Date created: | Last Updated:

Category: Uncategorized

Description: Typicality asymmetry in generalization refers to the differences in generalization breadth when trained with typical or atypical exemplars. Typical exemplars are great representatives of their category, for instance, cow as a mammal, whereas atypical exemplars are less representative of their category, for instance, bat as a mammal. Preliminary evidence has shown that participants trained with typical exemplars exhibited enhanced fear generalization, whereas participants trained with atypical exemplars exhibited limited fear generalization (Dunsmoor, & Murphy, 2014; Wong, & Beckers, 2021), thus amounting to typicality asymmetry in generalization. Furthermore, research showed that high trait anxious individuals showed reduced typicality asymmetry in fear generalization. This pattern was presumably due to high threat ambiguity during training when trained with atypical exemplars. It is, however, unknown whether typicality asymmetry would be observed in safety behavior generalization, and whether this effect would be attenuated in individuals at risk of developing anxiety-related disorders. To this end, the research aim of the current study is two-fold: first, we examine whether participants trained with typical exemplars exhibit greater safety behavior generalization compared to those trained with atypical exemplars. Second, we examine whether this effect will be reduced in individuals high in trait anxiety or high in intolerance of uncertainty.