Effects of an expanding-spaced vs massed exposure schedule on fear reduction and return of fear.
The current investigation assessed the relative benefits of a massed vs an expanding-spaced exposure schedule. The study was a 2 (distribution of sessions) x 3 (assessment occasion) design, in which two spider-fearful groups (N = 31) were compared across three different occasions: pre-training, post-training, and follow-up. Four exposure trials were conducted within the same day for participants in the massed exposure (ME) group, whereas sessions were distributed over the course of 1 week (inter-trial intervals doubled between sessions) for the expanding-spaced exposure (ESE) group. As predicted, although the ME group demonstrated significantly more habituation than the ESE group across exposure trials, they also showed a clear return of fear (ROF) in response to the training spider at a 1-month follow-up assessment, whereas the ESE group showed no increase in fear. Additionally, the ME group showed ROF in response to novel spiders post-training and at the 1-month follow-up, whereas ESE participants did not. These findings offer support for the beneficial effects of an expanding-spaced schedule and challenge the reliance on indices of fear activation and habituation as accurate signals of the permanence of fear reduction.
Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles 90024-1563, USA.
M K
MK
Rowe
M G
MG
Craske
D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal; D003887:Desensitization, Psychologic / Q000379:methods*; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010552:Personality Assessment; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D012008:Recurrence; D013112:Spiders