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Assessment of social transmission of threats in humans using observational fear conditioning

Nature Protocols volume 12, pages 1378–1386 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Across the human life span, fear is often acquired indirectly by observation of the emotional expressions of others. The observational fear conditioning protocol was previously developed as a laboratory model for investigating socially acquired threat responses. This protocol serves as a suitable alternative to the widely used Pavlovian fear conditioning, in which threat responses are acquired through direct experiences. In the observational fear conditioning protocol, the participant (observer) watches a demonstrator being presented with a conditioned stimulus (CS) paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). The expression of threat learning is measured as the conditioned response (CR) expressed by the observer in the absence of the demonstrator. CRs are commonly measured as skin conductance responses, but behavioral and neural measures have also been implemented. The experimental procedure is suitable for divergent populations, can be administered by a graduate student and takes ∼40 min. Similar protocols are used in animals, emphasizing its value as a translational tool for studying socioemotional learning.

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Figure 1: Design and outcome measures of the observational fear conditioning protocol.
Figure 2: Prototypical SCRs.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the European Research Council (Independent Starting Grant 284366; Emotional Learning in Social Interaction to A.O.), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW 2014.0237 to A.O.), the German Research Foundation (Research Stipend HA 7470/1-1 to J.H.) and the Swedish Research Council (2015-00312 to A.G.).

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  1. Jan Haaker, Armita Golkar and Ida Selbing: These authors contributed equally to this work.

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  1. Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Jan Haaker, Armita Golkar, Ida Selbing & Andreas Olsson

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  1. Jan Haaker
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Contributions

A.O. developed the original version of the observational fear conditioning protocol. A.G., I.S. and A.O. developed the current protocol, and all authors contributed to paradigm modifications. J.H. drafted the manuscript and all authors commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Andreas Olsson.

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Haaker, J., Golkar, A., Selbing, I. et al. Assessment of social transmission of threats in humans using observational fear conditioning. Nat Protoc 12, 1378–1386 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2017.027

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