Novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. Although contemporary treatments for anxiety disorders are very efficient in reducing anxiety, return of fear after successful treatment is common which signifies a need for interventions that have a more enduring outcome. A recent laboratory study suggested that novelty-fac...

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Main Authors: Lucas, Katherine, Luck, Camilla, Lipp, Ottmar
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2018
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP120100750
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72568
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author Lucas, Katherine
Luck, Camilla
Lipp, Ottmar
author_facet Lucas, Katherine
Luck, Camilla
Lipp, Ottmar
author_sort Lucas, Katherine
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. Although contemporary treatments for anxiety disorders are very efficient in reducing anxiety, return of fear after successful treatment is common which signifies a need for interventions that have a more enduring outcome. A recent laboratory study suggested that novelty-facilitated extinction, a simple modification of standard extinction which involves presenting a novel non-aversive stimulus during extinction, prevents spontaneous recovery, one laboratory analogue of return of fear. The current study assessed whether novelty-facilitated extinction can also prevent reinstatement, a second laboratory analogue of return of fear. Following differential fear conditioning, one group of participants underwent standard extinction training whereas the second was presented with a novel tone after the conditional stimulus that previously predicted the aversive unconditional stimulus (US). Three presentations of the USs alone reinstated differential electrodermal fear responses after standard extinction, but not after novelty-facilitated extinction. Moreover, replicating previous findings, the extent of return of fear was correlated with self-reported intolerance of uncertainty after standard extinction, but not after novelty-facilitated extinction. These results support the proposal that novelty-facilitated extinction training can reduce the extent of return of fear.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-725682021-01-05T08:07:07Z Novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear Lucas, Katherine Luck, Camilla Lipp, Ottmar © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. Although contemporary treatments for anxiety disorders are very efficient in reducing anxiety, return of fear after successful treatment is common which signifies a need for interventions that have a more enduring outcome. A recent laboratory study suggested that novelty-facilitated extinction, a simple modification of standard extinction which involves presenting a novel non-aversive stimulus during extinction, prevents spontaneous recovery, one laboratory analogue of return of fear. The current study assessed whether novelty-facilitated extinction can also prevent reinstatement, a second laboratory analogue of return of fear. Following differential fear conditioning, one group of participants underwent standard extinction training whereas the second was presented with a novel tone after the conditional stimulus that previously predicted the aversive unconditional stimulus (US). Three presentations of the USs alone reinstated differential electrodermal fear responses after standard extinction, but not after novelty-facilitated extinction. Moreover, replicating previous findings, the extent of return of fear was correlated with self-reported intolerance of uncertainty after standard extinction, but not after novelty-facilitated extinction. These results support the proposal that novelty-facilitated extinction training can reduce the extent of return of fear. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72568 10.1016/j.brat.2018.08.002 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP120100750 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/SR120300015 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Elsevier fulltext
spellingShingle Lucas, Katherine
Luck, Camilla
Lipp, Ottmar
Novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear
title Novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear
title_full Novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear
title_fullStr Novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear
title_full_unstemmed Novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear
title_short Novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear
title_sort novelty-facilitated extinction and the reinstatement of conditional human fear
url http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP120100750
http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP120100750
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/72568