Finlay Carlos G, Forsyth John P
University at Albany, State University of New York, United States.
J Anxiety Disord. 2009 Aug;23(6):737-45. doi: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2009.02.014. Epub 2009 Mar 9.
This analogue experiment used fear conditioning and extinction procedures to establish and reduce fearful responding and then test for fear renewal following a context change. Healthy undergraduates (N=61) underwent a differential fear conditioning procedure using geometric shapes as conditioned stimuli (CS) and inhalations of 20% CO(2)-enriched air as an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US). Across phases (i.e., habituation, acquisition, extinction, and test), red and green ambient lighting served as contextual stimuli, and electrodermal and evaluative ratings were assessed as indices of conditioned fear. The control group underwent extinction and test phases under identical conditions (i.e., no context changes). The experimental groups either underwent acquisition and test phases in one context and the intervening extinction phase in a different context (A-B-A), or underwent acquisition and extinction phases in one context and the test phase in a novel context (A-A-B). Consistent with expectation, fear renewal was observed when the test context matched the acquisition context. This effect was modest for electrodermal responses, but reasonably robust for evaluative responses. The role of context in the subsequent renewal of fear following exposure-based treatment is discussed.
这个模拟实验采用恐惧条件化和消退程序来建立和减少恐惧反应，然后在情境改变后测试恐惧的恢复情况。健康的本科生（N = 61）接受了差异恐惧条件化程序，使用几何形状作为条件刺激（CS），吸入20%富含二氧化碳的空气作为厌恶非条件刺激（US）。在各个阶段（即习惯化、习得、消退和测试），红色和绿色的环境光作为情境刺激，并评估皮肤电反应和评价等级作为条件性恐惧的指标。对照组在相同条件下（即无情境变化）接受消退和测试阶段。实验组要么在一个情境中进行习得和测试阶段，在另一个不同情境中进行中间的消退阶段（A - B - A），要么在一个情境中进行习得和消退阶段，在一个新情境中进行测试阶段（A - A - B）。与预期一致，当测试情境与习得情境匹配时，观察到恐惧恢复。这种效应在皮肤电反应方面较小，但在评价反应方面相当显著。本文讨论了情境在基于暴露的治疗后恐惧后续恢复中的作用。
