A Lighter Shade of Trauma

Preventing the return of fear memories with postretrieval extinction: A human study using a burst of white noise as an aversive stimulus.

“…In future research, in addition to the previously mentioned potential boundary conditions (i.e., the fear measure and the reinforcement rate), other less explored conditions might be considered, such as the effect of context, which in the present study was the same in all phases. The ability to update memories after retrieval has tremendous clinical potential in the treatment of emotional disorders, including anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and addiction (Auber et al, 2013; Beckers & Kindt, 2017; Kredlow et al, 2016; Schiller, 2014; Shiban et al, 2015; Xue et al, 2012). Indeed, some authors (Ecker, Ticic, & Hulley, 2013) claim that the postretrieval-extinction procedure seems to be the only behavioral technique able to modify the original fear memory, as well as being the most effective in the elimination of the fear return.…”

“…Memory reconsolidation is based on the reactivation of a memory consolidated in LTM, the memory being returned to a state in which it is vulnerable and susceptible to modification or updating. Such reactivation is usually achieved through the presentation of a trial of the CS without the US, which generates a prediction error that may be necessary for the destabilization of the memory trace (Sevenster, Beckers, & Kindt, 2013, 2014. In this way, the CS serves as the fear-memory reminder (e.g., Golkar, Bellander, Olsson, & Öhman, 2012;Schiller et al, 2010).…”