Timing of extinction relative to acquisition: a parametric analysis of fear extinction in humans
Open accessAbstract
Fear extinction is a reduction in conditioned fear following repeated exposure to the feared cue in the absence of any aversive event. Extinguished fear often reappears after extinction through spontaneous recovery. Animal studies suggest that spontaneous recovery can be abolished if extinction occurs within minutes of acquisition. However, a limited number of human extinction studies have shown that short interval extinction does not prevent the return of fear. For this reason, we performed an in-depth parametric analysis of human fear extinction using fear-potentiated startle. Using separate single-cue and differential conditioning paradigms, participants were fear conditioned and then underwent extinction either 10 min (Immediate) or 72 hr (Delayed) later. Testing for spontaneous recovery occurred 96 hr after acquisition. In the single cue paradigm, the Immediate and Delayed groups exhibited differences in context, but not fear, conditioning. With differential conditioning, there were no differences in context conditioning and the Immediate group displayed less spontaneous recovery. Thus, the results remain inconclusive regarding spontaneous recovery and the timing of extinction and are discussed in terms of performing translational studies of fear in humans.
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The finding that immediate extinction training prevents return of learned fear was only weakly observed in humans.
“This finding was not well replicated in rodents [see Ref. (88, 89)] and was only weakly observed in humans [see Ref. (90)].”
From Conditioned fear associated phenotypes as robust, translational indices of trauma-, stressor-, and anxiety-related behaviors (2014) · cites this paper as [90]
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- Authors
- Norrholm, S. D., Vervliet, B., Jovanovic, T., Boshoven, W., Myers, K. M., Davis, M., Rothbaum, B., & Duncan, E. J.
- Affiliations
- Emory University (US)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- Venue
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Published
- 2008
- Volume
- 122
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1016-1030
- ISSN
- 0735-7044 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-0084
- PMC
- PMC3731450
- OpenAlex
- W2145929703
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 3.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- europepmc.org
- Locations
- Behavioral Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Atlanta VAMC
- National Science Foundation (Agreement No. IBN-9876754)
- American Psychiatric Association/GlaxoSmithKline
- National Institute of Mental Health (1R24MH067314-01A1, 2P50 MH058922 and R37 MH47840)
- Woodruff Foundation
- Emory University School of Medicine
- Yerkes National Primate Center
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Keywords
- fear extinction, spontaneous recovery, extinction time, fear potentiation, fear conditioning, differential conditioning, contextual conditioning, fear-potentiated startle
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adolescent, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Avoidance Learning, Conditioning, Classical, Cues, Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Reaction Time, Reflex, Startle, Time Factors
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