Extinction in multiple contexts reduces the return of extinguished responses: A multilevel meta-analysis.

Extinguished responses have been shown to reappear under several circumstances, and this reappearance is considered to model behaviors such as relapse after exposure therapy. Conducting extinction in multiple contexts has been explored as a technique to decrease the recovery of extinguished responses. The present meta-analysis aimed to examine whether extinction in multiple contexts can consistently reduce the recovery of extinguished responses. After searching in several databases, experiments were included in the analysis if they presented extinction in multiple contexts, an experimental design, and an adequate statistical report. Cohen's d was obtained for each critical comparison and weighted to obtain the sample's average weighted effect size. Analyses were then performed using a multilevel meta-analytic approach. Twenty-five studies were included, with a total sample of 37 experiments or critical comparisons. The analyses showed a large effect size for the sample, moderated by the length of conditioned stimulus exposure, type of experimental subject, and type of recovery. The robust effect of extinction in multiple contexts on relapse should encourage clinicians to consider extinction in multiple contexts as a useful technique in therapy and research.

Relation among, trait anxiety, intolerance to uncertainty and early maltreatment experiences on fear discrimination learning and avoidance generalization online task.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Early aversive experiences, which have been associated with elevated anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty (IUS), may contribute negatively to fear conditioning learning. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relation among individual differences in childhood maltreatment experiences, trait anxiety, and IUS in adulthood; and to determine how these variables could affect fear learning discrimination and avoidance generalization. METHODS: We adapted an avoidance procedure in an online fear learning task. Two pictures of different lamp colors (CS+) were first associated with two aversive images (US), while a third color was not (CS-). Next, clicking a button during one CS + could effectively avoid the US (CS + av), but not during the other (CS + unav). Finally, avoidance generalization was tested to lamp colors that were between CS- and CS + av (safety dimension) and CS + av and CS + unav (avoidability dimension). With a sample of 67 participants, we measured ratings of relief, expectancy, and anxiety, as well as button presses and individual differences (STAI, IUS and MAES). RESULTS: Aversive early experiences were positively related to trait anxiety and intolerance of uncertainty. The results of the task further suggested that maltreatment experience contributes to be more attentive to aversive signals, which could be implicated in leading to difficulties in discrimination learning. LIMITATIONS: Online experiments implies some loss of control over subjects and environment that can threaten internal validity. Likewise, the commitment of participants may be low. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that early aversive experience and anxiety could contribute to the development of IUS, which likely contributes to the development of avoidance behavior.

Behavioral effects on the offspring of rodent mothers exposed to Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC): A meta-analysis.

Pre and perinatal administration of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in rodents and their offspring has many effects that have been studied using different methods that have not been integrated using quantitative methods. The effect of THC administration on behavior can be better understood by meta-analytic techniques. We examined whether there is an overall effect on the behavior of the offspring when THC is administered to mothers. Eligibility criteria included experiments using an experimental design with a control group without THC, in which THC is administered to mothers during pregnancy and lactation in rodents, and in which at least one type of behavioral (locomotor, emotional or cognitive) measurement in the offspring was implemented. Cohen's d was obtained for each study, then each individual study was weighted, and moderator analysis was performed. Analysis was performed using fixed and random effect models, and the heterogeneity was assessed by calculating Qb, I 2 and the prediction interval. Furthermore, 3 sub-meta-analyses were carried out according to the type of behavior. The general analysis determined a low weighted effect size of THC on the behavior of the offspring, moderated by type of rat strain. The sub-meta-analyses showed a medium effect for cognitive effects of THC in the offspring, and a low effect on locomotor activity and emotional behavior. In addition, publication bias was not detected. More research is needed to contribute to the understanding of the effect of THC exposure on offspring.

Why do people self-sacrifice for their country? The roles of identity fusion and empathic concern.

Identity fusion with a group, a feeling of connection with it, is a good predictor of extreme pro-group behavior, an action to favor or protect the group, including self-sacrifice. Relational ties and personal distress (self-oriented emotional reaction; e.g., anxiety, distress) toward ingroup members in need have been evaluated separately as mediators of the relationship between identity fusion and pro-group self-sacrifice. Another mediator could be empathic concern (other-oriented emotional reaction; e.g., compassion, sympathy), but it has not been considered in the literature. We related those three mediators in a model. The objective was to analyze whether relational ties mediate the relationship between identity fusion and pro-country self-sacrifice whereas both empathic concern and personal distress mediate the association between relational ties and pro-country self-sacrifice. We expected that identity fusion with the country leads to more relational ties, which in turn evokes both empathic concern and personal distress, and those emotional reactions promote more and less pro-country self-sacrifice, respectively, with more effect of empathic concern than personal distress. We considered the country as the group reference because it is the most used in identity fusion research. In a sample of university students (N = 539), the results supported this model: Identity fusion promoted relational ties, which in turn evoked empathic concern and personal distress. Then, the last two variables predicted more and less self-sacrifice, respectively, with more effect of empathic concern than personal distress. We discussed the theoretical implications of the model, especially the relationship of identity fusion with empathic concern and personal distress-traditional explanations for pro-group behavior-considering the different motivations associated to both emotional reactions. Despite the limitations associated with the measurements, the data supported the model that relates variables not previously explored jointly.

Extinction training can make the extinction context a stimulus-specific inhibitor: A potential mechanism of experimental renewal.

Renewal is the recovery of extinguished responding to a conditioned stimulus when testing occurs outside the extinction context. Renewal has been explained as the extinction context becoming a negative occasion setter during extinction. However, other mechanisms may contribute. Two recent studies showed (a) after extinction of a discrete cue, the extinction context can serve as a conditioned inhibitor, and (b) in some circumstances operational extinction of a conditioned inhibitor can reduce inhibition with respect to a transfer excitor while retaining inhibition with respect to the excitor used in inhibitory training. Here we examine the potential contribution of these phenomena to renewal. In the present experiment, all rats received fear-conditioning with a target cue in one context and extinction of that cue in a second context. Then half of the subjects received massive extinction of the extinction context (i.e., 24 h) while the other half received only handling. Finally, some subjects in each condition were tested for responding to the target cue in the extinction context, others in a second familiar context, and yet others in a third transfer context in which another fear cue had been extinguished. The results showed ABC renewal independent of whether subjects had or had not received context extinction. However, transfer of the inhibitory potential of the extinction context was observed only in subjects that did not receive context extinction. These results suggest an extinction context can serve as a stimulus-specific conditioned inhibitor, thereby contributing to renewal by decreasing responding to the target cue in an ABB control condition.

Extinction of a Pavlovian-conditioned inhibitor leads to stimulus-specific inhibition.

Conditioned inhibitors have been shown to be largely unaffected by non-reinforced exposure (i.e., extinction treatment). Although excitatory associations are readily diminished by extinction treatment, so-called inhibitory associations appear to be largely immune to them. In two fear-conditioning experiments with rats, it was found that a decrease in inhibitory control can result from a massive number of extinction exposures to the inhibitor. Experiment 1 provided evidence that extinction treatment attenuated negative summation between the potential inhibitor and a transfer excitor. However, the extinction treatment had no influence on responding to the original training compound, indicating that some stimulus-specific inhibitory potential remained even after massive extinction. Experiment 2 indicated that retarded excitatory acquisition to the inhibitory stimulus observed after extinction treatment of the inhibitor is no greater than that following a similar amount of stimulus pre-exposure without prior inhibition training (i.e., latent inhibition). The findings indicate that inhibitory associations can be extinguished with large numbers of extinction trials, but they appear to be much more resistant to extinction than excitatory associations.

Alteraciones de la cognición social en síndromes de alto riesgo en psicosis / Social cognitive impairment in clinical high risk for psychos

Resumen La esquizofrenia es una enfermedad crónica, severa y que afecta aproximadamente al 1% de la población mundial. Pacientes con esta enfermedad presentan severos déficits en la cognición social (DCS). Estos déficits han sido observados en pacientes de primer episodio y familiares de primer grado. Los DCS determinan el pronóstico a largo plazo en esta enfermedad y son susceptibles de rehabilitación si es que se detectan precozmente. Solo recientemente se han caracterizado los déficits de la cognición social en sujetos de alto riesgo de desarrollar psicosis crónica. Estos sujetos presentan una oportunidad única para modificar la inserción social y modificar el pronóstico, pues no han sido afectados mayormente por la cronicidad de la enfermedad y presentan una sintomatología más leve que en etapas residuales. El presente trabajo pretende realizar una revisión de cómo los DCS están presentes desde etapas prodrómicas de la esquizofrenia y su importancia en la detección precoz de esta enfermedad.

Schizophrenia is a severe chronic disease that affects approximately 1 % of the world's population. Those who suffer this disease have serious deficits in social cognition (DSC), deficits that have been observed in first psychotic episode patients and first-degree relatives. The DSC determine the long-term prognosis in this disease and are susceptible to rehabilitation if they are detected early. Only recent studies have characterized deficits of social cognition in subjects with a high risk of developing chronic psychosis. These subjects present a unique opportunity to modify their social insertion and medical prognosis, as they have not been affected by the chronicity of the disease and present a milder symptomatology than in residual stages. This paper aims to make a review about how the DSC are present in schizophrenia from its prodromal stages and about its importance in the early detection of this disease.

Assessing the blocking of occasion setting.

An occasion setter (OS) is a stimulus or context with the capacity to disambiguate an ambiguous conditioned stimulus (CS). Previous research has shown that OSs share some features with regular Pavlovian CSs. Amongst them, research has shown that OSs are subject to blocking; that is, a new OS exerts reduced behavioral control after training in compound with a previously established OS. Of additional interest, in Pavlovian blocking, it has been reported that a blocked CS comes to elicit conditioned responding after the extinction of the blocking CS. This is an example of retrospective revaluation, a family of phenomena in which the response to a specific stimulus is modified by training a related cue. Here, three experiments sought to extend the analogies between OS and Pavlovian conditioning by examining the blocking of OSs and its retrospective revaluation. In all experiments, an OS was established by pairing a CS with food in the presence of the OS, but not in its absence (i.e., positive OS). Blocking was then trained by presenting the OS in compound with a novel OS. Experiment 1 showed blocking of the second OS, but direct exposure to the blocking OS did not enhance responding to the second OS. Experiment 2 replicated the blocking effect but subsequent training of the blocking OS with a reversed contingency showed no retrospective revaluation. Experiment 3 examined whether blocking of the OS occurred with a novel CS during the compound phase. In this experiment blocking was again observed, but only when subjects were tested with the original CS. These results are discussed focusing on the underlying links at work in occasion setting.

Extinction cues do not reduce recovery of extinguished conditioned fear in humans

We evaluated whether an extinction cue can reduce (or prevent) the recovery of previously extinguished fear conditioning using an ABC renewal design in humans. Two experiments were carried out. In Experiment 1, two groups were presented with geometric shapes as conditioned stimulus (CS), followed by a small electric shock as unconditioned stimulus (US) during the acquisition phase. Conditioned fear was measured as ratings of US expectancy and changes in skin conductance response (SCR). During the extinction phase, both groups received presentations of the CS without the US, while an extinction cue (EC) was presented. Both groups were tested in both the extinction context (extinction test) and a new context (renewal test) immediately and 48 hours after the end of the extinction phase (spontaneous recovery). Half of the subjects were tested in the presence of the EC (Group Extinction cue) while the other half were tested in the presence of a neutral cue (Group Neutral cue). The results suggested that the EC reduced the recovery of fear produced by a context change, but that this reduction was not maintained over time. Experiment 2 increased the salience of the EC and the contexts, however, results showed that the EC was unable to reduce the renewal of fear conditioning. These results are discussed as a function of the experimental manipulations performed, and their theoretical and practical implications (AU)

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Modelo Texas Christian University para evaluación y tratamiento de trastornos por uso de sustancias / Texas Christian University Model for assessment and treatment of substance use disorders

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Texas Christian University Model for Assessment and Treatment of Substance Use Disorders. This article aims to present a critical review of the literature regarding the Texas Christian University (TCU) Model in the field of assessment and treatment of substance use disorders (SUD). First, the background that prompted the development of the TCU Model is summarized. Subsequently, the central aspects of the model are detailed, including an assessment of empirical research that supports it. Then, the assessment tools developed within the model are described, with a focus on the psychometric properties of the instruments. Finally, the intervention strategies that constitute the TCU Treatment System are presented, emphasizing the evidence supporting the utilization of those interventions. The last three sections end up with a critical analysis in which the positive and negative aspects of the model, the assessment tools, and the associated interventions are presented (AU)

The Extinction and Return of Fear of Public Speaking.

Prior studies indicate extinguished fear often partially returns when participants are later tested outside the extinction context. Cues carried from the extinction context to the test context sometimes reduce return of fear, but it is unclear whether such extinction cues (ECs) reduce return of fear of public speaking. Here we assessed return of fear of public speaking, and whether either of two types of ECs can attenuate it. Participants gave speeches of increasing difficulty during an exposure practice session and were tested 2 days later in a different context. Testing occurred in the presence of physical ECs, after mentally rehearsing the exposure session, or without either reminder. Practice reduced fear of public speaking, but fear partially returned at test. Neither physical nor mental ECs reduced partial return of fear of public speaking. The return of extinguished fear of public speaking, although small, was reliable, but not appreciably sensitive to presence of ECs.

Preventing the recovery of extinguished ethanol tolerance.

There is substantial evidence that drug-paired cues become associated with drug effects. From a Pavlovian perspective, these cues act as conditioned stimuli and elicit conditioned compensatory responses that contribute to drug tolerance. Here we report two experiments with rats in which we studied the extinction of the associative tolerance to the ataxic effect of ethanol. Experiment 1 evaluated whether changes in the temporal and physical contexts after extinction training provoke recovery of the extinguished tolerance. The results showed successful extinction, spontaneous recovery and renewal of the extinguished tolerance, but no summation of renewal and spontaneous recovery. Experiment 2 evaluated whether using massive extinction trials and delivering extinction in multiple contexts attenuates the renewal effect. The results showed that both manipulations reduced renewal of the extinguished tolerance to the ataxic effect of ethanol; however, these manipulations used in combination did not appear to be more effective in reducing recovery than each by itself. The present results may help guide further research that evaluates behavioral ploys to prevent the recovery of extinguished responses.

Comparing the context specificity of extinction and latent inhibition.

Exposure to a cue alone either before (i.e., latent inhibition treatment) or after (i.e., extinction) the cue is paired with an unconditioned stimulus results in attenuated conditioned responding to the cue. Here we report two experiments in which potential parallels between the context specificity of the effects of extinction and latent inhibition treatments were directly compared in a lick suppression preparation with rats. The reversed ordering of conditioning and nonreinforcement in extinction and latent inhibition designs allowed us to examine the effect of training order on the context specificity of what is learned given phasic reinforcement and nonreinforcement of a target cue. Experiment 1 revealed that when conditioned-stimulus (CS) conditioning and CS nonreinforcement were administered in the same context, both extinction and latent inhibition treatments had reduced impacts on test performance, relative to excitatory conditioning when testing occurred outside the treatment context. Similarly, Experiment 2 showed that when conditioning was administered in one context and nonreinforcement was administered in a second context, the effects of both extinction and latent inhibition treatments were attenuated when testing occurred in a neutral context, relative to the context in which the CS was nonreinforced. The observed context specificity of extinction and latent inhibition treatments has been previously reported in both cases, but not in a single experiment under otherwise identical conditions. The results of the two experiments convergently suggest that memory of nonreinforcement becomes context dependent after a cue is both reinforced and nonreinforced, independent of the order of training.

Enhancement and reduction of associative retroactive cue interference by training in multiple contexts.

Retroactive cue interference refers to situations in which a target cue X is paired with an outcome in phase 1 and a nontarget cue Z is paired with the same outcome in phase 2, with less subsequent responding to X being seen as a result of the phase 2 training. Two conditioned suppression experiments with rats were conducted to determine whether retroactive cue interference is similarly modulated by a manipulation that influences retroactive outcome interference (e.g., extinction). Both experiments used an ABC renewal-like design in which phase 1 training, phase 2 training, and testing each occurred in different contexts. Experiment 1 found that training the target association in multiple contexts without altering the number of training trials during phase 1 decreased retroactive cue interference (i.e., increased responding consistent with the target association). Experiment 2 found that training the interfering association in multiple contexts without altering the number of interference trials during phase 2 increased retroactive cue interference (i.e., decreased responding consistent with the target association). The possibility of similar mechanisms underlying cue interference and outcome interference is discussed.

Behavioral techniques for attenuating the expression of fear associations in an animal model of anxiety.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Recent data indicate that extinguished fear often returns when the testing conditions differ from those of treatment. Several manipulations including extensive extinction training, extinction in multiple contexts, and spacing the extinction trials and sessions reduce the return of fear. Moreover, extensive extinction and extinction in multiple contexts summate in reducing return of fear, and the spacing of the extinction trials and the spacing of extinction sessions summate in reducing return of fear. Here we evaluated whether these techniques also attenuate the context specificity of latent inhibition, and whether they summate to further decrease fear responding at test. METHODS: In two experiments, with rats as subjects in a lick suppression preparation, we assessed the effects of massive CS preexposure, CS preexposure in multiple contexts, and of spacing the CS-preexposure trials and sessions, in reducing the context specificity of latent inhibition. RESULTS: Fear responding was attenuated by all four manipulations. Moreover, extensive CS preexposure in multiple contexts, and conjoint spacing of the CS-preexposure trials and sessions, were more effective in reducing the context specificity of latent inhibition than each manipulation alone. LIMITATIONS: Our experimental designs evaluated degrees of context specificity of latent inhibition but omitted groups in which latent inhibition was assessed without a context shift away from the context of latent inhibition treatment. This precluded us from drawing conclusions concerning absolute (as opposed to relative) levels of recovery from latent inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: Techniques effective in decreasing the return of conditioned fear following extinction are also effective in decreasing the context specificity of latent inhibition in an animal model of anxiety. Fear and anxiety disorders might be prevented in anxious human participants with the same techniques used here, but that is still an empirical question.

Classical conditioning and pain: conditioned analgesia and hyperalgesia.

This article reviews situations in which stimuli produce an increase or a decrease in nociceptive responses through basic associative processes and provides an associative account of such changes. Specifically, the literature suggests that cues associated with stress can produce conditioned analgesia or conditioned hyperalgesia, depending on the properties of the conditioned stimulus (e.g., contextual cues and audiovisual cues vs. gustatory and olfactory cues, respectively) and the proprieties of the unconditioned stimulus (e.g., appetitive, aversive, or analgesic, respectively). When such cues are associated with reducers of exogenous pain (e.g., opiates), they typically increase sensitivity to pain. Overall, the evidence concerning conditioned stress-induced analgesia, conditioned hyperalagesia, conditioned tolerance to morphine, and conditioned reduction of morphine analgesia suggests that selective associations between stimuli underlie changes in pain sensitivity.

Trial spacing during extinction: the role of context-US associations.

Studies of extinction in Pavlovian preparations can identify conditions that make extinction more enduring and increase the benefits of exposure-based behavior therapy. One such potential condition is the use of spaced extinction trials. Nevertheless, contradictory results of spacing extinction trials are found in the existing literature. Here we examine the strength of the association between the extinction context and the unconditioned stimulus as a variable that reconciles the seemingly contradictory prior reports. To assess the role of this variable, we evaluated the effects of extinction trial spacing as a function of the associative status of the extinction context in three lick suppression experiments with rats. In Experiment 1, the associative status of the extinction context was manipulated by giving extinction treatment in either the same context as acquisition or a different context. In Experiment 2, the associative status of the extinction context was initially high as a result of the acquisition context being used for extinction and then it was manipulated through postacquisition context exposure. In Experiment 3, extinction was administered in a context different from that of acquisition and the associative status of the extinction context was manipulated by delivering unsignaled footshock (i.e., the unconditioned stimuli) in the extinction context between acquisition and extinction. In all three experiments, consistently less conditioned suppression was observed with spaced extinction trials relative to massed extinction trials when the associative value of the extinction context was relatively low. In contrast, massed extinction trials produced less conditioned suppression when the associative status of the extinction context was high. Thus, stimulus control after extinction is influenced by an interaction between the intertrial interval during extinction and the associative status of the extinction context.

Retrospective revaluation of associative retroactive cue interference.

Two fear-conditioning experiments with rats assessed whether retrospective revaluation, which has been observed in cue competition (i.e., when compounded cues are followed with an outcome), can also be observed in retroactive cue interference (i.e., when different cues are reinforced in separate phases with the same outcome). Experiment 1 found that after inducing retroactive cue interference (i.e., X-outcome followed by A-outcome), nonreinforced presentations of the interfering cue (A) decreases interference with responding to the target cue (X), just as has been observed in retrospective revaluation experiments in cue competition. Using the opposite manipulation (i.e., adding reinforced presentations of A), Experiment 2 demonstrated that after inducing retroactive cue interference, additional reinforced presentations of the interfering cue (A) increases interference with responding to the target cue (X); alternatively stated, the amount of interference increases with the amount of training with the interfering cue. Thus, both types of retrospective revaluation occur in retroactive cue competition. The results are discussed in terms of the possibility that similar associative mechanisms underlie cue competition and cue interference.

On the differences in degree of renewal produced by the different renewal designs.

This paper addresses sources contributing to the differences in the degree of recovery from extinction observed with different renewal paradigms. In two lick suppression experiments with rats, we assessed the role of the associative status of the acquisition context in both the weakness of AAC renewal and the sometimes observed weaker renewal resulting from an ABC design relative to an ABA design. In Experiment 1, we observed that AAC renewal relative to an AAA control group was small unless Context A had undergone associative deflation (i.e., extinction of Context A). Deflation of Context A not only decreased behavioral control by the CS in the AAA condition, but increased it in the AAC condition, thereby implicating a comparator process in addition to associative summation between the CS and test context. In Experiment 2, an excitatory acquisition context was found to enhance the difference between ABC and ABA renewal. Associative deflation of the acquisition context decreased ABA renewal more than ABC renewal. Thus, the associative value of the acquisition context (A) was more positively related to the level of renewal when the target CS (X) was tested in this context than when it was tested in a neutral but equally familiar context (C), consistent with the frequently observed greater renewal in an ABA condition than an ABC condition arising from associative summation of the CS and test context. These findings demonstrate that the excitatory status of the acquisition context influences the observed degree of renewal.

Preventing return of fear in an animal model of anxiety: additive effects of massive extinction and extinction in multiple contexts.

Fear conditioning and experimental extinction have been presented as models of anxiety disorders and exposure therapy, respectively. Moreover, the return of fear serves as a model of relapse after exposure therapy. Here we present two experiments, with rats as subjects in a lick suppression preparation, in which we assessed the additive effects of two different treatments to attenuate the return of fear. First, we evaluated whether two phenomena known to generate return of fear (i.e., spontaneous recovery and renewal) summate to produce a stronger reappearance of extinguished fear. At test, rats evaluated outside the extinction context following a long delay after extinction (i.e., a delayed context shift) exhibited greater return of extinguished fear than rats evaluated outside the extinction context alone, but return of extinguished fear following a delayed context shift did not significantly differ from the return of fear elicited in rats tested following a long delay after extinction alone. Additionally, extinction in multiple contexts and a massive extinction treatment each attenuated the strong return of fear produced by a delayed context shift. Moreover, the conjoint action of these treatments was significantly more successful in preventing the reappearance of extinguished fear, suggesting that extensive cue exposure administered in several different therapeutic settings has the potential to reduce relapse after therapy for anxiety disorders, more than either manipulation alone.