CTX2: SCR, ECG, respiration, and startle eyeblink EMG measurements in a contextual fear conditioning task under VR with acquisition and recall test after one week

This dataset contains skin conductance responses (SCR), electrocardyogram (ECG), respiration, electromygram (EMG) for 23 healthy unmedicated participants (15 females and 8 males aged 24 +/- 4.0) participating in a Pavlovian differential contextual fear conditioning experiment under virtual reality with 2 sessions. The two contexts (CTX+, CTX-) were designed as living rooms with the same furniture in different arrangement. A neutral corridor connected the two rooms and served as inter-trial interval (ITI). Participants were continuously passively guided through the spaces based on a predefined path, but were free to move and rotate their heads for observation. US was a train of 25 square electric pulses with 0.2 ms duration with a duty cycle of 0.91%, delivered with a constant current stimulator on participants' dominant forearm through a pin-cathod/ring-anode configuration. US was delivered randomly during 6-8 s and/or 21-24 s after room entry. No US was delivered in ITI. Participants underwent the conditioning task with CTXs (CTX+ 100% reinforced) and US delivery in session 1, and were tested in a retention/extinction task one week later in session 2, with CTXs and auditory startle probe (ST) delivered during 6-8 s and/or 21-24 s after room entry. One ST was delivered during 5-10 s after entry of ITI. No US was delivered during session 2. Participants travelled 10 times through each CTX room for around 31 s, and 20 times through the ITI corridor for around 15 s. From the corridor, participants would be guided into the other room (six trials) or back to the same room (four trials) in pseudo-random order.