Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry
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J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry · Jun 2016
The impact of a context switch and context instructions on the return of verbally conditioned fear.
Repeated exposure to a conditioned stimulus can lead to a reduction of conditioned fear responses towards this stimulus (i.e., extinction). However, this reduction is often fragile and sensitive to contextual changes. In the current study, we investigated whether extinction of fear responses established through verbal threat instructions is also sensitive to contextual changes. We additionally examined whether verbal instructions can strengthen the effects of a context change. ⋯ Contextual cues can impact the return of fear established via verbal instructions. Verbal instructions can further strengthen the contextual control of fear.