinction is context dependent whereas fear acquisition is context independent [Bouton, M. E. & Ricker, S. T. (1994). Renewal of extinguished responding in a second context. Animal... more
The original model of behavior change suggests that extinction is context dependent whereas fear acquisition is context independent [Bouton, M. E. & Ricker, S. T. (1994). Renewal of extinguished responding in a second context. Animal Learning and Behavior, 22, 317–324]. Supportive evidence stems mainly from animal studies, showing that after acquisition (conditioned stimulus–unconditioned stimulus (CS–US)) in Context A and extinction
Research Interests:
In two experiments it was investigated which aspects of memory are influenced by emotion. Using a framework proposed by Roediger (American Psychologist 45 (1990) 1043–1056), two dimensions relevant for memory were distinguished the... more
In two experiments it was investigated which aspects of memory are influenced by emotion. Using a framework proposed by Roediger (American Psychologist 45 (1990) 1043–1056), two dimensions relevant for memory were distinguished the implicit–explicit distinction, and the perceptual versus conceptual distinction. In week 1, subjects viewed a series of slides accompanied with a spoken story in either of the two
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Perception, Auditory Perception, Emotional Memory, and 21 morePsycholinguistics, Visual perception, Reading, Face recognition (Psychology), Emotions, Memory, Humans, Implicit Memory, Posttraumatic stress disorder, INTRUSIONS, Behavior Therapy, Concept Formation, Female, Male, Verbal behavior, Free recall, Questionnaires, Adult, Pilot Projects, Two Dimensions, and Life Change Events
Research Interests:
The personality trait of Neuroticism has been repeatedly associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the nature of this relationship is unclear. There are at least two possible interpretations: neuroticism... more
The personality trait of Neuroticism has been repeatedly associated with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the nature of this relationship is unclear. There are at least two possible interpretations: neuroticism might be a risk factor for PTSD symptoms, or, alternatively, the relationship might be based on content overlap in arousal symptoms. With a prospective design, this study tested
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology, Selective Attention, Cognition, Attention, Cognitive Bias, and 19 moreAdolescent, Comparative Study, Anxiety, Emotions, Humans, Behaviour, Business and Management, Orientation, Female, Male, Reaction Time, Disengagement, Psychological Tests, Adult, Analysis of Variance, ANXIETY, Indexation, Attentional Bias, and Behaviour Therapy
The card format and the single-trial format of the Stroop task are used alternately for the same purposes in general cognitive studies and in emotion studies. However, no convergent validity or testretest reliability has ever been shown.... more
The card format and the single-trial format of the Stroop task are used alternately for the same purposes in general cognitive studies and in emotion studies. However, no convergent validity or testretest reliability has ever been shown. In the present study, a card format and a single-trial format of a standard color-word Stroop and an emotional Stroop (i.e. spider words)
Research Interests:
The purpose of this study was to examine whether anxiety-related cognitive bias for threat is stronger for threatening pictures than for threatening words. Spider-phobic participants (n = 31 ) and control participants (n = 33) performed a... more
The purpose of this study was to examine whether anxiety-related cognitive bias for threat is stronger for threatening pictures than for threatening words. Spider-phobic participants (n = 31 ) and control participants (n = 33) performed a pictorial and linguistic spider Stroop task. Spider-phobic participants showed a marked bias for threat. However, this bias was similar for pictures and for
Research Interests:
The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid questionnaire to assess spider fear in children. The Spider Phobia Questionnaire for adults was adapted for children by simplifying items and by assessing situations relevant... more
The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable and valid questionnaire to assess spider fear in children. The Spider Phobia Questionnaire for adults was adapted for children by simplifying items and by assessing situations relevant to children. The SPQ for children (SPQ-C) was administered to two non-clinical samples of children aged 8–12. The first sample consisted of 586
Research Interests:
It has been proposed that the “Mood as Input” model provides an explanation of the perseverative nature of Obsessive Compulsive (OC) behaviour (MacDonald, B. C., & Davey, G. C. L. (2005). A mood-as-input account of perseverative checking:... more
It has been proposed that the “Mood as Input” model provides an explanation of the perseverative nature of Obsessive Compulsive (OC) behaviour (MacDonald, B. C., & Davey, G. C. L. (2005). A mood-as-input account of perseverative checking: The relationship between stop rules, mood and confidence in having checked successfully. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 69–91). The model implies that task
Research Interests:
In the domain of the emotional disorders, many research efforts have focused on the role of implicit cognition. Findings from these studies have provided important clues with respect to the role of implicit cognitions in the persistence... more
In the domain of the emotional disorders, many research efforts have focused on the role of implicit cognition. Findings from these studies have provided important clues with respect to the role of implicit cognitions in the persistence of psychopathological complaints as well as to the returns of complaints after treatment. In this chapter, we take the findings of this line
Research Interests:
We argue that the stimuli used in traditional fear conditioning paradigms are too simple to model the learning and unlearning of complex fear memories. We therefore developed and tested an adapted fear conditioning paradigm, specifically... more
We argue that the stimuli used in traditional fear conditioning paradigms are too simple to model the learning and unlearning of complex fear memories. We therefore developed and tested an adapted fear conditioning paradigm, specifically designed for the study of complex associative memories. Second, we explored whether manipulating the meaning and complexity of the CS-UCS association strengthened the learned fear association. In a two-day differential fear conditioning study, participants were randomly assigned to two experimental conditions. All participants were subjected to the same CSs (i.e., pictures) and UCS (i.e., 3 s film clip) during fear conditioning. However, in one of the conditions (negative-relevant context), the reinforced CS and UCS were meaningfully connected to each other by a 12 min aversive film clip presented prior to fear acquisition. Participants in the other condition (neutral context) were not able to make such meaningful connection between these stimuli, a...
Research Interests: Fear, Visual perception, Adolescent, Memory, Classical Conditioning, and 6 moreStartle Reflex, Humans, Female, Male, Young Adult, and Adult
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Fear, Learning, Memory, Startle Reflex, Humans, and 6 moreCues, Male, Young Adult, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Adult, and Time Factors
Objective Findings in the literature are inconsistent on the impact of congenital heart disease (CHD) on the psychological and cognitive functioning of children and adolescents. The aim of the present study was to systematically review... more
Objective Findings in the literature are inconsistent on the impact of congenital heart disease (CHD) on the psychological and cognitive functioning of children and adolescents. The aim of the present study was to systematically review this empirical body of literature. Methods We conducted a meta-analysis to review studies on behavior problems and cognitive functioning in CHD. Results Only older children
Research Interests: Psychology, Pediatric Psychology, Adolescent, Chronic illness, Anxiety, and 18 moreCongenital Heart Defects, Humans, Child, Chronic Disease, Spatial ability, Female, Male, Psychological Intervention, Meta Analysis, Systematic review, Heart Disease, Children and Adolescents, Cognitive Function, Behavior Problems, ANXIETY, Congenital Heart Disease, Age Groups, and Cognition disorders
The present study was a replication of Kindt and Van den Hout (Behaviour Research and Therapy 41 (2003) 167) with several methodological adaptations. Two experiments were designed to test whether state dissociation is related to objective... more
The present study was a replication of Kindt and Van den Hout (Behaviour Research and Therapy 41 (2003) 167) with several methodological adaptations. Two experiments were designed to test whether state dissociation is related to objective memory disturbances, or whether dissociation is confined to the realm of subjective experience. High trait dissociative participants (Nexp.1=25; Nexp.2=25) and low trait dissociative participants
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Research Design, Visual perception, Memory, and 15 moreHumans, Personality Assessment Inventory, Galvanic Skin Response, Behavior Therapy, Female, Male, Dissociative disorders, Dissociative experiences scale, Visual Analogue Scale, Arousal, Questionnaires, Adult, Short Term Memory, Memory Disorders, and Life Change Events
Tested whether eye movements during retrieval of emotional memories are followed by less vividness and less emotionality of future recollections; whether this effect is stronger than the effects of a control activity; whether the alleged... more
Tested whether eye movements during retrieval of emotional memories are followed by less vividness and less emotionality of future recollections; whether this effect is stronger than the effects of a control activity; whether the alleged effects of tapping and eye movements are stronger than a no-movement, control condition; and whether reductions in vividness and emotionality after eye movements (and finger
Research Interests:
The extent to which anxious people benefit from exposure-based treatments seems to depend on the degree to which they activate their fear network during exposure. This study was designed to investigate whether the cognitive processing of... more
The extent to which anxious people benefit from exposure-based treatments seems to depend on the degree to which they activate their fear network during exposure. This study was designed to investigate whether the cognitive processing of threat in anxious individuals is dominated by abstract anticipatory memory, and whether this abstract memory mode is related to the incomplete activation of the fear network. Activation of the fear network was assessed during phobic exposure, as evidenced by the initial autonomic reaction. Spider phobics and controls were presented with a threatening imagery script. Half of them were exposed to a real-life spider. Spider phobics memorized relatively more abstract anticipatory descriptions than concrete sensory descriptions when compared with the control subjects. Only in phobic subjects, higher recognition of abstract anticipatory descriptions was inversely related to heart rate reactivity during exposure. A preferential memory mode for abstract inf...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
We tested whether the effectiveness of imaginal exposure (IE) treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was enhanced by combining IE with imagery rescripting (IE+IR). It was hypothesized that IE+IR would be more effective than IE... more
We tested whether the effectiveness of imaginal exposure (IE) treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was enhanced by combining IE with imagery rescripting (IE+IR). It was hypothesized that IE+IR would be more effective than IE by (1) providing more corrective information so that more trauma-related problems can be addressed, and (2) allowing patients to express emotions that they had been
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Anger, Clinical Trial, Rape, and 17 moreTreatment Outcome, Adolescent, Shame, Humans, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Behavior Therapy, Chronic Disease, Female, Male, Guilt, Aged, Middle Aged, Questionnaires, Adult, Hostility, EXPRESSED EMOTION, and Imagery In Psychotherapy
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology, Cognitive Science, Selective Attention, Semantics, Fear, and 17 moreCognition, Attention, Reading, Anxiety, Color Perception, Humans, Child, Female, Male, Child Psychology, Reaction Time, Cognitive Process, Intervention Studies, Association, Analysis of Variance, ANXIETY, and Cross Sectional Studies
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Emotional memory can persist strikingly long, but it is believed that not all its elements are protected against the fading effects of time. So far, studies of emotional episodic memory have mostly investigated retention up to 24h... more
Emotional memory can persist strikingly long, but it is believed that not all its elements are protected against the fading effects of time. So far, studies of emotional episodic memory have mostly investigated retention up to 24h post-encoding, and revealed that central emotional features (items) are usually strengthened, while contextual binding of the event is reduced. However, even though it is known for neutral memories that central versus contextual elements evolve differently with longer passage of time, the time-dependent evolution of emotional memories remains unclear. Hypothetically, compared to neutral memories, emotional item memory becomes increasingly stronger, accompanied by accelerated decay of – already fragile – links with their original encoding contexts, resulting in progressive reductions in contextual dependency. Here, we tested these predictions in a large-scale study. Participants encoded emotional and neutral episodes, and were assessed 30 minutes (N = 40), ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Influential models of fears and phobias suggest that irrational threat beliefs underpin excessive fear. Yet, many fearful individuals recognize their fear is not justified. Drawing on memory competition/multiple representations theory, we... more
Influential models of fears and phobias suggest that irrational threat beliefs underpin excessive fear. Yet, many fearful individuals recognize their fear is not justified. Drawing on memory competition/multiple representations theory, we investigated whether different methods of probing fear-related beliefs might reveal conflicting representations of threat. In a proof-of-concept questionnaire study (N = 145) and three experiments (Experiment 1, N = 49, Experiment 2, N = 47, Experiment 3, N = 75), fearful and non-fearful participants not only provided Probability Ratings for fear-related outcomes in a fear-relevant exposure task, but placed Bets, with payoffs depending on what happened in reality. Fearful participants displayed much higher Probability Ratings than Low fear participants. However, Bets revealed far less consistent group differences, even when proximal to threat (Experiments 1 and 2), and differences between High and Low fear participants’ Bets disappeared when they c...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The aim of this study was to investigate whether nonclinically anxious children, like anxious adults, favor the processing of threatening or concern-related information. Two experiments, using an emotional Stroop task, were carried out in... more
The aim of this study was to investigate whether nonclinically anxious children, like anxious adults, favor the processing of threatening or concern-related information. Two experiments, using an emotional Stroop task, were carried out in high anxious and low anxious children aged 8 to 9 to examine whether a medical stressor elicited a processing bias. Results indicated that, independently of the
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Although disrupting the process of memory reconsolidation has a great potential for clinical practice, the fear-amnesic effects are typically demonstrated through Pavlovian conditioning. Given that older and stronger memories are... more
Although disrupting the process of memory reconsolidation has a great potential for clinical practice, the fear-amnesic effects are typically demonstrated through Pavlovian conditioning. Given that older and stronger memories are generally more resistant to change, we tested whether disrupting reconsolidation would also diminish fear in individuals who had developed a persistent spider fear outside the laboratory. Spider-fearful participants received a single dose of 40 mg of the noradrenergic β-blocker propranolol (n = 15), double-blind and placebo-controlled (n = 15), after a short 2-min exposure to a tarantula. To test whether memory reactivation was necessary to observe a fear-reducing effect, one additional group of spider-fearful participants (n = 15) received a single dose of 40 mg propranolol without memory reactivation. Disrupting reconsolidation of fear memory transformed avoidance behavior into approach behavior in a virtual binary fashion-an effect that persisted at least 1 year after treatment. Interestingly the β-adrenergic drug did initially not affect the self-declared fear of spiders but instead these reports followed the instant behavioral transformation several months later. Our findings are in sharp contrast with the currently pharmacological and cognitive behavioral treatments for anxiety and related disorders. The β-adrenergic blocker was only effective when the drug was administered upon memory reactivation, and a modification in cognitive representations was not necessary to observe a change in fear behavior. A new wave of treatments that pharmacologically target the synaptic plasticity underlying learning and memory seems to be within reach.
Research Interests: Psychology, Fear, Adolescent, Medicine, Memory Consolidation, and 14 moreBiological Sciences, Biological Psychiatry, Humans, Female, Amnesia, Male, Young Adult, Adult, Propranolol, Choice Behavior, Avoidance Learning, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Phobic disorders, and Medical and Health Sciences
Although fear-learning research has tended to focus on typical responses, there is substantial individual variation in response to threat. Here, we investigated how personality is related to variability in associative fear learning. We... more
Although fear-learning research has tended to focus on typical responses, there is substantial individual variation in response to threat. Here, we investigated how personality is related to variability in associative fear learning. We used multilevel growth curve modeling to examine the unique and interactive effects of Stress Reaction (SR) and Harmavoidance (HA; Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire scales) and their corresponding higher-order factors on differential fear conditioning ( n = 225) and extinction ( n = 109; 24–48 hr later). Fear was indexed by fear potentiation of the eyeblink startle reflex. Our findings demonstrated weaker discrimination between threat and safety with high levels of SR. Subsequently, both retention of differential fear acquisition and extinction were weaker with high levels of SR and HA, thereby indicating maladaptive fear learning, whereas they were stronger with low levels of SR and high levels of HA, which suggests efficient fear learning. ...
Research Interests:
SamenvattingPatiënten met een obsessieve-compulsieve stoornis die dwangmatig controleren, blijven hun herinnering aan het controleren wantrouwen, ondanks het feit dat de controlehandelingen herhaaldelijk werden uitgevoerd. Waarom zijn ze... more
SamenvattingPatiënten met een obsessieve-compulsieve stoornis die dwangmatig controleren, blijven hun herinnering aan het controleren wantrouwen, ondanks het feit dat de controlehandelingen herhaaldelijk werden uitgevoerd. Waarom zijn ze na één of twee keer controleren niet gerustgesteld? Het geopperde antwoord luidt dat onzekerheid blijft voortbestaan als gevolg van herhaald controleren. De neiging tot controleren wordt ingegeven door de wens zekerheid te krijgen, maar controleren ontwricht het geheugen en leidt niet tot zekerheid maar tot twijfel. Deze theorie werd getoetst in drie experimenten. De bevindingen ondersteunen de theorie. Na herhaald controleren is het geheugen nog net zo accuraat als voor het herhaald controleren. Maar herhaald controleren neemt de levendigheid en de gedetailleerdheid van de herinnering weg en ondermijnt het vertrouwen erin. Patiënten die geheugenonzekerheid bestrijden met herhaald controleren, maken de problemen dus alleen maar erger.
Research Interests:
... Marcel van den Hout, en, (*) Prof. dr. ... In tal van andere studies werd dezelfde bevinding gerapporteerd (zie bijvoorbeeld Bre-slau, Davis, Andreski, & Peterson, 1991 ; Casella & Motta, 1990 ; Kelly et al., 1998 ; Mayou,... more
... Marcel van den Hout, en, (*) Prof. dr. ... In tal van andere studies werd dezelfde bevinding gerapporteerd (zie bijvoorbeeld Bre-slau, Davis, Andreski, & Peterson, 1991 ; Casella & Motta, 1990 ; Kelly et al., 1998 ; Mayou, Bryant, & Duthie, 1993 ; McFarlane, 1989 , 1992 ; Lauterbach ...
Research Interests:
Upon recall, a memory can enter a labile state in which it requires new protein synthesis to restabilize. This two-phased reconsolidation process raises the prospect to directly target excessive fear memory as opposed to the formation of... more
Upon recall, a memory can enter a labile state in which it requires new protein synthesis to restabilize. This two-phased reconsolidation process raises the prospect to directly target excessive fear memory as opposed to the formation of inhibitory memory following extinction training. In our previous studies, we convincingly demonstrated that 40 mg propranolol HCl administration before or after memory reactivation eliminated the emotional expression of fear memory indexed by the fear potentiated startle reflex. To apply this procedure in clinical practice it is important to understand the optimal and boundary conditions of this procedure. As part of a large project aimed at unraveling putative boundary conditions of disrupting reconsolidation of associative fear memory with propranolol HCl, we again tested our memory reconsolidation procedure. Participants (N = 44) underwent a three-day differential fear conditioning procedure. Twenty-four hours after fear acquisition, participants...
Research Interests:
Traditional theoretical models hold that avoidance reflects the interplay of Pavlovian and instrumental learning. Here we suggest that avoidance tendencies to intrinsically neutral cues may be established by mere Pavlovian association.... more
Traditional theoretical models hold that avoidance reflects the interplay of Pavlovian and instrumental learning. Here we suggest that avoidance tendencies to intrinsically neutral cues may be established by mere Pavlovian association. Following fear conditioning, in which pictures of one object were paired with shock (CS+) whereas pictures of another object were not (CS−), CS+ pictures facilitated avoidance reactions and interfered with approach responses, relative to CS− pictures, in a symbolic approach/avoidance reaction time task. This was achieved without any instrumental relation between responses and CS continuation or unconditioned stimulus presentation. Moreover, those avoidance tendencies were sensitive to Pavlovian extinction (they were reduced after repeated presentations of the CS+ without shock) and renewal (recovery of conditioned responding upon returning to the initial conditioning context after extinction in a different context). The present results may help us und...
Research Interests:
Samenvatting Bij Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (emdr) beweegt de patiënt de ogen lateraal, tijdens het ophalen van aversieve herinneringen. Bij gezonde proefpersonen werd nagegaan of dit ‘oogbewegen’ ertoe leidt dat, na... more
Samenvatting Bij Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (emdr) beweegt de patiënt de ogen lateraal, tijdens het ophalen van aversieve herinneringen. Bij gezonde proefpersonen werd nagegaan of dit ‘oogbewegen’ ertoe leidt dat, na de procedure, de herinneringen van kwaliteit veranderen. Dit was het geval. Oogbewegen leidde tot verminderen van levendigheid van latere herinneringen en tot mindere emotionaliteit van herinneringen. Dit effect was
Research Interests:
SamenvattingNa een ingrijpende negatieve gebeurtenis vertonen de meeste mensen acute stressreacties, maar slechts een minderheid ontwikkelt een posttraumatische stress-stoornis (ptss). Een van de beste voorspellers van een latere ptssis... more
SamenvattingNa een ingrijpende negatieve gebeurtenis vertonen de meeste mensen acute stressreacties, maar slechts een minderheid ontwikkelt een posttraumatische stress-stoornis (ptss). Een van de beste voorspellers van een latere ptssis dissociatie tijdens het trauma. Het hier beschreven onderzoek had tot doel te achterhalen hoe dat komt: waarom voorspelt dissociatie latere ptss? Een gangbaar antwoord hierop is dat dissociatie tijdens het trauma een adequate verwerking van de trauma-informatie moeilijk maakt, met intrusies en fragmentatie van de herinnering aan het trauma tot gevolg. Patiënten hebben het ook vaak over intrusieve of gefragmenteerde herinneringen aan het trauma. We hebben onderzocht of deze ‘geheugenfragmentatie’ wijst op een defect in het geheugen, of dat dit alleen maar zo lijkt.In drie experimenten zagen deelnemers een extreem gewelddadige film. Daar gingen ze van dissociëren, vooral deelnemers die daar van nature al toe geneigd waren. In twee van de drie experimenten volgden inderdaad intrusies op de opgewekte dissociatie: hoe meer dissociatie, des te meer intrusies. In alle drie de studies vonden we een samenhang tussen dissociatie en subjectieve geheugenfragmentatie. Dat verband werd in aanzienlijke mate gemedieerd door intrusies. In geen van de studies was er verband tussen dissociatie en verschillende objectieve maten van de coherentie van de herinneringen aan de film. We concludeerden dat dissociatie tijdens het trauma geen ingrijpende gevolgen heeft voor de verwerking van trauma-informatie en dus niet leidt tot fragmentering van de geheugenrepresentaties. Maar dissociatie doet de kans op intrusies toenemen en intrusies resulteren in de ervaring van fragmentatie van het geheugen.
Research Interests:
The basic design used in our human fear-conditioning studies on disrupting reconsolidation includes testing over different phases across three consecutive days. On day 1 - the fear acquisition phase, healthy participants are exposed to a... more
The basic design used in our human fear-conditioning studies on disrupting reconsolidation includes testing over different phases across three consecutive days. On day 1 - the fear acquisition phase, healthy participants are exposed to a series of picture presentations. One picture stimulus (CS1+) is repeatedly paired with an aversive electric stimulus (US), resulting in the acquisition of a fear association, whereas another picture stimulus (CS2-) is never followed by an US. On day 2 - the memory reactivation phase, the participants are re-exposed to the conditioned stimulus without the US (CS1-), which typically triggers a conditioned fear response. After the memory reactivation we administer an oral dose of 40 mg of propranolol HCl, a β-adrenergic receptor antagonist that indirectly targets the protein synthesis required for reconsolidation by inhibiting the noradrenaline-stimulated CREB phosphorylation. On day 3 - the test phase, the participants are again exposed to the unreinf...
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology, Adolescent, Medicine, Episodic Memory, Emotions, and 15 moreMemory Consolidation, Humans, Blood Pressure, Female, Male, Heart rate, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Reconsolidation, Declarative Memory, Saliva, Adult, Psychomotor Performance, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, hydrocortisone, and Medical and Health Sciences
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology, Fear, Multidisciplinary, Anxiety, Memory Consolidation, and 8 moreMemory, Humans, Female, Male, PLoS one, Adult, ANXIETY, and Propranolol
Research Interests: Depression, Emotional Memory, Fear, Adolescent, Medicine, and 15 moreBehavioral Science, Memory Consolidation, Classical Conditioning, Humans, Blood Pressure, Galvanic Skin Response, Female, Male, Fear conditioning, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Anxiety Disorder, Memory Disorders, Medical and Health Sciences, and Electric stimulation
Research Interests: Psychology, Fear, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Adolescent, Medicine, and 15 moreMemory, Classical Conditioning, Humans, Galvanic Skin Response, Female, Male, Fear conditioning, Declarative Memory, Middle Aged, Adult, Propranolol, Anxiety Disorder, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Psychiatric disorder, and Medical and Health Sciences
We previously demonstrated that disrupting reconsolidation by pharmacological manipulations “deleted” the emotional expression of a fear memory in humans. If we are to target reconsolidation in patients with anxiety disorders, the... more
We previously demonstrated that disrupting reconsolidation by pharmacological manipulations “deleted” the emotional expression of a fear memory in humans. If we are to target reconsolidation in patients with anxiety disorders, the disruption of reconsolidation should produce content-limited modifications. At the same time, the fear-erasing effects should not be restricted to the feared cue itself considering that fear generalization is a main characteristic of anxiety disorders. In Experiment I and Experiment Ib, we addressed these issues using a within-subject differential startle fear conditioning paradigm and a test of fear generalization. In Experiment II, we tested whether a behavioral approach targeting the reconsolidation through extinction learning was also effective in weakening the original fear memory. A behavioral procedure is evidently preferred over drug manipulations provided that similar effects can be obtained. Here, the extinction procedure subsequent to retrieval ...
Research Interests: Psychology, Fear, Adolescent, Medicine, Memory Consolidation, and 15 moreBiological Sciences, Classical Conditioning, Humans, Blood Pressure, Galvanic Skin Response, Female, Male, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Propranolol, Memory Disorders, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, and Electric stimulation
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Anxiety Disorders, Social Anxiety, Cognition, and 15 moreCognitive Bias, Medicine, Information Processing, Affect, Software, Humans, Female, Male, Reaction Time, Attitude, Clinical Sciences, Questionnaires, Control Group, Severity of Illness Index, and Phobic disorders
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Biological Psychology, Cognitive Science, Emotional Memory, Fear, Adolescent, and 15 moreMedicine, Clinical Practice, Classical Conditioning, Humans, Galvanic Skin Response, Female, Male, Extinction, Fear conditioning, Electromyography, Emotional Expression, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Indexation, and Anxiety Disorder
Research Interests:
Background: There is overwhelming evidence that anxiety is associated with the tendency to interpret information negatively. The causal relationship between this interpretive bias and anxiety has been examined by modifying interpretive... more
Background: There is overwhelming evidence that anxiety is associated with the tendency to interpret information negatively. The causal relationship between this interpretive bias and anxiety has been examined by modifying interpretive bias and examining effects on anxiety. A crucial assumption is that the effect of the procedure on anxiety is mediated by change in interpretive bias rather than being a direct effect of the procedure. Surprisingly, this had not previously been tested. Aim: The aim is to test whether altered interpretive bias, following Cognitive Bias Modification of Interpretations (CBM-I), affected anxiety. Method: Mediational path analyses were conducted to test the hypothesis that changes in anxiety are due to changes in interpretive bias. A separate experiment was conducted to test which elements of the procedure could be responsible for a direct mood effect. Results: Results from mediation analyses suggested that changes in trait anxiety, after performing CBM-I,...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Fear conditioning is one of the prime paradigms of behavioural neuroscience and a source of tremendous insight in the fundamentals of learning and memory and the psychology and neurobiology of emotion. It is also widely regarded as a... more
Fear conditioning is one of the prime paradigms of behavioural neuroscience and a source of tremendous insight in the fundamentals of learning and memory and the psychology and neurobiology of emotion. It is also widely regarded as a model for the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders in a diathesis-stress model of psychopathology. Starting from the apparent paradox between the adaptive nature of fear conditioning and the dysfunctional nature of pathological anxiety, we present a critique of the human fear conditioning uman fear conditioning
Research Interests:
Avoidance is a key characteristic of adaptive and maladaptive fear. Here, we review past and contemporary theories of avoidance learning. Based on the theories, experimental findings and clinical observations reviewed, we distill key... more
Avoidance is a key characteristic of adaptive and maladaptive fear. Here, we review past and contemporary theories of avoidance learning. Based on the theories, experimental findings and clinical observations reviewed, we distill key principles of how adaptive and maladaptive avoidance behavior is acquired and maintained. We highlight clinical implications of avoidance learning theories and describe intervention strategies that could reduce maladaptive avoidance and prevent its return. We end with a brief overview of recent developments and avenues for further research.