Intolerance of Uncertainty and the Physiological Correlates of Anticipation and Appraisal of Affective Stimuli
Date
2021Metadata
[+] Show full item recordAbstract
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is an important transdiagnostic construct found across many psychiatric conditions. This construct is thought to reflect a general tendency to interpret uncertainty as overly aversive, and often results in individuals engaging in atypical cognitive, behavioral, and affective processes. While the effects of IU are well documented in clinical contexts, the ability to capture and assess these abnormalities through the use of physiological measures in laboratory settings remains limited. Better understanding the association between IU and physiological measures is important, as it may speak to the underlying mechanisms responsible for what is overtly observed in clinical settings. In order to better understand the effect IU on emotional processes, the current study relied on an S1-S2 image viewing paradigm were S1 cues were manipulated to either provide information about the S2 image valence, or to provide no information about the S2 image valence. Cue-related stimulus-preceding negativity (SPN) and image-related late positive potential (LPP) were captured and assessed as measures of emotional anticipation and emotional reactivity, respectively. Self-reported arousal and valence ratings following image presentation were also captured to provide additional support of the physiological data. Data were compared between High- and Low-IU individuals. Results reveal that High- compared to Low-IU individuals exhibited greater emotional anticipation, as reflected by SPN, for certain affective cue conditions, as well as the uncertain cue condition. Between-group analyses for LPP data failed to reveal an effect of IU-group, but did reveal important trends revealing greater emotional reactivity for uncertain relative to certain conditions, and negative relative positive content; further discussion of these contrasts are provided in this document. Lastly, self-reported valence rating demonstrate that the effect of uncertainty is specific to negative images, with greater negativity reported for uncertain-negative compared to certain-negative images, and no observed differences of positive image conditions. Self-reported arousal ratings largely demonstrate greater arousal for affective relative to neutral, negative relative to positive, and certain relative to uncertain conditions; further discussion of these contrasts are provided in the document. Implications of these findings in the context of existing literature, as well as limitations and future directions are discussed.
Table of Contents
Review of literature -- Methodology -- Results -- Discussion -- Appendix A. Expanded review of the literature -- Appendix B. Expanded methods and measures collected but not analyzed -- Appendix C.Impact of SARS-COV-2 and the COVID-19 Pandemic: considerations and limitations of the current project -- Appendix D. Self-report measures for the current study -- Appendix E.List of IAPS images
Degree
Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)