The impact of extinction timing on pre-extinction arousal and subsequent return of fear.

ABSTRACT: Exposure-based therapy is effective in treating anxiety, but a return of fear in the form of relapse is common. Exposure is based on the extinction of Pavlovian fear conditioning. Both animal and human studies point to increased arousal during immediate compared to delayed extinction (>+24 h), which presumably impairs extinction learning and increases the subsequent return of fear. Impaired extinction learning under arousal might interfere with psychotherapeutic interventions. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether arousal before extinction differs between extinction groups and whether arousal before extinction predicts the return of fear in a later (retention) test. As a highlight, both the time between fear acquisition and extinction (immediate vs. delayed) and the time

SUBMITTER: Kampa M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11098463 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature