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Rapid Unconscious Acquisition of Conditioned Fear with Low-Spatial-Frequency but Emotionally Neutral Stimuli

It has long been proposed that emotionally “prepared” (i.e., fear-related) stimuli are privileged in the unconscious acquisition of conditioned fear. However, as fear processing is suggested to highly depend on the coarse, low-spatial-frequency (LSF) components of the fear-related stimuli, it is pla...

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Autores principales: Chen, Yujie, Chen, Si, Sun, Zhongju, Zhang, Xilei, Yuan, Xiangyong, Wang, Liang, Jiang, Yi
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: AAAS 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10298222/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37383220
http://dx.doi.org/10.34133/research.0181
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author Chen, Yujie
Chen, Si
Sun, Zhongju
Zhang, Xilei
Yuan, Xiangyong
Wang, Liang
Jiang, Yi
author_facet Chen, Yujie
Chen, Si
Sun, Zhongju
Zhang, Xilei
Yuan, Xiangyong
Wang, Liang
Jiang, Yi
author_sort Chen, Yujie
collection PubMed
description It has long been proposed that emotionally “prepared” (i.e., fear-related) stimuli are privileged in the unconscious acquisition of conditioned fear. However, as fear processing is suggested to highly depend on the coarse, low-spatial-frequency (LSF) components of the fear-related stimuli, it is plausible that LSF may play a unique role in the unconscious fear conditioning even with emotionally neutral stimuli. Here, we provided empirical evidence that, following classical fear conditioning, an invisible, emotionally neutral conditioned stimulus (CS+) with LSF, but not with high spatial frequency (HSF), can rapidly elicit stronger skin conductance responses (SCRs) and larger pupil diameters than its CS− counterpart. In comparison, consciously perceived emotionally neutral CS+ with LSF and HSF elicited comparable SCRs. Taken together, these results support that the unconscious fear conditioning does not necessarily entail emotionally prepared stimuli but prioritizes LSF information processing and highlight the crucial distinctions between the unconscious and the conscious fear learning. These findings not only coincide with the postulation that a rapid, spatial-frequency-dependent subcortical route is engaged in unconscious fear processing but also suggest the existence of multiple routes for conscious fear processing.
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spelling pubmed-102982222023-06-28 Rapid Unconscious Acquisition of Conditioned Fear with Low-Spatial-Frequency but Emotionally Neutral Stimuli Chen, Yujie Chen, Si Sun, Zhongju Zhang, Xilei Yuan, Xiangyong Wang, Liang Jiang, Yi Research (Wash D C) Research Article It has long been proposed that emotionally “prepared” (i.e., fear-related) stimuli are privileged in the unconscious acquisition of conditioned fear. However, as fear processing is suggested to highly depend on the coarse, low-spatial-frequency (LSF) components of the fear-related stimuli, it is plausible that LSF may play a unique role in the unconscious fear conditioning even with emotionally neutral stimuli. Here, we provided empirical evidence that, following classical fear conditioning, an invisible, emotionally neutral conditioned stimulus (CS+) with LSF, but not with high spatial frequency (HSF), can rapidly elicit stronger skin conductance responses (SCRs) and larger pupil diameters than its CS− counterpart. In comparison, consciously perceived emotionally neutral CS+ with LSF and HSF elicited comparable SCRs. Taken together, these results support that the unconscious fear conditioning does not necessarily entail emotionally prepared stimuli but prioritizes LSF information processing and highlight the crucial distinctions between the unconscious and the conscious fear learning. These findings not only coincide with the postulation that a rapid, spatial-frequency-dependent subcortical route is engaged in unconscious fear processing but also suggest the existence of multiple routes for conscious fear processing. AAAS 2023-06-27 /pmc/articles/PMC10298222/ /pubmed/37383220 http://dx.doi.org/10.34133/research.0181 Text en Copyright © 2023 Yujie Chen et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Exclusive licensee Science and Technology Review Publishing House. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Research Article
Chen, Yujie
Chen, Si
Sun, Zhongju
Zhang, Xilei
Yuan, Xiangyong
Wang, Liang
Jiang, Yi
Rapid Unconscious Acquisition of Conditioned Fear with Low-Spatial-Frequency but Emotionally Neutral Stimuli
title Rapid Unconscious Acquisition of Conditioned Fear with Low-Spatial-Frequency but Emotionally Neutral Stimuli
title_full Rapid Unconscious Acquisition of Conditioned Fear with Low-Spatial-Frequency but Emotionally Neutral Stimuli
title_fullStr Rapid Unconscious Acquisition of Conditioned Fear with Low-Spatial-Frequency but Emotionally Neutral Stimuli
title_full_unstemmed Rapid Unconscious Acquisition of Conditioned Fear with Low-Spatial-Frequency but Emotionally Neutral Stimuli
title_short Rapid Unconscious Acquisition of Conditioned Fear with Low-Spatial-Frequency but Emotionally Neutral Stimuli
title_sort rapid unconscious acquisition of conditioned fear with low-spatial-frequency but emotionally neutral stimuli
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10298222/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37383220
http://dx.doi.org/10.34133/research.0181
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