TY - JOUR
T1 - Stressor controllability modulates fear extinction in humans
AU - Hartley, Catherine A.
AU - Gorun, Alyson
AU - Reddan, Marianne C.
AU - Ramirez, Franchesca
AU - Phelps, Elizabeth A.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by funding from the National Institute of Mental Health grants to E.A.P (Grant numbers MH062104 and MH080756 ) and by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to C.A.H. We thank Catherine Stevenson for assistance with participant testing.
PY - 2014/9
Y1 - 2014/9
N2 - Traumatic events are proposed to play a role in the development of anxiety disorders, however not all individuals exposed to extreme stress experience a pathological increase in fear. Recent studies in animal models suggest that the degree to which one is able to control an aversive experience is a critical factor determining its behavioral consequences. In this study, we examined whether stressor controllability modulates subsequent conditioned fear expression in humans. Participants were randomly assigned to an escapable stressor condition, a yoked inescapable stressor condition, or a control condition involving no stress exposure. One week later, all participants underwent fear conditioning, fear extinction, and a test of extinction retrieval the following day. Participants exposed to inescapable stress showed impaired fear extinction learning and increased fear expression the following day. In contrast, escapable stress improved fear extinction and prevented the spontaneous recovery of fear. Consistent with the bidirectional controllability effects previously reported in animal models, these results suggest that one's degree of control over aversive experiences may be an important factor influencing the development of psychological resilience or vulnerability in humans.
AB - Traumatic events are proposed to play a role in the development of anxiety disorders, however not all individuals exposed to extreme stress experience a pathological increase in fear. Recent studies in animal models suggest that the degree to which one is able to control an aversive experience is a critical factor determining its behavioral consequences. In this study, we examined whether stressor controllability modulates subsequent conditioned fear expression in humans. Participants were randomly assigned to an escapable stressor condition, a yoked inescapable stressor condition, or a control condition involving no stress exposure. One week later, all participants underwent fear conditioning, fear extinction, and a test of extinction retrieval the following day. Participants exposed to inescapable stress showed impaired fear extinction learning and increased fear expression the following day. In contrast, escapable stress improved fear extinction and prevented the spontaneous recovery of fear. Consistent with the bidirectional controllability effects previously reported in animal models, these results suggest that one's degree of control over aversive experiences may be an important factor influencing the development of psychological resilience or vulnerability in humans.
KW - Controllability
KW - Extinction
KW - Fear conditioning
KW - Resilience
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U2 - 10.1016/j.nlm.2013.12.003
DO - 10.1016/j.nlm.2013.12.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 24333646
AN - SCOPUS:84902077511
SN - 1074-7427
VL - 113
SP - 149
EP - 156
JO - Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
JF - Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
ER -