Evidence of Altered Fear Extinction Learning in Individuals with High Vaccine Hesitancy During Covid-19 Pandemic

OBJECTIVE: A relevance of fear and concerns about vaccine development and its side effects are suggested to explain COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. However, evidence supporting the phobic origin hypothesis of hesitancy for COVID-19 and other vaccinations remains indirect and elusive. METHOD: We addresse...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Vicario, Carmelo M., Makris, Stergios, Culicetto, Laura, Lucifora, Chiara, Falzone, Alessandra, Martino, Gabriella, Ferraioli, Francesca, Nitsche, Michael A., Avenanti, Alessio, Craparo, Giuseppe
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Giovanni Fioriti Editore srl 2023
Materias:
Research Paper
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10544234/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37791094
http://dx.doi.org/10.36131/cnfioritieditore20230417
Descripción
Sumario:OBJECTIVE: A relevance of fear and concerns about vaccine development and its side effects are suggested to explain COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. However, evidence supporting the phobic origin hypothesis of hesitancy for COVID-19 and other vaccinations remains indirect and elusive. METHOD: We addressed this issue by investigating the existence of a relationship between fear conditioning, extinction, and the respective vaccination hesitancy and anxiety scores in a group of 25 individuals. RESULTS: Overall, we show that the general mechanism of fear extinction learning is impaired in individuals with high vaccine hesitancy. State and trait anxiety scores do not account for this result. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that attitudes against vaccination could be linked to an altered inhibitory learning process.

Ejemplares similares