Exposure to a novel context after extinction causes a renewal of extinguished conditioned responses: Implications for the treatment of fear

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Author(s)
Neumann, David L
Kitlertsirivatana, Edward
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2010
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Renewal gives an experimental model for the relapse of fear symptoms following exposure therapy. While renewal of extinguished fear in humans has been observed following a return to the original context in which fear was acquired (ABA design), it has been more difficult to show upon presentation of a novel context (ABC design). The present experiment used a particularly strong context manipulation in a fear conditioning procedure. Context was manipulated by using large photographs of real environments taken from various angles and was present throughout the entire experiment. A renewal of cognitive expectancy was found in ...
View more >Renewal gives an experimental model for the relapse of fear symptoms following exposure therapy. While renewal of extinguished fear in humans has been observed following a return to the original context in which fear was acquired (ABA design), it has been more difficult to show upon presentation of a novel context (ABC design). The present experiment used a particularly strong context manipulation in a fear conditioning procedure. Context was manipulated by using large photographs of real environments taken from various angles and was present throughout the entire experiment. A renewal of cognitive expectancy was found in both ABA and ABC renewal designs, although it was larger in the former than in the latter. Response times in making the expectancy judgments increased when there was a change to a new context. The results demonstrate consistency in fear renewal effects between human and animal studies and suggest that relapse following exposure therapy via renewal remains a danger when people encounter a previously feared object in a novel context.
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View more >Renewal gives an experimental model for the relapse of fear symptoms following exposure therapy. While renewal of extinguished fear in humans has been observed following a return to the original context in which fear was acquired (ABA design), it has been more difficult to show upon presentation of a novel context (ABC design). The present experiment used a particularly strong context manipulation in a fear conditioning procedure. Context was manipulated by using large photographs of real environments taken from various angles and was present throughout the entire experiment. A renewal of cognitive expectancy was found in both ABA and ABC renewal designs, although it was larger in the former than in the latter. Response times in making the expectancy judgments increased when there was a change to a new context. The results demonstrate consistency in fear renewal effects between human and animal studies and suggest that relapse following exposure therapy via renewal remains a danger when people encounter a previously feared object in a novel context.
View less >
Journal Title
Behaviour Research and Therapy
Volume
48
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© 2010 Elsevier. This is the author-manuscript version of this paper. Reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Sensory processes, perception and performance
Cognitive and computational psychology