Does childhood stress make us more prone to rigid habits?

What are the two most common sources of early-life stress (ELS) mentioned in the paper?

Childhood abuse and neglect.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

How does the paper define stimulus-response habits?

Instrumental behaviors that are automatically elicited by stimuli in whose presence they have been repeatedly performed, regardless of the outcome value.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

In animal studies, how is habitual behavior typically demonstrated through lever-pressing?

By showing that an overtrained animal continues to press a lever for food even after the food reward has been devalued.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

Which task is frequently used to study human habits by requiring participants to classify stimuli based on feedback?

The probabilistic classification task.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

According to the paper, what effect does experimentally induced stress have on habit learning in probabilistic classification tasks?

It biases the competition between the declarative memory system and the habit learning system in favor of habit learning.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What biological mediators are likely responsible for the stress-induced shift from goal-directed to habitual behavior?

Stress hormones.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What developmental evidence in humans suggests that the effects of prenatal stress on habits can persist into adulthood?

Adults whose mothers reported being exposed to stress prenatally showed increased habitual behavior in a maze navigation task.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

How does the amount of training influence the transition from goal-directed behavior to habitual behavior?

Limited training keeps behavior goal-directed (sensitive to devaluation), while extended training makes behavior habitual (insensitive to devaluation).

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What effect does distraction from a secondary task have during a probabilistic classification task?

It biases competition in favor of the habit learning system over the declarative memory system.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

Why have most studies on stimulus-response habits historically focused on appetitive rather than avoidant habits?

Because methods for evaluating habit formation through appetitive devaluation (such as taste aversion or selective satiation) are well established.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

In the shock avoidance task developed by Gillan et al., how was an aversive outcome devalued?

By disconnecting one of the electrodes while leaving the other connected, making shock avoidance responses on that side unnecessary.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What was the primary hypothesis of this study?

Individuals who reported a history of early-life stress (ELS) would show enhanced avoidance habits.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What were the two secondary hypotheses of this study regarding training and distraction?

Greater training prior to devaluation would enhance avoidance habits, and learning in the presence of distraction would enhance avoidance habits.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

In Experiment 1, how did the researchers adapt the shock avoidance task to make it easier to implement in a laboratory computer setting?

They used a noise avoidance task where participants avoided hearing an aversive noise (a female scream) instead of receiving an electric shock.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What sample size of participants was analyzed in Experiment 1 after exclusions, and what was their recruitment source?

189 undergraduate students from the Psychology Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

In Experiment 1, what were the exact parameters of the aversive audio outcome used as a negative reinforcer?

A female scream audio file, 1 second long, playing at a volume of 82 dB.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

How was the training duration manipulated between subjects in Experiment 1?

Participants in the short training condition completed 120 trials, while participants in the long training condition completed 600 trials.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

How was the devaluation of the noise outcome instructed to participants in Experiment 1?

Participants were told to remove one of the earphones and informed that it was no longer necessary to respond to avoid noise in that ear.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

How was the dependent variable of interest measured during the post-devaluation habit test?

It was measured by whether the participant persisted in making the keyboard response associated with avoiding noise to the removed earphone.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

Which self-report questionnaire was used to assess stress exposure during the first 16 years of life?

The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire – Short Form (CTQ-SF).

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

Besides the CTQ-SF, what other psychological constructs were assessed using questionnaires after the computer task?

State and trait anxiety (STAI), depressive symptoms (BDI-II), and perceived stress over the past month (PSS).

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

Why did the researchers bin participants' responses into binary categories (no habitual behavior vs. habitual behavior) for the regression analysis?

Due to a bimodal distribution where participants either made very few responses or responded on the majority of devalued trials.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

How did the high-ELS group differ from the low-ELS group on baseline clinical questionnaires in Experiment 1?

The high-ELS group showed significantly higher levels of state anxiety, trait anxiety, depression, and perceived stress.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

Did low-ELS and high-ELS participants differ in their training phase performance (accuracy and false alarm rates) in Experiment 1?

No, training accuracy and safe stimulus false alarm rates did not differ significantly between ELS levels or training lengths.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

What percentage of participants responded to the valued stimulus during the post-devaluation habit test in Experiment 1?

100% of participants, with an average response rate of 90.69%.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

What was the main finding regarding early-life stress (ELS) and habitual responding in Experiment 1?

ELS was a significant positive predictor of habitual responding, with a 1-point increase in CTQ-SF score associated with an 8.3% increase in expected odds of habitual behavior.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

Did the length of training (120 vs. 600 trials) predict habitual responding in Experiment 1?

No, level of training was not a significant predictor of habitual responding.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

What were the two main goals of conducting Experiment 2?

To replicate the ELS effect observed in Experiment 1 and to test whether learning under distraction enhances habitual responding.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

How was distraction manipulated during the training phase of Experiment 2?

Within-subjects, by having participants perform a secondary cat-counting task during alternate blocks of 30 trials.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What protocol adjustments were made in Experiment 2 to optimize habit detection based on hand dominance?

Participants were screened for right-hand dominance, and all of them had their right earphone removed during devaluation to test habit in the dominant hand.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

How did the distraction manipulation affect response accuracy during the training phase of Experiment 2?

Training accuracy was significantly lower in the dual-task (distraction) blocks than in the single-task blocks.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI

Did Experiment 2 successfully replicate the effect of early-life stress (ELS) on avoidance habits?

Yes, ELS remained a significantly positive predictor of habitual responding, with a 1-point increase in CTQ-SF raising the odds of habitual behavior by 6.6%.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

Which other adult psychological factors predicted habitual responding in Experiment 2?

Higher levels of state anxiety (STAI) and higher levels of perceived stress over the past month (PSS).

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What neurobiological mechanism does the paper propose to explain why early-life stress promotes habitual over goal-directed behavior?

Stress causes atrophy in brain areas supporting goal-directed action (PFC, dorsomedial striatum, hippocampus) while sparing or hypertrophying the habit-supporting dorsolateral striatum.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified

What is a major limitation of this study's sample that may affect the generalizability of its findings?

The sample was recruited from a college population, which may represent individuals who are highly functioning and unusually resilient to stress.

Source: Enhanced Avoidance Habits in Relation to History of Early-Life Stress · DOI · quote verified