Cited by 80Memory and Neural MechanismsMemory Processes and InfluencesPosttraumatic Stress Disorder Research

Extinction during memory reconsolidation blocks recovery of fear in adolescents

Open access
Johnson, D. C., Casey, B. J.·2015·Scientific Reports

Abstract

Adolescence is a time of intensified emotional experiences, during which anxiety and stress-related disorders peak. The most effective behavioral therapies for treating these disorders share exposure-based techniques as a core component. Exposure-based therapies build on the principles of fear extinction learning and involve desensitizing the individual to cues that trigger anxiety. Yet, recent evidence shows an adolescent-specific diminished capacity to extinguish fear responses, suggesting that adolescents may respond less well to exposure-based therapies than other age groups. Here we demonstrate an alternative method for blocking the recall of fear memories in adolescents, building on principles of memory reconsolidation in adults. During memory reconsolidation, a memory that is recalled becomes labile during which time it can be updated. Prior research has shown that extinction training during memory reconsolidation attenuates the recovery of fear memory in human adults and in rodents. Using this method, we show attenuation of fear memory in adolescent humans. These findings have significant implications for treating one of the most vulnerable populations to anxiety and stress related disorders - adolescents - by optimizing exposure therapy based on principles of memory reconsolidation.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/srep08863

Cites

31 of 31 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In vulnerable populations such as children and adolescents, sound stimuli are recommended over mild electric shocks in threat conditioning paradigms.

    “In vulnerable populations, such as children and adolescents, sound stimuli are recommended over mild electric shocks in threat conditioning paradigms7,8,13,43.”
  • Adolescents continue to show signs of defensive responding to previously learned threat cues, suggesting an age-specific relative dysregulation of the process that updates threat associations as safe.

    “For example, adolescents continue to show signs of defensive responding to previously learned threat cues (freezing in rodents and elevated skin conductance in humans), suggesting an age-specific relative dysregulation of the process that updates threat associations as safe7,10–13.”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Johnson, D. C., & Casey, B. J.
Affiliations
Cornell University (US)
Corresponding author
  • Johnson, D. C.
  • Casey, B. J.
Venue
Scientific Reports
Published
2015-03-09
Volume
5
Issue
1
Pages
8863-8863
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1995024428
Cited by
80
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 2
FWCI
6.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute of Mental Health (P50MH079513)
  • National Eye Institute (T32EY007138)
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, memory reconsolidation, adolescents, fear memory, exposure therapy, anxiety disorders, stress-related disorders, extinction training, memory reconsolidation blockade
MeSH terms
Memory Consolidation, Adolescent, Adult, Avoidance Learning, Child, Cues, Extinction, Psychological, Fear, Female, Humans, Inhibition, Psychological, Male, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review