Test phase—fear of shocks
Shock, shock
SHOCKS, SHOCK, SHOCK
This phase included two counterbalanced 30-trials blocks, one for each distraction type. These two blocks were identical to the experience—fear of shocks block in all aspects, except that instead of implementing the experience instruction, here participants implemented the placebo-distraction and the control-distraction while anticipating a possible shock.The experience—fear of shocks block, the placebo-distraction test block, and the control-distraction test block, each included a total of 10 trials with shocks. Shock trials were distributed pseudo-randomly, with the only rule being that the first/second trial must be a shock trial. This was done because we wished participants to receive the same moderate shock intensity level for both distraction types early at the beginning of the test blocks. This way, differences between the strategies could be attributed to the placebo effect, rather than to a continuation of the previous conditioning phase, where shock intensities differed.