Instructed fear learning, extinction, and recall: additive effects of cognitive information on emotional learning of fear

The effects of instruction on learning of fear and safety are rarely studied. We aimed to examine the effects of cognitive information and experience on fear learning. Fourty healthy participants, randomly assigned to three groups, went through fear conditioning, extinction learning, and extinction recall with two conditioned stimuli (CS+). Information was presented about the presence or absence of conditioned stimulus–unconditioned stimulus (CS–US) contingency at different stages of the experiment. Information about the CS–US contingency prior to fear conditioning enhanced fear response and reduced extinction recall. Information about the absence of CS–US contingency promoted extinction learning and recall, while omission of this information prior to recall resulted in fear renewal. These findings indicate that contingency information can facilitate fear expression during fear learning, and can facilitate extinction learning and recall. Information seems to function as an element of the larger context in which conditioning occurs.

指令对恐惧与安全学习的影响鲜有研究。本研究旨在探讨认知信息与经验对恐惧学习的影响。40名健康被试被随机分配至三组，借助两种条件刺激（conditioned stimulus, CS+）完成恐惧条件化、消退学习与消退回忆任务。实验各阶段会呈现与条件刺激-非条件刺激（conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus, CS-US）联结存在与否相关的信息。恐惧条件化前呈现的CS-US联结相关信息可增强恐惧反应，并削弱消退回忆效果。若呈现CS-US联结不存在的相关信息，则可促进消退学习与回忆；而在回忆阶段前省略该信息，则会引发恐惧复现。本研究结果表明，联结信息可在恐惧学习过程中强化恐惧表达，同时也能促进消退学习与消退回忆。此类信息似乎可作为恐惧条件化发生的整体情境的组成要素。