TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - Sustained threat and phasic fear in the laboratory and cognitive-emotional processes of anxiety in everyday life - an ambulatory assessment study
JO  - International journal of psychophysiology
A1  - Zänkert, Sandra
A1  - Lindl, Alfred
A1  - Schmitz, Anja
A1  - Kudielka, Brigitte M.
A1  - Mühlberger, Andreas
A1  - Wüst, Stefan
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - Fear is a phasic state of apprehension to an imminent threat, whereas anxiety is a more sustained state of expecting a potential threat leading to tension and worry. The NPU-threat test is a laboratory startle paradigm allowing a reliable and valid assessment of both, fear- and anxiety-potentiated reactions. It is suggested to differentiate between anxiety disorders, but little is known on associations with everyday life experiences of cognitive-emotional processes regarding anxiety in non-clinical samples. In the present project, the NPU-threat test was applied in three studies with (1) unselected healthy individuals, (2) participants with extreme manifestations of trait anxiety (low vs. high) and (3) individuals preparing for a high-stakes exam. Self-reported states of emotionality and worry were assessed during a four-day ambulatory assessment (AA). Overall, NPU-threat test measures did not significantly differ between studies, while the AA dependent measures were sufficiently sensitive to capture differences between groups. However, there was no significant association between psychophysiological measures of the NPU-threat test and AA state measures across participants. In participants recruited for low vs. high trait anxiety we found an association with AA worry and emotionality, but no interaction with potentiated startle. The present findings do not support the idea of a link between our laboratory biomarker and adaptive regulation of cognitive-emotional states in everyday life in healthy individuals. We speculate that an association between laboratory physiological measures and everyday experience of anxious states may be detectable in clinical samples.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0167-8760
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.02.009
ID  - ref1
ER  -