CNAPs Lab, Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, B3 Audubon Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, United States.
Cognition. 2019 Feb;183:277-281. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2018.12.001. Epub 2018 Dec 7.
Can mental imagery rather than external stimulation reactivate an aversive conditioned memory for the purposes of attenuating fear with subsequent extinction training? To answer this question participant underwent a three-day protocol: Day 1 entailed fear acquisition training in which two conditioned stimuli were paired with mild shock (US), while a CS- never was; day 2 included imagery-based reactivation of only one of the two CS+ followed by standard extinction training within the reconsolidation ten minutes later; day 3 included reinstatement by the unsignaled presentation of the US followed by a re-extinction phase. We observed no evidence of fear recovery on the first trial of re-extinction for the reminded, mentally imaged, CS+, whereas fear returned for the non-reminded CS+. Thus, mental imagery was sufficient to reactivate a fear memory thereby opening the reconsolidation window and facilitating fear suppression via extinction training. The clinical implications of this are potentially far-reaching as it allows for in vivo reconsolidation procedures in exposure therapy.
心理意象能否替代外部刺激，重新激活令人厌恶的条件性记忆，从而在随后的消退训练中减轻恐惧？为了回答这个问题，参与者经历了一个为期三天的方案：第 1 天进行恐惧获得训练，其中两个条件刺激与轻度电击（US）配对，而 CS-从未配对；第 2 天包括仅对两个 CS+中的一个进行基于意象的重新激活，然后在十分钟后进行标准的消退训练；第 3 天包括通过未标记的 US 呈现进行重新引发，然后进行重新消退阶段。我们观察到，在重新消退的第一次试验中，被提醒的、心理想象的 CS+没有表现出恐惧恢复，而未被提醒的 CS+则恢复了恐惧。因此，心理意象足以重新激活恐惧记忆，从而打开再巩固窗口，并通过消退训练促进恐惧抑制。这一发现具有深远的临床意义，因为它允许在暴露疗法中进行体内再巩固程序。
