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Secondary extinction reduces reinstatement of threat expectancy and conditioned skin conductance responses in human fear conditioning.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2019 03; 62:103-111.JB

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Secondary extinction refers to the phenomenon that extinction of one conditioned stimulus (CS) results in the reduction of conditioned responses for other CSs conditioned with the same unconditioned stimulus (US). Previous research with rats has demonstrated that secondary extinction can interfere with the return of conditioned fear after a reinstatement manipulation. Here we investigated this phenomenon in two pre-registered studies in humans.

METHOD

In both experiments, distinct CSs were paired with an electrical stimulation. Next, conditioned reactions to both CSs were extinguished and thereafter reinstated through the administration of three unsignaled electrical stimulations. Crucially, before participants continued with the reinstatement test, half of the participants received secondary extinction trials whereas the other half did not receive these trials.

RESULTS

Our results indicate that secondary extinction reduced reinstatement of threat expectancies and skin conductance responses, but the effect on skin conductance was only found in the second experiment.

LIMITATIONS

The studies were conducted in a laboratory setting with healthy students. Additional research will be required to determine the feasibility of applying secondary extinction in a (sub)clinical context.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of secondary extinction and its effect on reinstatement of conditioned fear in humans. We relate our findings to the earlier research with rats and discuss their relevance for exposure therapy.

Links

Publisher Full Text (DOI)

Authors+Show Affiliations

Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands. Electronic address: g.mertens@uu.nl.

Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

MeSH

AdultConditioning, ClassicalExtinction, PsychologicalFearFemaleGalvanic Skin ResponseHumansMaleYoung Adult

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

30296630

Citation

Mertens, Gaëtan, et al. "Secondary Extinction Reduces Reinstatement of Threat Expectancy and Conditioned Skin Conductance Responses in Human Fear Conditioning." Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, vol. 62, 2019, pp. 103-111.

Mertens G, Leer A, van Dis EAM, et al. Secondary extinction reduces reinstatement of threat expectancy and conditioned skin conductance responses in human fear conditioning. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2019;62:103-111.

Mertens, G., Leer, A., van Dis, E. A. M., Vermeer, L., Steenhuizen, A., van der Veen, L., & Engelhard, I. M. (2019). Secondary extinction reduces reinstatement of threat expectancy and conditioned skin conductance responses in human fear conditioning. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 62, 103-111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2018.09.007

Mertens G, et al. Secondary Extinction Reduces Reinstatement of Threat Expectancy and Conditioned Skin Conductance Responses in Human Fear Conditioning. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2019;62:103-111. PubMed PMID: 30296630.

* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case

TY - JOUR T1 - Secondary extinction reduces reinstatement of threat expectancy and conditioned skin conductance responses in human fear conditioning. AU - Mertens,Gaëtan, AU - Leer,Arne, AU - van Dis,Eva Anna Maria, AU - Vermeer,Lotte, AU - Steenhuizen,Anne, AU - van der Veen,Lisa, AU - Engelhard,Iris M, Y1 - 2018/10/01/ PY - 2018/02/15/received PY - 2018/09/27/revised PY - 2018/09/28/accepted PY - 2018/10/9/pubmed PY - 2020/3/24/medline PY - 2018/10/9/entrez KW - Fear conditioning KW - Reinstatement KW - Secondary extinction KW - Skin conductance response KW - Stimulus equivalence SP - 103 EP - 111 JF - Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry JO - J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry VL - 62 N2 - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Secondary extinction refers to the phenomenon that extinction of one conditioned stimulus (CS) results in the reduction of conditioned responses for other CSs conditioned with the same unconditioned stimulus (US). Previous research with rats has demonstrated that secondary extinction can interfere with the return of conditioned fear after a reinstatement manipulation. Here we investigated this phenomenon in two pre-registered studies in humans. METHOD: In both experiments, distinct CSs were paired with an electrical stimulation. Next, conditioned reactions to both CSs were extinguished and thereafter reinstated through the administration of three unsignaled electrical stimulations. Crucially, before participants continued with the reinstatement test, half of the participants received secondary extinction trials whereas the other half did not receive these trials. RESULTS: Our results indicate that secondary extinction reduced reinstatement of threat expectancies and skin conductance responses, but the effect on skin conductance was only found in the second experiment. LIMITATIONS: The studies were conducted in a laboratory setting with healthy students. Additional research will be required to determine the feasibility of applying secondary extinction in a (sub)clinical context. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of secondary extinction and its effect on reinstatement of conditioned fear in humans. We relate our findings to the earlier research with rats and discuss their relevance for exposure therapy. SN - 1873-7943 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/30296630/Secondary_extinction_reduces_reinstatement_of_threat_expectancy_and_conditioned_skin_conductance_responses_in_human_fear_conditioning_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -