Anxiety disorders are the most common mental disorders and are often chronic and
disabling. Although exposure-based treatments are effective, a substantial number of …

Fear generalization, in which conditioned fear responses generalize or spread to related
stimuli, is a defining feature of anxiety disorders. The behavioral consequences of …

Avoidance is a key characteristic of adaptive and maladaptive fear. Here, we review past
and contemporary theories of avoidance learning. Based on the theories, experimental …

Fear motivates different types of defensive behaviors. These behaviors are, however, not
mere byproducts of fear. In this review, we highlight a bi-directional relationship between …

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a contextual–behavioral approach to
psychotherapy and other behavioral health concerns that has progressively attracted …

Nonhuman animals show evidence for three types of concept learning: perceptual or
similarity‐based in which objects/stimuli are categorized based on physical similarity; …

The ability to represent knowledge at the category level promotes the transfer of learning.
How this ability integrates with basic forms of conditioned learning is unknown but could …

Avoiding stimuli that were previously associated with threat is essential for adaptive
functioning, but excessive avoidance that persists in the absence of threat can turn …

Computational methods are increasingly being applied to the study of psychiatric disorders.
Often, this involves fitting models to the behavior of individuals with subclinical character …

Avoidance of threatening or unpleasant events is usually an adaptive behavioural strategy.
Sometimes, however, avoidance can become chronic and lead to impaired daily functioning …