Don't fear 'fear conditioning': Methodological considerations for the design and analysis of studies on human fear acquisition, extinction, and return of fear

Tina B Lonsdorf; Mareike M Menz; Marta Andreatta; Miguel A Fullana; Armita Golkar; Jan Haaker; Ivo Heitland; Andrea Hermann; Manuel Kuhn; Onno Kruse; Shira Meir Drexler; Ann Meulders; Frauke Nees; Andre Pittig; Jan Richter; Sonja Römer; Youssef Shiban; Anja Schmitz; Benjamin Straube; Bram Vervliet; Julia Wendt; Johanna M P Baas; Christian J Merz

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.026

Don't fear 'fear conditioning': Methodological considerations for the design and analysis of studies on human fear acquisition, extinction, and return of fear

Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2017 Jun:77:247-285. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.026. Epub 2017 Mar 3.

Authors

Tina B Lonsdorf¹, Mareike M Menz², Marta Andreatta³, Miguel A Fullana⁴, Armita Golkar⁵, Jan Haaker⁶, Ivo Heitland⁷, Andrea Hermann⁸, Manuel Kuhn², Onno Kruse⁸, Shira Meir Drexler⁹, Ann Meulders¹⁰, Frauke Nees¹¹, Andre Pittig¹², Jan Richter¹³, Sonja Römer¹⁴, Youssef Shiban¹⁵, Anja Schmitz¹⁵, Benjamin Straube¹⁶, Bram Vervliet¹⁷, Julia Wendt¹³, Johanna M P Baas⁷, Christian J Merz⁹

Affiliations

¹ University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Systems Neuroscience, Hamburg, Germany. Electronic address: t.lonsdorf@uke.de.
² University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Systems Neuroscience, Hamburg, Germany.
³ University of Würzburg, Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Würzburg, Germany.
⁴ Anxiety Unit, Institute of Neuropsychiatry and Addictions, Hospital del Mar, CIBERSAM, Barcelona, Spain; IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute), Barcelona, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
⁵ Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychology Section, Stockholm, Sweden; University of Amsterdam, Department of Clinical Psychology, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
⁶ University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Systems Neuroscience, Hamburg, Germany; Karolinska Institutet, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Psychology Section, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁷ Utrecht University, Department of Experimental Psychology and Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
⁸ Justus Liebig University Giessen, Department of Psychology, Psychotherapy and Systems Neuroscience, Giessen, Germany.
⁹ Ruhr-University Bochum, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Cognitive Psychology, Bochum, Germany.
¹⁰ KU Leuven, Health Psychology, Leuven, Belgium; Maastricht University, Research Group Behavioral Medicine, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
¹¹ Heidelberg University, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Central Institute of Mental Health, Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Mannheim, Germany.
¹² Technische Universität Dresden, Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Dresden, Germany.
¹³ University of Greifswald, Department of Physiological and Clinical Psychology/Psychotherapy, Greifswald, Germany.
¹⁴ Saarland University, Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Saarbrücken, Germany.
¹⁵ University of Regensburg, Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Regensburg, Germany.
¹⁶ Philipps-University Marburg, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Marburg, Germany.
¹⁷ KU Leuven, Centre for the Psychology of Learning and Experimental Psychopathology, Leuven, Belgium; Center for Excellence on Generalization, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.

PMID: 28263758
DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.02.026

Abstract

The so-called 'replicability crisis' has sparked methodological discussions in many areas of science in general, and in psychology in particular. This has led to recent endeavours to promote the transparency, rigour, and ultimately, replicability of research. Originating from this zeitgeist, the challenge to discuss critical issues on terminology, design, methods, and analysis considerations in fear conditioning research is taken up by this work, which involved representatives from fourteen of the major human fear conditioning laboratories in Europe. This compendium is intended to provide a basis for the development of a common procedural and terminology framework for the field of human fear conditioning. Whenever possible, we give general recommendations. When this is not feasible, we provide evidence-based guidance for methodological decisions on study design, outcome measures, and analyses. Importantly, this work is also intended to raise awareness and initiate discussions on crucial questions with respect to data collection, processing, statistical analyses, the impact of subtle procedural changes, and data reporting specifically tailored to the research on fear conditioning.

Keywords: Conditioning; Design; Extinction; Individual differences; Methods; Replicability crisis; Return of fear; Statistics; Terminology.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Conditioning, Classical
Conditioning, Psychological
Europe
Extinction, Psychological
Fear*
Humans
Research Design