Biological psychiatry
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Biological psychiatry · Jun 2002
Editorial CommentAnother view of therapy for cognition in schizophrenia.
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Biological psychiatry · Jun 2002
Associative learning deficits increase symptoms of anxiety in humans.
Unpredictability has been postulated to be fundamental to anxiety and mood disorders. The origin of this unpredictability remains obscure. Because classical conditioning promotes predictability, this study investigated whether failure to learn conditioned stimulus (CS)-unconditioned stimulus (US) relationship during fear conditioning increased anxiety and avoidance. ⋯ Deficits in explicit cue fear conditioning can enhance anxiety. These findings are consistent with theories that associate anxiety and mood disorders with perceived unpredictability. Contextual conditioning models may be relevant to study chronic forms of anxiety.