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Individuals who score high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) tend to find uncertainty aversive. Prior research has demonstrated that under uncertainty individuals with high IU display difficulties in updating learned threat associations to safety associations. Importantly, recent research has shown that providing contingency instructions about threat and safety contingencies (i.e. reducing uncertainty) to individuals with high IU promotes the updating of learned threat associations to safety associations. Here we aimed to conceptually replicate IU and contingency instruction-based effects by conducting a secondary analysis of self-reported IU, ratings, skin conductance, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data recorded during uninstructed/instructed blocks of threat acquisition and threat extinction training (n = 48). Generally, no significant associations were observed between self-reported IU and differential responding to learned threat and safety cues for any measure during uninstructed/instructed blocks of threat acquisition and threat extinction training. There was some tentative evidence that higher IU was associated with greater ratings of unpleasantness and arousal to the safety cue after the experiment and greater skin conductance response to the safety cue during extinction generally. Potential explanations for these null effects and directions for future research are discussed. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.]

Measurement practice in experimental psychology is heterogeneous. Psychometric properties of measurement methods are sometimes difficult to establish, leaving researchers with few criteria to select between methods. To overcome this obstacle, calibration is a standard metrological procedure in which well-defined values of a latent variable are generated in an established experimental paradigm. These intended values can then serve as validity criterion, to rank methods by their measurement error. This approach requires community consensus on which calibration experiment to use. Here, we develop a consensus process and exemplify it in the field of human fear conditioning. Based on a literature review and survey of N = 96 experts, we propose a calibration experiment and settings for 25 design variables to calibrate the measurement of "learned unconditioned-stimulus (US) expectation". This latent variable and the calibration procedure were chosen to be as theory-free as possible, and to have the widest experimental applicability among the surveyed researchers. Besides establishing a specific calibration procedure for fear conditioning, the general calibration process we outline may serve as a blueprint for calibration efforts in other subfields of experimental psychology that are in need of measurement refinement.

Background and Objectives: Attentional biases to negative information are often observed in emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. Recently, Fergus et al. (2013) demonstrated that participants scoring high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU), a transdiagnostic risk factor for emotional disorders, were faster at identifying targets with uncertainty-based information (e.g., word stimuli such as ‘maybe’). The current report aimed to replicate the results of Fergus et al. (2013). Methods: The experiment was conducted with a student sample (n = 126). As in the original study, a visual search task with uncertainty-based information (e.g., word stimuli) was used. Reaction times were collected. IU and trait anxiety was measured via self-report. Results: We failed to replicate the results of Fergus et al. (2013). Although IU was associated with faster identification of uncertainty-based information, the effect was not significant. Instead, we observed that higher trait anxiety was significantly associated with faster identification of uncertainty-based information. However, this effect of trait anxiety was not specific over and above IU. Limitations: The experiment was conducted on a student sample, similar to Fergus et al. (2013), limiting the generalisability of the results.Conclusions: Despite the lack of specificity of trait anxiety or IU in predicting attentional bias to uncertainty-based information, these findings highlight the potential utility of targeting attentional biases to uncertainty-based information in emotional disorders.

Fear of the unknown is considered a primary, fundamental fear (Carleton, 2016a, Carleton, 2016b; Papenfuss and Ostafin, 2021). In research settings, the fear of the unknown is commonly captured using the self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale (Carleton et al., 2007; Freeston et al., 1994), which measures the tendency to interpret and react to uncertainty negatively. Importantly, recent research has demonstrated that high levels of self-reported intolerance of uncertainty exist across many emotional disorders (e.g. anxiety, depression, stress and trauma, and obsessive-compulsive disorders) (McEvoy et al., 2019). Moreover, emerging research demonstrates that high levels of self-reported intolerance of uncertainty can be reduced to some extent through short-term interventions in the general population (Dunsmoor et al., 2015; Li et al., 2021; Morriss et al., 2020; Oglesby et al., 2017; Wake et al., 2021), and longer-term transdiagnostic (Sperling, 2022; Talkovsky and Norton, 2016), general (McEvoy and Erceg-Hurn, 2016; Palitz et al., 2019), and intolerance of uncertainty-specific (Dugas et al., 2022; Hebert and Dugas, 2019; Mofrad et al., 2020) standardised treatment protocols (e.g., cognitive behavioural therapy) in clinical populations. Given this progress, there is an increasing need for research examining the neural and psychophysiological basis of intolerance of uncertainty (Morriss et al., 2021; Tanovic et al., 2018), in order to enhance our mechanistic understanding of how intolerance of uncertainty modulates key processes relevant to the pathogenesis and treatment of emotional disorders (Einstein, 2014; Grupe and Nitschke, 2013; Hong and Cheung, 2015; Paulus et al., 2015; Shihata et al., 2016).

Uncertainty is a core component of threat and associated learning processes. One methodological factor impacting uncertainty in threat learning paradigms is the threat reinforcement rate, which refers to the proportion of times a cue is reinforced with an aversive stimulus. This study tested the effect of partial vs continuous threat reinforcement on threat / safety discrimination learning, as indexed by skin conductance response (SCR). Using a within-participants design, fifty-nine participants completed a task in which three colored shapes were paired with electric shock at reinforcement schedules of 100% (CS+), 50% (CS+) and 0% (CS-). In addition, the study examined the relationship between the Intolerance of Uncertainty scale (IU) and two subscales – inhibitory and prospective IU – with threat discrimination learning. The data show heightened SCR in the continuous vs partial reinforcement condition to all stimuli, but limited evidence of enhanced discrimination learning. Furthermore, no association was observed between total IU score and threat-safety discrimination. However, using a two-factor model of IU, findings showed higher inhibitory IU and higher prospective IU were associated with diminished and heightened threat discrimination, respectively. These results contribute to a fast-growing literature exploring how the uncertainty inherent to predictors of threat, individual differences in sensitivity to uncertainty, and interactions between these two factors, can shape the acquisition of threat memory.

Individuals high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) tend to view uncertainty as unbearable and stressful. Notably, IU is transdiagnostic, and high levels of IU are observed across many different emotional disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression). Research has primarily focused on how IU evokes and modulates emotional states such as fear and anxiety. However, recent research suggests that IU may have relevance for a broader range of emotional states. Here, an online survey was conducted to examine whether IU evokes and modulates a range of negative (e.g., fear/anxiety, sadness/upset, anger/frustration, disgust) and positive (e.g., happiness/joy, excitement/enthusiasm, surprise/interest) emotional states. Findings within a community sample (n = 231) revealed that individuals with higher levels of IU report: (1) that uncertainty in general and uncertainty under ambiguity are more likely to evoke negative emotional states and less likely to evoke positive emotional states, (2) that uncertainty under risk is less likely to evoke positive emotional states, and (3) that uncertainty heightens existing negative emotional states and dampens existing positive emotional states. Importantly, these IU-related findings remained when controlling for current experiences of general distress, anxious arousal, and anhedonic depression. Taken together, these findings suggest that IU is involved in evoking and modulating a wide array of emotional phenomena, which likely has relevance for transdiagnostic models and treatment plans for emotional disorders.

Checking behaviour has been described as a form of preventative behaviour used by an individual to establish control over the environment and avoid future misfortune. However, when compulsive, checking behaviours can become disabling and distressing and have been linked to the maintenance of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders. Despite this, there is limited literature across the field that has assessed the impact of dimensional measures of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features (i.e., negative affect, uncertainty, and perfectionism) in driving checking behaviour. As such, the present study examined the impact of individual differences in self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features on subjective, behavioural, and physiological indices during a visual discrimination and checking task (n = 87). Higher self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features were associated with higher subjective ratings of unpleasantness and the urge to check during the task. Moreover, higher self-reported anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features related to general negative affect, uncertainty, and perfectionism were associated with greater checking frequency during the task. Lastly, stronger obsessional beliefs about perfectionism and the need for certainty were found to predict poorer accuracy, slower reaction times, and higher engagement of the corrugator supercilii during the task. In sum, these findings demonstrate how different anxiety and obsessive-compulsive features, in particular perfectionism and the need for certainty, may relate to and maintain checking behaviour in low threat contexts, which likely has implications for models of excessive and persistent checking in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Heightened responding to uncertain threat is considered a hallmark of anxiety disorder pathology. We sought to determine whether individual differences in self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a key transdiagnostic dimension in anxiety-related pathology, underlies differential recruitment of neural circuitry during cue-signalled uncertainty of threat (n = 42). In an instructed threat of shock task, cues signalled uncertain threat of shock (50%) or certain safety from shock. Ratings of arousal and valence, skin conductance response (SCR), and functional magnetic resonance imaging were acquired. Overall, participants displayed greater ratings of arousal and negative valence, SCR, and amygdala activation to uncertain threat versus safe cues. IU was not associated with greater arousal ratings, SCR, or amygdala activation to uncertain threat versus safe cues. However, we found that high IU was associated with greater ratings of negative valence and greater activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial rostral prefrontal cortex to uncertain threat versus safe cues. These findings suggest that during cue-signalled uncertainty of threat, individuals high in IU rate uncertain threat as aversive and engage prefrontal cortical regions known to be involved in safety-signalling and conscious threat appraisal. Taken together, these findings highlight the potential of IU in modulating safety-signalling and conscious appraisal mechanisms in situations with cue-signalled uncertainty of threat, which may be relevant to models of anxiety-related pathology. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.3758/s13415-021-00932-7.

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with high levels of Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) have difficulty updating threat associations to safety associations. Notably, prior research has focused on measuring IU-related differences in threat and safety learning using arousal-based measures such as skin conductance response. Here we assessed whether IU-related differences in threat and safety learning could be captured using eye-tracking metrics linked with gaze behaviours such as dwelling and scanning. Participants (N = 144) completed self-report questionnaires assessing levels of IU and trait anxiety. Eye movements were then recorded during each conditioning phase: acquisition, extinction learning, and extinction retention. Fixation count and fixation duration served as indices of conditioned responding. Patterns of threat and safety learning typically reported for physiology and self-report were observed for the fixation count and fixation duration metrics during acquisition and to some extent in extinction learning, but not for extinction retention. There was little evidence for specific associations between IU and disrupted safety learning (e.g., greater differential responses to the threat vs. safe cues during extinction learning and retention). While there was tentative evidence that IU was associated with shorter fixation durations (e.g., scanning) to threat vs. safe cues during extinction retention, this effect did not remain after controlling for trait anxiety. IU and trait anxiety similarly predicted greater fixation count and shorter fixation durations overall during extinction learning, and greater fixation count overall during extinction retention. IU further predicted shorter fixation durations overall during extinction retention. However, the only IU-based effect that remained significant after controlling for trait anxiety was that of fixation duration overall during threat extinction learning. Our results inform models of anxiety, particularly in relation to how individual differences modulate gaze behaviour during threat conditioning.

Background. Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a transdiagnostic risk factor for an array of psychiatric disorders, and plays an important role in fear and threat learning. In concert, the ‘reinstatement of fear/threat’ is an understudied phenomenon thought to represent clinical symptom relapse, and occurs when unsignaled presentations of an aversive unconditional stimulus introduce uncertainty related to previously conditioned associations, leading to reinstatement of conditioned responding. The present study investigated IU as a predictor of reinstatement effects, such that individuals higher in IU would show larger reinstatement than those low in IU.Methods. Analyses were conducted on data from 62 participants who completed the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale and provided threat expectancy ratings (i.e. certainty of receiving a shock) during a differential threat conditioning and extinction paradigm with reinstatement. Results. Findings suggested a differential increase in threat expectancy ratings to both the threat and safety cue following reinstatement, although this effect was small and did not survive follow-up tests. Nevertheless, IU was a significant predictor of reinstatement to the threat cue but not the safety cue, although this effect was not in the expected direction. Specifically, higher IU was associated with reduced threat expectancy (i.e., certainty of receiving a shock) ratings post-reinstatement.Conclusions. These findings provide support for the limited literature demonstrating an important role for IU in reinstatement effects and should be investigated further.

Uncertainty-related distress is considered a hallmark of anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD). Previous research in community samples has demonstrated that individuals with high Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU), the tendency to find uncertainty aversive, display altered threat extinction learning and retention. Here, we conducted an exploratory secondary analysis of an existing dataset (Steinman et al., 2022) to examine the extent to which IU in a clinical sample with anxiety and OCD predicts threat extinction learning and retention. Participants with an anxiety disorder and/or OCD completed a differential threat learning task across two days. SCR was used as an index of conditioned responding. No significant effects of self-reported IU were observed for differential SCR during any of the experimental phases. However, higher self-reported IU, while controlling for trait anxiety, was specifically associated with greater SCR overall during same-day and next-day extinction training. Such findings provide preliminary evidence that higher IU within clinical samples with anxiety and/or OCD may be associated with heightened arousal under uncertainty, and highlight IU as a promising treatment target for anxiety and OCD.

Individuals who score high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) have a tendency to find uncertainty and the unknown aversive. However, there is a dearth of literature on the extent to which the known vs. the unknown during threatening contexts induce fear and anxiety in individuals with high IU. In the following registered report we attempted to address this question by manipulating the known and unknown in the threat of predictable and unpredictable aversive events task. Throughout the task, we measured a variety of self-report (ratings of valence and arousal) and physiological indices (skin conductance, pupil dilation, orbicularis oculi, corrugator supercilii). We collected data from 93 participants. Higher IU, relative to lower IU was associated with: (1) less discriminatory orbicularis oculi activity between cue and interstimulus interval periods across conditions, and (2) larger corrugator supercilii activity to the known predictable shock condition and smaller corrugator supercilii activity to the known unpredictable shock condition, compared to the other conditions. These findings provide evidence that IU-related biases manifest differently depending on the physiological marker of fear and anxiety and the type of known-unknown threat i.e. orbicularis oculi activity was related to generalisation across conditions, whilse corrugator supercilii activity reflected distress/relief during conditions with known threat. Ultimately, this research will inform future models of IU in relation to anxiety and stress disorders.

Background Difficulty updating threat associations to safe associations has been observed in individuals who score high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU). Here we sought to determine whether an instruction based on fundamental principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy could promote safety learning in individuals with higher levels of IU, whilst controlling for self-reported trait anxiety (STICSA). Methods We measured skin conductance response, pupil dilation and expectancy ratings during an associative threat learning task in which participants either received a cognitive behavioural instruction or no instruction prior to threat extinction (n = 92). Results Analyses revealed that both self-reported IU and STICSA similarly predicted differences in skin conductance response. Only individuals with lower IU/STICSA in the cognitive behavioural instruction condition displayed successful safety learning via skin conductance response. Conclusions These initial results provide some insight into how simple cognitive behavioural instructions combined with exposure are applied differently in individuals with varying levels of self-reported anxiety. The results further our understanding of the role of basic cognitive behavioural principles and self-reported anxiety in safety learning.

Individuals who score high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) tend to find uncertainty aversive. Prior research has demonstrated that under uncertainty individuals with high IU display difficulties in updating learned threat associations to safety associations. Importantly, recent research has shown that providing contingency instructions about threat and safety contingencies (i.e. reducing uncertainty) to individuals with high IU promotes the updating of learned threat associations to safety associations. Here we aimed to conceptually replicate IU and contingency instruction-based effects by conducting a secondary analysis of self-reported IU, ratings, skin conductance, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data recorded during uninstructed/instructed blocks of threat acquisition and threat extinction training (n = 48). Self-reported IU was not associated with differential responding to learned threat and safety cues for any measure during uninstructed/instructed blocks of threat acquisition and threat extinction training. There was some tentative evidence that higher IU was associated with greater ratings of unpleasantness and arousal to the safety cue after the experiment and greater skin conductance response to the safety cue during extinction generally. Potential explanations for these null effects and directions for future research are discussed.

Individuals who score high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) tend to find uncertainty unacceptable and aversive. In recent years, research has shed light on the role of IU in modulating subjective (i.e. expectancy ratings) and psychophysiological responses (i.e. skin conductance) across different classical fear conditioning procedures. In particular, during immediate extinction higher IU is associated with disrupted safety learning. However, there remain gaps in understanding how IU, in comparison to other negative emotionality traits (STAI-T), impact different types of subjective and psychophysiological measures during different classical fear conditioning procedures. In our exploratory study, we analyzed IU, STAI-T, subjective (i.e. fear ratings) and psychophysiological (i.e. skin conductance, auditory startle blink) data recorded during fear acquisition training and 24 h-delayed extinction training (n = 66). Higher IU, controlled for STAI-T, was: (1) significantly associated with greater fear ratings to the learned fear cue during fear acquisition training, and (2) at trend associated with greater fear ratings to the learned fear versus safe cue during delayed extinction training. Null results were observed for both IU and STAI-T in relation to skin conductance and auditory startle blink during fear acquisition training and delayed extinction training. These results add to and extend our current understanding of the role of IU on subjective and physiological measures during different fear conditioning procedures particularly that of subjective fear ratings during acquisition and delayed extinction training. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

Individuals with high self-reported Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) tend to interpret uncertainty negatively. Recent research has been inconclusive on evidence of an association between IU and physiological responses during instructed uncertain threat. To address this gap, we conducted secondary analyses of IU and physiology data recorded during instructed uncertain threat tasks from two lab sites (Wisconsin-Madison; n = 128; Yale, n = 95). No IU-related effects were observed for orbicularis oculi activity (auditory startle-reflex). Higher IU was associated with: (1) greater corrugator supercilii activity to predictable and unpredictable threat of shock, compared to the safety from shock, and (2) poorer discriminatory skin conductance response between the unpredictable threat of shock, relative to the safety from shock. These findings suggest that IU-related biases may be captured differently depending on the physiological measure during instructed uncertain threat. Implications of these findings for neurobiological models of uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety are discussed.

Uncertainty is often inevitable in everyday life and can be both stressful and exciting.\ud Given its relevance to psychopathology and wellbeing, recent research has begun to\ud address the brain basis of uncertainty. In the current review we examined whether\ud there are discrete and shared neural signatures for different uncertain contexts.\ud From the literature we identified three broad categories of uncertainty currently\ud empirically studied using functional MRI (fMRI): basic threat and reward uncertainty,\ud decision-making under uncertainty, and associative learning under uncertainty. We\ud examined the neural basis of each category by using a coordinate based metaanalysis, where brain activation foci from previously published fMRI experiments\ud were drawn together (1998-2017; 87 studies). The analyses revealed shared and\ud discrete patterns of neural activation for uncertainty, such as the insula and\ud amygdala, depending on the category. Such findings will have relevance for\ud researchers attempting to conceptualise uncertainty, as well as clinical researchers\ud examining the neural basis of uncertainty in relation to psychopathology.

Individuals, who score high in self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU), tend to find uncertainty anxiety-provoking. IU has been reliably associated with disrupted threat extinction. However, it is unclear whether IU would be related to disrupted extinction to other arousing stimuli that are not threatening (i.e., rewarding). We addressed this question by conducting a Pavlovian reward conditioning task with acquisition and extinction training phases (n = 58). In the Pavlovian reward conditioning task, we recorded liking ratings, skin conductance response (SCR), and corrugator supercilii activity (i.e., brow muscle indicative or negative and positive affect) to learned reward (CS+) and neutral (CS−) cues. Typical patterns of reward acquisition and extinction training were observed for liking ratings. There was evidence for conditioning in SCR during the extinction training phase but not the acquisition training phase. However, no evidence of conditioning in either the acquisition or extinction training phase was observed for the corrugator supercilii. IU was not related to any measures during the acquisition or extinction training phases. Taken together, these results suggest that the current Pavlovian reward conditioning task was not sufficient for eliciting a reliable conditioned reward response, and therefore, further research with optimized reward conditioning designs are required to test whether IU-related deficits occur during the extinction of reward.

Networks in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) that are important for executive function are also engaged in adaptive responding to negative events. These networks are particularly vulnerable to age-related structural atrophy and an associated loss of executive function, yet existing evidence suggests preserved emotion processing ability in aging. Using longitudinally acquired data from a battery of cognitive tasks, we defined a metric for the rate of decline of executive function. With this metric, we investigated relationships between changes in executive function and emotion reappraisal ability and brain structure, in older adults using functional and structural MRI. During task-based fMRI, participants were asked to cognitively reappraise negatively valenced images. We hypothesised one of two associations with decreasing executive function over time: 1) a decreased ability to reappraise reflected in decreased PFC and increased amygdala activation, or 2) a neural compensation mechanism characterised by increased PFC activation but no differential amygdala activation. Structurally, for a decreased reappraisal ability, we predicted a decrease in grey matter in PFC and/or a decrease of white matter integrity in amygdala-PFC pathways. Neither of the two hypotheses relating to brain function were completely supported, with the findings indicating a steeper decline in executive function associated with both increased PFC and increased left amygdala activity when reappraising negative stimuli. In addition, white matter integrity of the uncinate fasciculus, a primary white matter tract connecting the amygdala and ventromedial areas of PFC, was lower in those individuals who demonstrated a greater decrease in executive function. These findings highlight that when cognitive ability diminishes, active top-down emotional control is compromised.

Individuals who score high in self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) display difficulties updating threat associations to safe associations. Here we sought to determine whether individuals who score high in IU can learn and retain new safety associations if given more exposure. We recorded skin conductance response, pupil dilation and expectancy ratings during an associative threat learning task with acquisition, same-day extinction and next-day extinction phases. Participants (n = 144) were assigned to either a regular exposure (32 trials of same-day and next-day extinction) or extended exposure condition (48 trials of same-day and next-day extinction). We failed to replicate previous work showing that IU is associated with poorer safety-learning indexed via SCR, although the results were at trend and in the expected direction. We found preliminary evidence for promoted safety-retention in individuals with higher Inhibitory IU in the extended exposure condition, relative to individuals with higher Inhibitory IU in the regular exposure condition, indexed via SCR. These findings further our current understanding of the role of IU in safety-learning and -retention, informing models of IU and exposure-based treatments.

Heightened responding to uncertain threat is considered a hallmark of anxiety disorder pathology. Here, we sought to determine if individual differences in self-reported intolerance of uncertainty (IU), a key transdiagnostic dimension in anxiety-related pathology, underlies differential recruitment of neural circuitry during instructed outcome uncertainty of threat (n = 42). In an instructed threat of shock task, cues signalled uncertain threat of shock (50%) or certain safety from shock outcomes. Ratings of arousal and valence, skin conductance response (SCR) and functional magnetic resonance imaging were acquired. Overall, participants displayed greater ratings of arousal and negative valence, SCR, and amygdala activation to uncertain threat vs. safe cues. IU was not associated with greater arousal ratings, SCR or amygdala activation to uncertain threat vs. safe cues. However, we found that high IU was associated with greater ratings of negative valence and greater activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial rostral prefrontal cortex to uncertain threat vs safe cues. These findings suggest that during instructed outcome uncertainty of threat, individuals high in IU rate uncertain threat as aversive and engage prefrontal cortical regions known to be involved in safety-signalling and conscious threat appraisal. Taken together, these findings highlight the potential of IU in modulating safety-signalling and conscious appraisal mechanisms in situations with instructed outcome uncertainty of threat, which may be relevant to models of anxiety-related pathology.

Extinction-resistant threat is regarded as a central hallmark of pathological anxiety. However, it remains relatively under-studied in social anxiety. Here we sought to determine whether self-reported trait social anxiety is associated with compromised threat extinction learning and retention. We tested this hypothesis within two separate, socially relevant conditioning studies. In the first experiment, a Selective Extinction Through Cognitive Evaluation (SECE) paradigm was used, which included a cognitive component during the extinction phase, while experiment 2 used a traditional threat extinction paradigm. Skin conductance responses and subjective ratings of anxiety (experiment 1 and 2) and expectancy (experiment 2) were collected across both experiments. The findings of both studies demonstrated no effect of social anxiety on extinction learning or retention. Instead, results from experiment 1 indicated that individual differences in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) were associated with the ability to use contextual cues to decrease a conditioned response during SECE. However, during extinction retention, high IU predicted greater generalisation across context cues. Findings of experiment 2 revealed that higher IU was associated with impaired extinction learning and retention. The results from both studies suggest that compromised threat extinction is likely to be a characteristic of high levels of IU and not social anxiety.

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a transdiagnostic risk factor for internalizing disorders. Prior work has found that IU may be associated with either increased reactivity to threat or, alternatively, with decreased differential responding between threat and nonthreat/safety cues (i.e., threat generalization). For example, work by Morriss, Macdonald, & van Reekum (2016) found that higher IU was associated with increased threat generalization during acquisition (using skin conductance response (SCR)), as well as less differentiation between acquisition and extinction (using subjective uneasiness ratings). Here, three labs attempted direct and conceptual replications of Morriss, Macdonald, et al. (2016). Results showed that the direct replication failed, despite being conducted at the same lab site as the original study; moreover, in contrast to Morriss, Macdonald, et al. (2016), the direct replication found that higher IU was associated with greater SCR discrimination between threat and safety cues (across acquisition and extinction), as well as greater differences in uneasiness ratings between acquisition and extinction. Nonetheless, in the conceptual replications, higher IU was associated with greater threat generalization, as well as less discrimination between acquisition and extinction, as measured using SCR. Higher IU was also associated with larger late positive potentials to threat versus safety cues during extinction—results that mirror those observed by Morriss, Macdonald, et al. (2016) using SCR. Results are discussed with regards to the challenge involved in defining a successful replication attempt, the benefits of collaborative replication and the use and reliability of multiple measures.

Individuals who score high in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) display reduced threat extinction. Recently, it was shown that replacing threat associations with novel associations during extinction learning (i.e., presenting a novel tone 100% of the time) can promote threat extinction retention in individuals with high IU. This novelty facilitated extinction (NFE) effect could be driven by the tone's novelty or reliability. Here, we sought to address this question by adjusting the reliability of the novel tone (i.e., the reinforcement rate) during NFE. We measured skin conductance response during an associative learning task in which participants (n = 92) were assigned to one of three experimental groups: standard extinction, NFE 100% reinforcement, or NFE 50% reinforcement. For standard extinction, compared to NFE 100% and 50% reinforcement groups, we observed a trend for greater recovery of the conditioned response during extinction retention. Individuals with high IU relative to low IU in the standard extinction group demonstrated a larger recovery of the conditioned response during extinction retention. These findings tentatively suggest that NFE effects are driven by the novelty rather than the reliability of the new stimulus. The implications of these findings for translational and clinical research in anxiety disorder pathology are discussed.

The ability to update responding to threat cues is an important adaptive ability. Recently, Morriss et al. (2019) demonstrated that participants scoring high in Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) were more capable of threat reversal. The current report aimed to conceptually replicate these results of Morriss et al. (2019) in an independent sample using a comparable paradigm (n = 102). Following a threat conditioning phase, participants were told that cues associated with threat and safety from electric shock would reverse. Responding was measured with skin conductance and fear potentiated startle. We failed to conceptually replicate the results of Morriss et al. (2019). Instead, we found that, for participants who received precise contingency instructions prior to acquisition, lower IUS (controlling for STAI-T) relative to higher IUS was associated with greater threat reversal, indexed via skin conductance responses. These results suggest that IU and contingency instructions differentially modulate the course of threat reversal.

Pervasive avoidance behaviour is a core feature of anxiety disorders. However, little is known about how the availability of avoidance modulates learned threat responding. To assess this question, we recorded avoidance behaviour, electrodermal activity and expectancy ratings in 53 healthy participants during an associative learning paradigm with embedded unavoidable and avoidable trials. When avoidance was available, we observed greater avoidance behaviour for threat versus safety cues, as well as reduced differential skin conductance responses for unavoidable threat versus safety cues. When avoidance was unavailable, as during the extinction phase, we observed sustained differential skin conductance responses for threat versus safety cues. For all phases, we found greater expectancy ratings for threat versus safe cues. Furthermore, greater avoidance behaviour predicted larger differential skin conductance responses to threat versus safety cues during extinction. Overall, the results show that the conditioned response is attenuated during situations where avoidance is available, but it recovers when avoidance is unavailable, subsequently prolonging threat extinction.

Previous research in rodents and humans points to an evolutionarily conserved profile of blunted threat extinction learning during adolescence, underpinned by brain structures such as the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In this study, we examine age-related effects on the function and structural connectivity of this system in threat extinction learning in adolescence and young adulthood. Younger age was associated with greater amygdala activity and later engagement of the mPFC to learned threat cues as compared to safety cues. Furthermore, greater structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus, a white matter tract that connects the amygdala and mPFC, mediated the relationship between age and mPFC engagement during extinction learning. These findings suggest that age-related changes in the structure and function of amygdala-mPFC circuitry may underlie the protracted maturation of threat regulatory processes.

Extinction-resistant threat is considered to be a central feature of pathological anxiety. Reduced threat extinction is observed in individuals with high intolerance of uncertainty (IU). Here we sought to determine whether contingency instructions could alter the course of threat extinction for individuals high in IU. We tested this hypothesis in two identical experiments (Exp 1 n = 60, Exp 2 n = 82) where we recorded electrodermal activity during threat acquisition with partial reinforcement, and extinction. Participants were split into groups based on extinction instructions (instructed, uninstructed) and IU score (low, high). All groups displayed larger skin conductance responses to learned threat versus safety cues during threat acquisition, indicative of threat conditioning. In both experiments, only the uninstructed high IU groups displayed larger skin conductance responses to the learned threat versus safety cue during threat extinction. These findings suggest that uncertain threat during extinction maintains conditioned responding in individuals high in IU.

Heightened physiological responses to uncertainty are a common hallmark of anxiety disorders. Many separate studies have examined the relationship between individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and physiological responses to uncertainty during different contexts. Despite this, there is a scarcity of research examining the extent to which individual differences in IU are related to shared or discrete patterns of anticipatory physiological responding across different contexts. Anticipatory physiological responses to uncertainty were assessed in three different contexts (associative threat learning and extinction, threat uncertainty, decision-making) within the same sample (n = 45). During these tasks, behavioral responses (i.e., reaction times, choices), skin conductance, and corrugator supercilli activity were recorded. In addition, self-reported IU and trait anxiety were measured. IU was related to both skin conductance and corrugator supercilii activity for the associative threat learning and extinction context and decision-making context. However, trait anxiety was related to corrugator supercilii activity during the threat uncertainty context. Ultimately, this research helps us to further tease apart the role of IU on different aspects of anticipation (i.e., valence and arousal) across contexts, which will be relevant for future IU-related models of psychopathology.

Recent evidence suggests that individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IUS) are associated with disrupted threat extinction. However, it is unknown what maintains the learned threat association in high IUS individuals: is it the experienced uncertainty during extinction or the combination of experienced uncertainty with potential threat during extinction? Here we addressed this question by running two independent experiments with uncertain auditory stimuli that varied in threat level (Experiment 1, aversive human scream (n = 30); Experiment 2, neutral tone (n = 47) and mildly aversive tone (n = 49)). During the experiments, we recorded skin conductance responses and subjective ratings to the learned cues during acquisition and extinction. In experiment 1, high IUS was associated with heightened skin conductance responding to the learned threat vs. safe cue during extinction. In experiment 2, high IUS was associated only with larger skin conductance responding to the learned cues with more threatening properties during extinction i.e. mildly aversive tone. These findings suggest that uncertainty in combination with threat, even when mild, disrupts extinction in high IUS individuals. Such findings help us understand the link between IUS and threat extinction, and its relevance to anxiety disorder pathology.

Heightened physiological responses to uncertainty are a common hallmark of anxiety disorders. Many separate studies have examined the relationship between individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and physiological responses to uncertainty during different contexts. Despite this, little is known about the extent to which physiological responses during different uncertain contexts covary within individuals based on IU. Anticipatory physiological responses to uncertainty were assessed in three different contexts (associative threat learning, basic threat uncertainty, decision-making) within the same sample (n = 45). During these tasks, behavioural responses (i.e. reaction times, choices), skin conductance and corrugator supercilli activity were recorded. In addition, self-reported IU and trait anxiety were measured. IU made different contributions to the physiological measures during each task. IU was found to modulate both skin conductance and corrugator supercilii activity for the associative threat learning and decision-making contexts. However, trait anxiety was found to modulate corrugator supercilii activity during the basic threat uncertainty context. Ultimately, this research helps us further tease apart the role of IU in different uncertain contexts, which will be relevant for future IU-related models of psychopathology.

Background and objectives Self-reported Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is the tendency to find uncertainty aversive. There is a lack of empirical research on how IU modulates anticipatory responding during threatening contexts with different parameters of uncertainty. Methods Exploratory secondary analyses were conducted on an existing data set (n = 45) to examine whether IU is related to a particular parameter of uncertainty during instructed threat of shock (i.e. certain shock, certain safety from shock, outcome uncertainty of shock, temporal uncertainty of shock). Results Analyses revealed that IU was associated with larger auditory startle blink during the anticipatory period for the certain safety from shock condition relative to the certain shock condition. Limitations The sample was relatively small. Conclusions Individuals with higher self-reported IU may be more inclined to generalize threat to safety cues in the context of instructed threat of shock.

Emotional reactivity and recovery are crucial for maintaining well-being. It remains unknown, however, to what extent emotion modulates the time course of recovery assessed using a simple categorization task and how this varies based on individual differences in worry. To address these questions, 35 participants viewed emotional pictures, followed by abstract greeble targets, which were to be categorized. Greebles were presented between 100 ms and 4,000 ms after picture offset. Physiological measures including skin conductance level and the corrugator supercilii were recorded and served as indicators of responsivity to emotional pictures. Measures of reaction time (RT) and accuracy scores were taken as indicators of the impact of emotion on facilitation or interference to the greeble target. Effects of interference and facilitation were observed up to 4,000 ms after emotional pictures on RT and accuracy scores. High worry was associated with greater (1) corrugator supercilii and skin conductance level to negative versus positive and neutral pictures and (2) interference from emotional pictures on accuracy scores. Overall, these findings suggest that subsequent processing is still impacted up to 4,000 ms after the offset of emotional pictures, particularly for negative events in individuals with high worry.

Recent evidence suggests that individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU) are associated with disrupted threat extinction. However, it is unknown what maintains the learned threat association in high IU individuals: is it the experienced uncertainty during extinction or the combination of experienced uncertainty with potential threat during extinction? Here we addressed this question by running two independent experiments with uncertain auditory stimuli that varied in threat level (Experiment 1, aversive human scream (n = 30); Experiment 2, benign tone (n = 47) and mildly aversive tone (n = 49)). During the experiments, we recorded skin conductance responses and subjective ratings to the learned cues during acquisition and extinction. In experiment 1, high IU was associated with heightened skin conductance responding to the learned threat vs. safe cue during extinction. In experiment 2, high IU was associated only with larger skin conductance responding to the learned cues with threatening properties during extinction i.e. mildly aversive tone. These findings suggest that uncertainty in combination with threat, even when mild, disrupts extinction in high IU individuals. Such findings help us understand the link between IU and threat extinction, and its relevance to anxiety disorder pathology.

Extinction-resistant threat is considered to be a central feature of pathological anxiety. Reduced threat extinction is observed in individuals with high intolerance of uncertainty (IU). Here we sought to determine whether contingency instructions could alter the course threat extinction for individuals high in IU. We tested this hypothesis in two identical experiments (Exp 1 n = 60, Exp 2 n = 82) where we recorded electrodermal activity during threat acquisition with partial reinforcement, and extinction. Participants were split into groups based on extinction instructions (instructed, uninstructed) and IU score (low, high). All groups displayed larger skin conductance responses to learned threat versus safety cues during threat acquisition, indicative of threat conditioning. In both experiments, only the uninstructed high IU groups displayed larger skin conductance responses to the learned threat versus safety cue during threat extinction. These findings suggest that uncertain threat during extinction maintains conditioned responding in individuals high in IU.

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is associated with difficulty in updating contingencies from threatening to safe during extinction learning. However, it is unknown whether high IU individuals have difficulty (1) generally with updating threat to safe associations when contingencies change or (2) specifically with updating threat to safe associations during extinction learning, where direct threat is omitted. To address this question, we recorded IU, expectancy ratings, and skin conductance in 44 healthy participants during an associative learning paradigm, where threat and safety contingencies were reversed. During acquisition and reversal, we observed larger skin conductance response (SCR) magnitude and expectancy ratings for threat versus safety cues. However, during reversal, higher IU was associated with larger SCR magnitude to new threat versus new safety cues, compared with lower IU. These results were specific to IU-related variance, over shared variance with trait anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Trait Version). Overall, these findings suggest that individuals high in IU are able to reverse threat and safety associations in the presence of direct threat. Such findings help us understand the recently revealed link between IU and threat extinction, where direct threat is absent. Moreover, these findings highlight the potential relevance of IU in clinical intervention and treatment for anxiety disorders.

Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is a dispositional tendency to find uncertain situations aversive. There is limited understanding as to how IU may bias attention to uncertainty in the absence of direct threat. Here we examined the extent to which uncertain distractors and individual differences in IU impacted eye-movements during an attentional capture task. Participants were asked to move their eyes towards a target, whilst ignoring an array of distractors. An additional distractor could appear before or after the target in a near or far location from the target. We observed high IU individuals to display fewer first saccades to the target in all conditions. The results were specific to IU, over trait anxiety. Overall, these results suggest that IU modulates attention to uncertainty in the absence of direct threat. Such findings inform the conceptualisation of IU and its relation to psychopathology.

Previous research in rodents and humans points to an evolutionarily conserved profile of blunted fear extinction during adolescence, underpinned by brain structures such as the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In this study, we examine age-related effects on the function and structural connectivity of this system in fear extinction in adolescence and young adulthood. Younger age was associated with greater amygdala activity and delayed mPFC engagement to learned threat cues as compared to safety cues. Furthermore, greater structural integrity of the uncinate fasciculus, a white matter tract that connects the amygdala and mPFC, mediated the relationship between age and acceleration of mPFC engagement during extinction. These findings suggest that age-related changes in the structure and function of amygdala-mPFC circuitry may underlie the protracted maturation of fear regulatory processes, rendering younger individuals more vulnerable to anxiety disorders, which emerge during development.

The recent meta-analysis by Fullana et al. (2018) is both timely and significant, providing a vital milestone towards understanding the neural networks involved in threat extinction in humans. Fullana et al. (2018) examined both threat extinction and recall separately using sophisticated meta-analytic methods based on raw contrast maps. Importantly, the meta-analysis highlighted a lack of consistent activation across studies for key neural "players" in the threat extinction circuit: the amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). In the current commentary, we highlight reasons for which this key circuitry may not have resulted from this meta-analysis, and call for a 'gold standard' in the examination of threat extinction using fMRI.

Attentional bias to uncertain threat is associated with anxiety disorders. Here we examine the extent to which emotional face distractors (happy, angry and neutral) and individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty (IU), impact saccades in two versions of the "follow a cross" task. In both versions of the follow the cross task, the probability of receiving an emotional face distractor was 66.7%. To increase perceived uncertainty regarding the location of the face distractors, in one of the tasks additional non-predictive cues were presented before the onset of the face distractors and target. We did not find IU to impact saccades towards non-cued face distractors. However, we found IU, over Trait Anxiety, to impact saccades towards non-predictive cueing of face distractors. Under these conditions, IU individuals' eyes were pulled towards angry face distractors and away from happy face distractors overall, and the speed of this deviation of the eyes was determined by the combination of the cue and emotion of the face. Overall, these results suggest a specific role of IU on attentional bias to threat during uncertainty. These findings highlight the potential of intolerance of uncertainty-based mechanisms to help understand anxiety disorder pathology and inform potential treatment targets.

Arousing stimuli, either threat-related or pleasant, may be selected for priority at different stages within the processing stream. Here we examine the pattern of processing for non-task-relevant threatening (spiders: arousing to some) and pleasant stimuli (babies or chocolate: arousing to all) by recording the gaze of a spider Fearful and Non-fearful group while they performed a simple "follow the cross" task. There was no difference in first saccade latencies. Saccade trajectories showed a general hypervigilance for all stimuli in the Fearful group. Saccade landing positions corresponded to what each group would find arousing, such that the Fearful group deviated towards both types of images whereas the Non-fearful group deviated towards pleasant images. Secondary corrective saccade latencies away from threat-related stimuli were longer for the Fearful group (difficulty in disengaging) compared with the Non-fearful group. These results suggest that attentional biases towards arousing stimuli may occur at different processing stages.