Spacing extinction trials alleviates renewal and spontaneous recovery |
| |
| Authors: | Gonzalo P Urcelay Daniel S Wheeler and Ralph R Miller |
| |
| Institution: | (1) Department of Psychology, State University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA;(2) Departamento de Psicolog?a, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile; |
| |
| Abstract: | Studies of extinction in classical conditioning situations can reveal techniques that maximize the effectiveness of exposure-based
behavior therapies. In three experiments, we investigated the effect of varying the intertrial interval during an extinction
treatment in a fear-conditioning preparation with rats as subjects. In Experiment 1, we found less fear at test (i.e., more
effective extinction) when extinction trials were widely spaced, relative to intermediate or massed extinction trials. In
Experiment 2, we used an ABA renewal procedure and observed that spaced trials attenuated renewal of conditioned fear relative
to massed trials. In Experiment 3, we used a similar design, but instead of changing the physical context at the time of testing,
we interposed a retention interval after the extinction treatment to produce a change in the temporal context. The results
showed less spontaneous recovery of fear after spaced than after massed extinction trials. These results suggest that extinction
is more enduring when the extinction trials are spaced rather than massed. Although the benefits of spacing trials are small
when there is no contextual change from extinction to testing, a change in either physical or temporal context following massed
extinction trials leads to a recovery from extinction, which is reduced when the trials are spaced. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
