How fear-relevant illusory correlations might develop and persist in anxiety disorders: A model of contributing factors

- A model of fear-relevant illusory correlations (ICs) is proposed.
- Enhanced outcome aversiveness and impaired cognitive monitoring may be involved.
- An alternative IC index is suggested to increase reliability.
- Implications for future studies and psychotherapy are discussed.

Fear-relevant illusory correlations (ICs) are defined as the overestimation of the relationship between a fear-relevant stimulus and aversive consequences. ICs reflect biased cognitions affecting the learning and unlearning of fear in anxiety disorders, and a deeper understanding might help to improve treatment. A model for the maintenance of ICs is proposed that highlights the importance of amplified aversiveness and salience of fear-relevant outcomes, impaired executive contingency monitoring and an availability heuristic. The model explains why ICs are enhanced in high fearful individuals and allows for some implications that might be applied to augment the effectiveness of cognitive behavior therapy, such as emotion regulation and the direction of attention to non-aversive experiences. Finally, we suggest possible future research directions and an alternative measure of ICs.