Department of Psychology, University of Leuven, Tiensestraat 102, Box 3712, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2012 Jun;43(2):737-44. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2011.10.011. Epub 2011 Nov 4.
Although repetitive thought (e.g., worry) is generally assumed to be a risk factor for psychopathological disorders such as anxiety disorders, the repetitive thought processes occurring after a conditioning event have not yet received much theoretical attention. However, as repetitive thought can be mimicked by (mental) rehearsal, which is well-known to enhance memory performance, it seems worthwhile to explore the role of rehearsal in conditioning. Therefore, the current study investigates the impact of rehearsing an acquired CS-US-contingency on subsequent conditioned fear responding.
After acquiring two CS-US-contingencies with either a human scream or a white noise as US, participants were instructed to rehearse one of these CS-US-pairings during an experimental session as well as during the following week.
Fear responding to the CS which was previously paired with the scream persisted in the participants who rehearsed the CS-US(scream)-contingency, but decreased in those participants who rehearsed the CS-US(noise)-contingency. The same pattern emerged in the US-expectancy ratings, but the effect failed to reach significance. For the CS which was paired with the noise-US, no rehearsal effect emerged.
As acquisition to the noise-US was less pronounced and less robust as compared to the scream-US, claims regarding the rehearsal effect might be hampered for the CS-US(noise)-contingency.
Repetitive post-acquisition activation of a CS-US-contingency impacts CR retention. As the USs were not rated as more intense, aversive or startling after rehearsal compared to post-acquisition, US-inflation is discarded as a possible explanation of this effect.
尽管重复思考（例如，担忧）通常被认为是焦虑症等心理病理障碍的风险因素，但 Conditioning 事件后发生的重复思维过程尚未受到太多理论关注。然而，由于重复思考可以通过（心理）排练来模拟，而排练众所周知可以提高记忆表现，因此探索排练在 Conditioning 中的作用似乎是值得的。因此，本研究调查了排练已获得的 CS-US 关联对随后的条件恐惧反应的影响。
在获得了人类尖叫或白噪声作为 US 的两种 CS-US 关联后，参与者被指示在实验过程中和接下来的一周内排练其中一种 CS-US 配对。
在排练 CS-US（尖叫）关联的参与者中，对先前与尖叫配对的 CS 的恐惧反应持续存在，但在排练 CS-US（噪音）关联的参与者中，恐惧反应减少。在 US 期望评级中出现了相同的模式，但该效果未达到显著性。对于与噪声-US 配对的 CS，没有出现排练效果。
由于与噪声-US 的获得不如与尖叫-US 明显和稳健，因此对于 CS-US（噪声）关联的排练效果的说法可能会受到限制。
在获得后重复激活 CS-US 关联会影响 CR 的保留。由于与获得后相比，排练后 US 并未被评为更强烈、更令人厌恶或更令人震惊，因此排除了 US 膨胀作为该效果的可能解释。
