Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Psychophysiology. 2012 Oct;49(10):1426-35. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01450.x. Epub 2012 Sep 7.
Instructed extinction after fear conditioning is relatively effective in attenuating electrodermal responding. Testing the single-process account of fear learning, we examined whether this manipulation similarly affects the startle response. Skin conductance responses (SCRs), startle responses, and online unconditioned stimulus (US) expectancy ratings were measured during fear acquisition (Day 1), extinction, and reinstatement (Day 2). Before extinction onset, half of the subjects were instructed that the conditioned stimulus would not be followed by the US (Instructed Extinction) whereas the other subjects were not instructed (Normal Extinction). This simple instruction completely abolished both differential SCR and US expectancy ratings, but not the startle fear response. Although the manipulation facilitated extinction learning, it did not prevent the recovery of the startle response. The present findings are better explained by a dual- rather than a single-process account of fear learning.
在恐惧条件反射后进行指令性消退相对有效地减弱了皮肤电反应。为了检验恐惧学习的单过程理论，我们研究了这种操作是否同样会影响惊跳反应。在恐惧获得（第 1 天）、消退和恢复（第 2 天）期间，测量了皮肤电导反应（SCR）、惊跳反应和在线非条件刺激（US）预期评分。在消退开始之前，一半的被试被指示条件刺激不会跟随 US（指令性消退），而另一半被试则没有被指示（正常消退）。这种简单的指令完全消除了差异 SCR 和 US 预期评分，但没有消除惊跳恐惧反应。尽管这种操作促进了消退学习，但它并没有阻止惊跳反应的恢复。双过程而不是单过程理论更能解释目前的发现。
