Multiple pathways to widespread fears: Disentangling idiosyncratic fear generalization mechanisms using computational modeling

Abstract Human generalization research aims to understand the processes underlying the transfer of prior experiences to new contexts. Generalization research predominantly relies on descriptive statistics, assumes a single generalization mechanism, interprets generalization from mono-source data, and disregards individual differences. Unfortunately, such an approach fails to disentangle various mechanisms underlying generalization behavior and can readily result in biased conclusions regarding generalization tendencies. Therefore, we combined a computational model with multi-source data to mechanistically investigate human generalization. By simultaneously modeling learning, perceptual and generalization data at the individual level, we revealed meaningful variations in how different mechanisms contribute to generalization behavior. The current research suggests the need for revising the theoretical and analytic foundations in the field to shift the attention away from forecasting group-level generalization behavior and toward understanding how such phenomena emerge at the individual level. This opens the possibility of having a mechanism-specific differential diagnosis in generalization-related psychiatric disorders.