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Updated: May 17, 2026

Using the Threat Probability Task to Assess Anxiety and Fear During Uncertain and Certain Threat
Published on: September 12, 2014
No effect of trait anxiety on differential fear conditioning or fear generalization
David Torrents-Rodas1, Miquel A Fullana, Albert Bonillo
1Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institute of Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain. David.Torrents@uab.cat
Abstract:
Previous studies have shown that individuals with anxiety disorders exhibit deficits in fear inhibition and excessive generalization of fear, but little data exist on individuals at risk from these disorders. The present study examined the role of trait anxiety in the acquisition and generalization of fear in 126 healthy participants selected on the basis of their trait-anxiety scores. Measures of conditioning included fear-potentiated startle, skin conductance response and online risk ratings for the unconditioned stimulus. Contrary to our hypotheses, trait anxiety did not have any effect either on the acquisition or the generalization of fear. Our results suggest that these fear conditioning processes are not impaired in individuals at risk from anxiety.
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