| dc.description.abstract | In the context of experimental studies about fear conditioning, verbal instructions were not
considered as a possible influencing factor during the past decades. Therefore, they are often not
at all or only partly reported in the methodological section of scientific articles. This study
focused on the effect of verbal instructions on fear conditioning. A hypothesis was established
that presentation of the CS+ should lead to increased startle responsiveness and skin conductance
responses in two verbal contingency instructions groups with different degrees of specificity,
whereas participants of the no contingency-group were predicted to require more time for a
corresponding response. This hypothesis was tested by providing participants with either no,
general, or precise instructions about the combination of a conditioned stimulus with an electric
shock, and measuring their fear potentiated startle (FPS) and skin conductance response (SCR)
during the experiment. In addition, the participants’ contingency awareness was assessed
afterwards. The results for the FPS indicate that conditioning was more outspoken in the general
and precise contingency than in the no contingency instruction, whereas information about the
CS-type influenced the SCR in all three contingency groups, but mostly so in the precise
contingency group. An additional analysis revealed that anxiety level of participants, as assessed
by three questionnaires, did not differ significantly between contingency groups. These results
suggest that fear conditioning of the FPS and SCR are influenced by verbal instructions, even
though the degree of specificity of the instructions might have a varying influence. Therefore,
verbal instructions should be included in the methodological sections of scientific articles. | |
