Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3
Risk Sensitivity
The Perception of Risks
CHAPTER
3.1 CREATING RISK SENSITIVITY
3.1.1 Classical Conditioning
3.1.2 Operant Conditioning
3.1.3 Model Learning
3.1.4 Comparing the Three Ways of Learning for Safety Issues
3.2 REDUCING RISK SENSITIVITY
3.2.1 Habituation
3.2.2 Desensitization
3.3 THE COMBINED EFFECT OF NEWNESS AND SENSITIVITY
3.4 WHERE IN THE BRAIN?
3.5 SUMMARY
TIPS FOR TRANSFER
We start at an interface between our environment and ourselves: our
senses. When we have the ambition to go for completely safe behavior
and reduce risk from our behavioral repertoire as much as possible, the
first question is: How can we enhance the notion that something can or
might be risky? The brain uses the danger system to identify these risks.
The danger system once started with the pain system giving signals that
something has gone wrong and that action should be taken to avoid more
serious threats and to recover from previous wounds. The next step was to
anticipate possible wounds for which we needed a warning system.
Anxiety is the messenger of pain and is therefore a crucial emotion in all
safety behavior. We are always anxious for something (for example, an
object, a situation, a living being, or a group). Risk sensitivity plays a cen-
tral role in this warning system and can be defined as an anxiety reaction
to a specific external stimulus. The main effect of risk sensitivity is safety
