Shiban, Youssef and Wittmann, Jasmin and Weissinger, Mara and Muehlberger, Andreas (2015) Gradual extinction reduces reinstatement. FRONTIERS IN BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE, 9: 254. ISSN 1662-5153,
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The current study investigated whether gradually reducing the frequency of aversive stimuli during extinction can prevent the return of fear. Thirty-one participants of a three-stage procedure (acquisition, extinction and a reinstatement test on day 2) were randomly assigned to a standard extinction (SE) and gradual extinction (GE) procedure. The two groups differed only in the extinction procedure. While the SE group ran through a regular extinction process without any negative events, the frequency of the aversive stimuli during the extinction phase was gradually reduced for the GE group. The unconditioned stimulus (US) was an air blast (5 bar, 10 ms). A spider and a scorpion were used as conditioned stimuli (CS). The outcome variables were contingency ratings and physiological measures (skin conductance response, SCR and startle response). There were no differences found between the two groups for the acquisition and extinction phases concerning contingency ratings. SCR, or startle response. GE compared to SE significantly reduced the return of fear in the reinstatement test for the startle response but not for SCR or contingency ratings. This study was successful in translating the findings in rodent to humans. The results suggest that the GE process is suitable for increasing the efficacy of fear extinction.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL THERAPY; FEAR EXTINCTION; VIRTUAL-REALITY; EXPOSURE; RENEWAL; STARTLE; MECHANISMS; DISORDERS; CONTEXT; RELAPSE; gradual extinction; virtual reality; pavlovian fear conditioning; skin conductance response; startle response; contingency ratings |
| Subjects: | 100 Philosophy & psychology > 150 Psychology |
| Divisions: | Psychology and Pedagogy > Institut für Psychologie |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Jun 2019 08:38 |
| Last Modified: | 07 Jun 2019 08:38 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/4827 |
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