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Fearful Faces and the Derived Transfer of Aversive Functions

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Abstract

Studies suggest that fear-related responses might be acquired through the facial expressions of other individuals. The present study aimed to investigate the derived transfer of aversive functions in equivalence classes comprised of facial expressions of fear and happiness. A delayed matching-to-sample task established two equivalence classes between facial expressions of emotions and nonsense abstract stimuli: B1-A1(Fear)-C1-D1; B2-A2(Happiness)-C2-D2. After relational training (AB, AC, CD) and equivalence tests (BD, DB), the transfer of function from the faces to the D stimuli was evaluated by means of (1) a semantic differential, (2) an avoidance task, (3) US expectancy scale, and (4) valence scale. Results from the semantic differential indicated that D1 and D2 had negative and positive evaluations, respectively. Fear related measures indicated that D1 (equivalent to fear) evoked avoidance responses, was highly rated on US expectancy and was negatively valenced; in comparison, D2 (equivalent to happy) did not evoke either avoidance or US expectancy and was positively valenced. These findings indicate that the participation of fearful faces in equivalence classes leads to derived fear, including derived avoidance responses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Paradigma – Centro de Ciências e Tecnologia do Comportamento, Rua Wanderley, 611, Perdizes, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    William F. Perez, Lúcia C. C. S. Soares, Tainá F. L. Wang, Thaís E. D. G. de Morais & André V. Mascarenhas

  2. Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia sobre Comportamento, Cognição e Ensino (INCT-ECCE) https://inctecce.com.br/en/

    William F. Perez, João Henrique de Almeida & Julio C. de Rose

  3. Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, Brazil

    João Henrique de Almeida & Julio C. de Rose

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  1. William F. Perez
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  2. João Henrique de Almeida
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Correspondence to William F. Perez.

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The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.

Funding

The present research was supported by means of a research funding from the São Paulo Research Foundation on behalf of William F. Perez (FAPESP 2016/05935-6). The second author was supported by a post-doc fellowship from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP 2017/10037-0). Preparation of the manuscript was supported by grants from the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq, Grants 573972/2008-7 and 465686/2014-1) and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Grant 2014/50909-8), for Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia sobre Comportamento, Cognição e Ensino (INCT-ECCE), chaired by Deisy G. de Souza (UFSCar).

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The research is approved by the Brazilian platform for ethical committees (Plataforma Brasil, CAAE # 54489116.4.0000.5504).

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Perez, W.F., de Almeida, J.H., Soares, L.C.C.S. et al. Fearful Faces and the Derived Transfer of Aversive Functions. Psychol Rec 70, 387–396 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00390-6

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