@article{ref1,
title="A unique safety signal: social-support figures enhance rather than protect from fear extinction",
journal="Clinical psychological science",
year="2018",
author="Hornstein, Erica A. and Haltom, Kate E. B. and Shirole, Kanika and Eisenberger, Naomi I.",
volume="6",
number="3",
pages="407-415",
abstract="Following treatment of fear-related disorders, return of fear remains a common occurrence. Currently, the presence of safety signals during treatment procedures is considered harmful, yet recent findings have demonstrated that certain safety signals (social-support figures) lead to enhanced fear extinction and thus might reduce return of fear. Here, we tested the effect of social-support-figure (vs. stranger) images on fear extinction outcomes. We found that, for conditional fear stimuli paired with social-support-figure images during extinction, return of fear was inhibited both immediately after extinction and during a fear reinstatement test 24 hr later; however, return of fear occurred for conditional stimuli paired with images of strangers. These findings suggest that social-support stimuli have unique safety-signaling properties that might enhance fear extinction and improve treatment outcomes for individuals with fear-related disorders.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2167-7026",
doi="10.1177/2167702617743002",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/2167702617743002"
}