Journal
PERCEPTUAL AND MOTOR SKILLS
Volume 123, Issue 1, Pages 5-16Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC
DOI: 10.1177/0031512516654464
Keywords
immediate extinction; spontaneous recovery; reinstatement; passive avoidance; rat
Categories
Funding
- Susquehanna University Faculty Scholarship Grant
- Saint Vincent College Faculty Research Grant
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Recent research suggests that extinction occurring shortly after fear conditioning attenuates spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of fear. Two experiments investigated whether immediate extinction would prevent spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of fear using a passive avoidance paradigm. In Experiment 1, naive female adult rats (N=40) received extinction training either immediately or 24 hours (delayed) after fear conditioning. Both extinction groups showed a significant reduction in fear at a 1-day test. At a 15-day test, spontaneous recovery was observed in the delayed extinction group while the immediate extinction group continued to show significant extinction. In Experiment 2, using a naive group of adult female rats (N=16), the extinction result was replicated in both the immediate and delayed extinction groups at the 1-day interval. Reinstatement of fear, elicited by foot-shock in a neutral environment, was observed for the delayed group but not for the immediate group. By utilizing the passive-avoidance paradigm, these experiments replicate and extend previous findings that immediate extinction attenuates spontaneous recovery and reinstatement of fear.
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