BACKGROUND While there has been research on catastrophic misinterpretation of ambiguous situations and on the effects of the induction of physiological arousal, there has been no experimental research on the relationship between them. Based on the concept of a fear memory, we aimed to investigate if the induction of physiological arousal leads to catastrophic misinterpretations. METHODS Participants were shown either a suspenseful film clip to induce physiological arousal (EG, n = 43) or a calm film clip with no specific effect on arousal levels (CG, n = 40) before completing a measure of catastrophic misinterpretation (BSIQ-FR). To assess the specific predictive value of physiological arousal, measurements of other known predictors were included (BSI, BDI-II, ACQ, BSQ, STAI-T, ASI-3). RESULTS The film manipulation led to a significant increase in physiological arousal in the EG but not in the CG. The EG did not report more catastrophic misinterpretations than the CG - however, more participants in the EG reported at least one catastrophic misinterpretation. The increase in physiological arousal due to the film manipulation predicted catastrophic misinterpretation in the open response format in the EG, but not in the CG, even when controlling for other known predictors. CONCLUSIONS Our study provides evidence that experimentally induced physiological arousal can predict catastrophic misinterpretation. The findings support the concept of a fear memory. With the BSIQ-FR, a German questionnaire measuring catastrophic misinterpretation was introduced. Further research on the relationship between physiological arousal and catastrophic misinterpretation with clinical samples is recommended.

中文翻译：

---

生理唤醒会导致灾难性误解增加吗？基于恐惧记忆概念的实验。

背景技术尽管已经对模棱两可的情况的灾难性误解以及对引起生理唤醒的影响进行了研究，但是还没有关于它们之间的关系的实验研究。基于恐惧记忆的概念，我们旨在研究诱发生理唤醒是否会导致灾难性的误解。方法在完成灾难性误解（BSIQ-FR）之前，向参与者展示了可悬吊的电影剪辑来诱发生理唤醒（EG，n = 43）或对电影唤醒水平没有特异性影响的平静的电影剪辑（CG，n = 40）。 ）。为了评估生理唤醒的特定预测价值，还包括其他已知预测指标（BSI，BDI-II，ACQ，BSQ，STAI-T，ASI-3）的测量值。结果膜操作导致EG的生理唤醒显着增加，而CG则没有。与CG相比，EG并未报告出更多的灾难性误解-然而，更多的EG参与者报告了至少一种灾难性的误解。由于进行了胶片操作而引起的生理唤醒的增加，即使在控制其他已知预测因素的情况下，也能在EG中以开放响应格式预测灾难性的误解，而在CG中则不会。结论我们的研究提供了证据，表明由实验引起的生理唤醒可以预测灾难性的误解。这些发现支持恐惧记忆的概念。使用BSIQ-FR，引入了德国灾难性误解测量问卷。