Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear

The overall goal of the following experiment is to prevent the recovery of fear memory by introducing extinction training during the reconsolidation window. This is achieved by using classical fear conditioning to train participants to associate an innocuous stimulus with an aversive outcome while physiological measures are recorded as an index of fear arousal. As a second step subjects return a day later and receive extinction training during the reconsolidation window opening, using a reminder queue of the CS plus outside the same reconsolidation window, or simply undergo standard extinction training without reconsolidation.

Next, participants should return to the lab the following day to be tested for fear recovery results show that undergoing extinction training within the reconsolidation window leads to significantly less fear recovery when compared to those receiving extinction training at other times. The main advantage of this technique over existing methods, such as standard extinction training, is that unlike extinction, which might lead to the recovery of fear, interfering with reconsolidation might more permanently modify the fear, memory, and lead to less recovery. The implication of this technique extends toward therapy of anxiety disorders by offering a more permanent way of modifying fear responses.