I told you it was safe: Associations between intolerance of uncertainty and different types of uncertainty during instructed threat of shock

Background and Objectives. Intolerance of Uncertainty (IU) is a dispositional tendency to find uncertainty aversive. There is a lack of research on how IU modulates physiological responding to different types of uncertainty. Methods. Here, we conducted exploratory secondary analyses on an existing data set (n = 45) to examine whether IU is related to a particular type of uncertainty during instructed threat of shock (i.e. certain shock, certain safety from shock, outcome uncertainty of shock, temporal uncertainty of shock). Results. Analyses revealed that IU was associated with larger auditory startle blink during the anticipatory period for the certain safety from shock condition, relative to the certain shock condition. Limitations. The sample was relatively small. Conclusions. Individuals higher in IU may be more inclined to generalize threat to safety cues in the context of instructed threat of shock with multiple types of uncertainty