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PubMed1998

Human amygdala activation during conditioned fear acquisition and extinction: a mixed-trial fMRI study.

Echoplanar functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used in normal human subjects to investigate the role of the amygdala in conditioned fear acquisition and extinction. A simple discrimination procedure was employed in which activation to a visual cue predicting shock (CS+) was compared with activation to another cue presented alone (CS-). CS+ and CS- trial types were intermixed in a pseudorandom order. Functional images were acquired with an asymmetric spin echo pulse sequence from three coronal slices centered on the amygdala. Activation of the amygdala/periamygdaloid cortex was observed during conditioned fear acquisition and extinction. The extent of activation during acquisition was significantly correlated with autonomic indices of conditioning in individual subjects. Consistent with a recent electrophysiological recording study in the rat (Quirk et al., 1997), the profile of the amygdala response was temporally graded, although this dynamic was only statistically reliable during extinction. These results provide further evidence for the conservation of amygdala function across species and implicate an amygdalar contribution to both acquisition and extinction processes during associative emotional learning tasks.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Dynamics of intracellular dopamine contents in the rat brain during the formation of conditioned contextual fear and extinction of an acoustic startle reaction.

Extracellular dopamine contents in the caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens, and prefrontal cortex of the rat brain were measured during two sessions of extinction of an acoustic startle reaction--each consisting of ten sound stimuli, the two sessions separated by 24 h--with simultaneous recording of freezing behavior. The results demonstrated a decrease in extracellular dopamine levels in the caudate nucleus and an increase in the nucleus accumbens during both sessions of extinction, with return to initial immediately after sessions ended. During the second session, the amplitude of startle responses and the magnitude of changes in dopamine levels in both structures were significantly smaller than during the first session. Between the sessions, dopamine levels in the caudate nucleus remained constant, while those in the nucleus accumbens decreased. The prefrontal cortex showed increases in dopamine levels during both sessions of extinction, as well as between the two sessions. The amplitude of the startle reaction was found to correlate with dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex after the end of the corresponding extinction session and with the dopamine level before the start of the second session. The freezing time before the start of sound stimulation in the second session, this being a measure of conditioned fear, correlated with the dopamine level in the caudate nucleus on the training day and with the dopamine level in the nucleus accumbens before the start of the second session. The role of the dopaminergic system in the mechanisms forming and realizing the various components of defensive behavior are discussed.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1991

Sensitivity of male, female, and androgenized female rats to testosterone during extinction of a conditioned taste aversion.

Experiment 1 tested the hypothesis that male and female rats differ in the amount of testosterone (T) required to prolong extinction of a conditioned taste aversion. Gonadectomized male and female rats were implanted with empty or 30-, 60-, or 120-mm T-filled capsules. The males had slower extinction rates than females when both were implanted with 30-mm and 60-mm capsules but not when implanted with 120-mm capsules. The dimorphic sensitivity was not due to differences in plasma T levels: the levels for males and females were not different. Experiment 2 tested the hypothesis that the presence of T during the perinatal period results in a greater sensitivity to T in adulthood. Females exposed to T during the perinatal period showed prolonged extinction when given a 30-mm T-filled capsule as an adult, whereas unexposed females did not. These results support the hypothesis that the amount of T required to activate the prolonged extinction in an adult depends on perinatal exposure to T.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Normal conditioned inhibition and extinction of freezing and fear-potentiated startle following electrolytic lesions of medical prefrontal cortex in rats.

The authors investigated the role of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the inhibition of conditioned fear in rats using both Pavlovian extinction and conditioned inhibition paradigms. In Experiment 1, lesions of ventral mPFC did not interfere with conditioned inhibition of the fear-potentiated startle response. In Experiment 2, lesions made after acquisition of fear conditioning did not retard extinction of fear to a visual conditioned stimulus (CS) and did not impair "reinstatement" of fear after unsignaled presentations of the unconditioned stimulus. In Experiment 3, lesions made before fear conditioning did not retard extinction of fear-potentiated startle or freezing to an auditory CS. In both Experiments 2 and 3, extinction of fear to contextual cues was also unaffected by the lesions. These results indicate that ventral mPFC is not essential for the inhibition of fear under a variety of circumstances.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1984

Effects of acute trimethyltin exposure on appetitive acquisition and extinction performance in the adult rat.

Adult male rats were given one intragastric infusion of either 7 mg/kg trimethyltin chloride (dose calculated as the base of trimethyltin [TMT]) or physiological saline. Twenty-one days after dosing, subjects from each condition were divided into two equal-sized groups and trained with either partial (PRF) or continuous (CRF) reinforcement in a straight alley maze. The acquisition phase of training, lasting 40 trials (4 trials/day), was followed by 20 trials of extinction training (4 trials/day). Analyses performed on total speed revealed that TMT-treated subjects performed at lower levels during acquisition than controls regardless of schedule condition. Also, the rate of resistance to extinction was significantly reduced for treated subjects compared with that of controls regardless of the training schedules used during acquisition. A partial reinforcement extinction effect was observed for both control and TMT-treated subjects, that is, independent of dose regimen; PRF training occasioned greater persistence during extinction than did CRF training. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for contemporary empirical and theoretical issues relating to TMT-induced hippocampal lesions.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Extinction-induced spatial dispersion in the radial arm maze: arrest by ethanol.

Adaptive changes in response to extinction can be observed if provisions are made that permit behavior to shift away from trained routine. In the present case, the baiting of four arms in the eight-arm radial maze increasingly restricted subject movements to those arms. The unbaited arms afforded a new direction for behavior to take during extinction. Withdrawal of reward was followed by an immediate and active expansion of sites visited. The previously unrewarded arms were now regularly sampled. This was one consequence of extinction. The other was the well-known decline in overall rate of arm entry, whether arms were previously baited or not. Ethanol, at doses of 1.5 or 2.0 g/kg, eliminated the spatial dispersion attendant upon nonreward. It did not affect the decline in overall responsiveness. Ethanol's deletion of extinction-induced spatial variability may account for its impairment on reversal and other kinds of tasks that require a shift away from old patterns of behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Facilitation of extinction by an increase or a decrease in trial duration.

Five experiments examined the effects of altering the duration of a conditioned stimulus (CS) for extinction. For the first 3 experiments, rats received conditioning with a 10-s CS before different groups received extinction with a CS that was either the same duration or longer than that used for conditioning. For the remaining 2 experiments, conditioning was conducted with a 60-s CS before different groups received extinction with a CS of either the same duration or a shorter duration than that used for conditioning. In all experiments, extinction progressed more readily when the CS duration was different for the 2 stages than when it was constant. The results are discussed in terms of rate expectancy theory and associative learning theory.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Temporally massed CS presentations generate more fear extinction than spaced presentations.

Rodent fear conditioning models both excitatory learning and the pathogenesis of human anxiety, whereas extinction of conditional fear is a paradigm of inhibitory learning and the explicit model for behavior therapy. Many studies support a general learning rule for acquisition: Temporally spaced training is more effective than massed training. The authors asked whether this rule applies to extinction of conditional fear in mice. The authors find that both short- and long-term fear extinction are greater with temporally massed presentations of the conditional stimulus (CS). The data also indicate that once CS presentations are sufficiently massed to initiate, or "induce," extinction learning, further CS presentations are more effective when spaced.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Recent exposure to a dangerous context impairs extinction and reinstates lost fear reactions.

Rats were shocked in a context and then exposed to that context in the absence of shock. Shorter intervals between these extinction trials produced more long-term freezing than did longer ones, and shorter intervals between the final extinction trial and test produced more freezing than did longer ones. A short interval between a context extinction trial and test with an extinguished conditioned stimulus (CS) produced more freezing than did a longer one, and a short interval between a nonreinforced context exposure and an extinguished CS reinstated freezing when the CS was tested 24 hr later. The results suggest that recent fear acts to favor subsequent retrieval of the memory formed at conditioning rather than extinction and to render the retrieved memory more salient.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Opioid receptors regulate the extinction of Pavlovian fear conditioning.

Rats received a single pairing of an auditory conditioned stimulus (CS) with a footshock unconditioned stimulus (US). The fear (freezing) that had accrued to the CS was then extinguished. Injection of naloxone prior to this extinction significantly impaired the development of extinction. This impairment was mediated by opioid receptors in the brain and was not observed when naloxone was injected after extinction training. Finally, an injection of naloxone on test failed to reinstate extinguished responding that had already accrued to the CS. These experiments show that opioid receptors regulate the development, but not the expression, of fear extinction and are discussed with reference to the roles of opioid receptors in US processing, memory, and appetitive motivation.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed2004

D-cycloserine and the facilitation of extinction of conditioned fear: consequences for reinstatement.

Several recent studies have reported that D-cycloserine (DCS), a partial N-methyl-D-aspartate agonist, facilitates extinction of learned fear in rats. Other studies have shown that representation of the unconditioned stimulus (US) can reinstate learned fear after extinction. This study examined whether this reinstatement effect occurs in Sprague-Dawley rats given DCS at the time of extinction. Results showed that saline-treated rats exhibited the reinstatement effect but DCS-treated rats did not (Experiments 1 and 2). This lack of reinstatement in DCS-treated rats was not due to residual effects of DCS on either US or context processing (Experiment 3). Overall, these results (a) raise questions about the mechanisms underlying DCS facilitation of extinction and (b) suggest that DCS might have substantial practical benefit.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2006

Dopamine receptor blockade and extinction differentially affect behavioral variability.

Dopamine (DA) neurons respond to unexpected food delivery and are inhibited during the omission of expected reward. DA receptor blockade mimics some, but not all, aspects of non-reward (extinction) conditions. It was therefore of interest to ask whether DA receptor blockade produces extinction-like increases in behavioral variability in addition to its well-known operant response-suppressing effects. In the current experiment, rats were trained drug-free on an operant task in which they pressed on a keyboard. Two of the keys led to food on a continuous reinforcement schedule. Both response rates and behavioral variability were measured. Test day administration of D(1) and D(2) antagonists SCH23390 and raclopride, like extinction, suppressed responding but, unlike extinction, did not lead to an increase in variability.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1975

Functional decortication by cortical spreading depression does not prevent forced extinction of conditioned saccharin aversion in rats.

Conditioned taste aversion established in rats by association of saccharin drinking with subsequent lithium chloride intoxication decreased saccharin intake to 22% of normal consumption. Force-feeding saccharin to intact and functionally decorticate trained rats returned saccharin consumption on the next day to 62% (n equals 18) and 77% (n equals 19), respectively. Over-trained conditioned saccharin aversion was affected by forced extinction in a similar way (saccharin intake increased from 28% to 50% and 63%, respectively). Intact brain rats refused to swallow saccharin during forced feeding. while functionally decorticate animals showed no signs of aversion; but extinction was almost equal in both cases. Application of lithium chloride after forced feeding of saccharin in functionally decorticate rats neither prevented extinction of conditioned taste aversion nor reestablished the aversion habit extinguished earlier with intact brain. It is concluded that acquisition of the conditioned taste aversion requires cortical input to a short-term memory file, whereas decorticate extinction can be induced by subcortical gustatory processing analogous to the mechanism controlling feeding behavior during the preweaning period.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

One-trial learning and superior resistance to extinction of autonomic responses conditioned to potentially phobic stimuli.

Human subjects were exposed to pictures of potentially phobic (snakes) and supposedly neutral (houses) objects as conditioned stimuli (CSs) in a Pavlovian conditioning experiment with shock as unconditioned stimulus (US), and skin conductance and finger pulse volume as dependent variables. The skin conductance responses conditioned to phobic stimuli were acquired after one CS-US pairing, and showed practically no extinction, whereas the responses to neutral stimuli showed very little resistance to extinction after both 1 and 5 reinforcements. The superior resistance to extinction of the phobic condition was interpreted to be a specific associative effect. In general, the skin conductance acquisition data showed tendencies similar to those during extinction. For finger pulse volume responses, however, there were very weak conditioning effects, and no effect of stimulus.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Inhibition of climbing fibres is a signal for the extinction of conditioned eyelid responses.

A fundamental tenet of cerebellar learning theories asserts that climbing fibre afferents from the inferior olive provide a teaching signal that promotes the gradual adaptation of movements. Data from several forms of motor learning provide support for this tenet. In pavlovian eyelid conditioning, for example, where a tone is repeatedly paired with a reinforcing unconditioned stimulus like periorbital stimulation, the unconditioned stimulus promotes acquisition of conditioned eyelid responses by activating climbing fibres. Climbing fibre activity elicited by an unconditioned stimulus is inhibited during the expression of conditioned responses-consistent with the inhibitory projection from the cerebellum to inferior olive. Here, we show that inhibition of climbing fibres serves as a teaching signal for extinction, where learning not to respond is signalled by presenting a tone without the unconditioned stimulus. We used reversible infusion of synaptic receptor antagonists to show that blocking inhibitory input to the climbing fibres prevents extinction of the conditioned response, whereas blocking excitatory input induces extinction. These results, combined with analysis of climbing fibre activity in a computer simulation of the cerebellar-olivary system, suggest that transient inhibition of climbing fibres below their background level is the signal that drives extinction.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Amygdala BDNF signaling is required for consolidation but not encoding of extinction.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) acting through the tyrosine kinase B receptor (TrkB) is thought to be a critical mediator of learning. As there are no available selective antagonists of TrkB, we used a lentivirus encoding a dominant-negative TrkB (TrkB.t1) to antagonize BDNF signaling during extinction of conditioned fear. Whereas TrkB.t1-infected rats showed normal within-session extinction, their retention of extinction was impaired, suggesting that amygdala TrkB activation is required for the consolidation of stable extinction memories.

Amygdala↗
PubMed2006

Mechanisms of fear extinction.

Excessive fear and anxiety are hallmarks of a variety of disabling anxiety disorders that affect millions of people throughout the world. Hence, a greater understanding of the brain mechanisms involved in the inhibition of fear and anxiety is attracting increasing interest in the research community. In the laboratory, fear inhibition most often is studied through a procedure in which a previously fear conditioned organism is exposed to a fear-eliciting cue in the absence of any aversive event. This procedure results in a decline in conditioned fear responses that is attributed to a process called fear extinction. Extensive empirical work by behavioral psychologists has revealed basic behavioral characteristics of extinction, and theoretical accounts have emphasized extinction as a form of inhibitory learning as opposed to an erasure of acquired fear. Guided by this work, neuroscientists have begun to dissect the neural mechanisms involved, including the regions in which extinction-related plasticity occurs and the cellular and molecular processes that are engaged. The present paper will cover behavioral, theoretical and neurobiological work, and will conclude with a discussion of clinical implications.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Applying extinction research and theory to cue-exposure addiction treatments.

AIMS: To evaluate the efficacy of cue-exposure addiction treatment and review modern animal learning research to generate recommendations for substantially enhancing the effectiveness of this treatment. DESIGN: Meta-analysis of cue-exposure addiction treatment outcome studies (N=9), review of animal extinction research and theory, and evaluation of whether major principles from this literature are addressed adequately in cue-exposure treatments. FINDINGS: The meta-analytical review showed that there is no consistent evidence for the efficacy of cue-exposure treatment as currently implemented. Moreover, procedures derived from the animal learning literature that should maximize the potential of extinction training are rarely used in cue-exposure treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Given what is known from animal extinction theory and research about extinguishing learned behavior, it is not surprising that cue-exposure treatments so often fail. This paper reviews current animal research regarding the most salient threats to the development and maintenance of extinction, and suggests several major procedures for increasing the efficacy of cue-exposure addiction treatment.

Animals↗