title: Instructed fear learning, extinction, and recall: additive effects of cognitive information on emotional learning of fear.
abstract: The effects of instruction on learning of fear and safety are rarely studied. We aimed to examine the effects of cognitive information and experience on fear learning. Fourty healthy participants, randomly assigned to three groups, went through fear conditioning, extinction learning, and extinction recall with two conditioned stimuli (CS+). Information was presented about the presence or absence of conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) contingency at different stages of the experiment. Information about the CS-US contingency prior to fear conditioning enhanced fear response and reduced extinction recall. Information about the absence of CS-US contingency promoted extinction learning and recall, while omission of this information prior to recall resulted in fear renewal. These findings indicate that contingency information can facilitate fear expression during fear learning, and can facilitate extinction learning and recall. Information seems to function as an element of the larger context in which conditioning occurs.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences , Wayne State University , Detroit , MI , USA.|b Department of Psychiatry , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA.
authors.forename: Arash
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Javanbakht
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Duval
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA.
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Cisneros
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA.
authors.forename: Stephan F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA.
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Liberzon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Fear conditioning; cognitive information; extinction learning; psychotherapy