Figure 4. Threat Appraisal Paradigm.

Figure 4 Legend: On Day 1, participants undergo fear acquisition and extinction procedures using the screaming lady paradigm in the psychophysiology laboratory using similar methods as Lau et al., 2008 [20]. Two women with neutral facial expressions are shown. One woman (CS+) is paired with a screaming lady (UCS); whereas, the other woman (CS-) never gets paired with the UCS. Approximately two weeks later, participants return and undergo extinction recall in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Participants are shown a continuum of neutral face stimuli that vary between the CS+ and CS- while attending to their emotional state. A generalization gradient in brain activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex is expected. CS=conditioned stimulus, UCS=unconditioned stimulus, vmPFC=ventromedial prefrontal cortex.