Fear Conditioning Using Computer-Generated Virtual Reality

Fear conditioning paradigms are tools to explore symptoms of anxiety disorders. During fear
conditioning, the organism develops fear to the phasic explicit cue (e.g., a light) that was
associated with the aversive unconditioned stimulus (e.g., a shock) during conditioning as
well as to the environmental context (e.g., the experimental room). Explicit cue
conditioning and context conditioning are separate processes mediated by distinct brain
structures. Whereas explicit cue conditioning is only dependent on the amygdala, context
conditioning involves the amygdala, the hippocampus and the bed nucleus of the stria
terminalis (BNST). We have been using explicit cue and context conditioning as models of
phasic fear and sustained anxiety, respectively. However, contextual fear is relatively
difficult to study in humans in the laboratory because it requires two experimental sessions
and the use of different experimental rooms. Advances in computer-generated visual
stimulation now offer the possibility to develop more sophisticated paradigms in the
laboratory that could facilitate the design of fear conditioning studies. In addition,
compared to traditional paradigms, computer generated three-dimensional stimulation provides
the opportunity to create more realistic virtual environment. The main objective of this
study is to use virtual reality to further our understanding of fear conditioning in humans.