eCite Digital Repository
Critical evaluation of current data analysis strategies for psychophysiological measures of fear conditioning and extinction in humans
Citation
Ney, LJ and Wade, M and Reynolds, A and Zuj, DV and Dymond, S and Matthews, A and Felmingham, KL, Critical evaluation of current data analysis strategies for psychophysiological measures of fear conditioning and extinction in humans, International Journal of Psychophysiology, 134 pp. 95-107. ISSN 0167-8760 (2018) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
DOI: doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2018.10.010
Abstract
Fear conditioning and extinction is a construct integral to understanding trauma-, stress- and anxiety-related disorders. In the laboratory, associative learning paradigms that pair aversive with neutral stimuli are used as analogues to real-life fear learning. These studies use physiological indices, such as skin conductance, to sensitively measure rates and intensity of learning and extinction. In this review, we discuss some of the potential limitations in interpreting and analysing physiological data during the acquisition or extinction of conditioned fear. We argue that the utmost attention should be paid to the development of modelling approaches of physiological data in associative learning paradigms, by illustrating the lack of replicability and interpretability of results in current methods. We also show that statistical significance may be easily achieved in this paradigm without more stringent data and data analysis reporting requirements, leaving this particular field vulnerable to misleading conclusions. This review is written so that issues and potential solutions are accessible to researchers without mathematical training. We conclude the review with some suggestions that all laboratories should be able to implement, including visualising the full data set in publications and adopting modelling, or at least regression-based, approaches.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | fear learning, extinction, methods, data analysis, return of fear, replicability crisis, conditioning, skin conductance responses (SCR), physiological responding, anxiety |
| Research Division: | Psychology |
| Research Group: | Biological psychology |
| Research Field: | Behavioural neuroscience |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in psychology |
| UTAS Author: | Ney, LJ (Mr Luke Ney) |
| UTAS Author: | Wade, M (Mr Matthew Wade) |
| UTAS Author: | Reynolds, A (Associate Professor Adrian Reynolds) |
| UTAS Author: | Matthews, A (Dr Allison Matthews) |
| UTAS Author: | Felmingham, KL (Professor Kim Felmingham) |
| ID Code: | 129079 |
| Year Published: | 2018 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 34 |
| Deposited By: | Psychology |
| Deposited On: | 2018-11-08 |
| Last Modified: | 2019-08-14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
Repository Staff Only: item control page