TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2017//
TI  - The role of safety signals in fear extinction: an analogue study
JO  - Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry
A1  - Restrepo-Castro, Juan C.
A1  - Castro-Camacho, Leonidas
A1  - Javier Labrador, Francisco
SP  - 80
EP  - 87
VL  - 57
IS  - 
N2  - BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Safety signals are conditioned inhibitory stimuli that indicate the absence of unconditioned stimuli. It is not clear whether the presence of safety signals is detrimental or beneficial in extinction-based interventions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of safety signals on autonomic and expectancy fear-related responses. <br><br>METHODS: Following the conditional discrimination paradigm (AX +, BX-), undergraduate students (N = 48) underwent an aversive conditioning procedure, while safety signals were experimentally created. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions during extinction: presence or absence of safety signals. <br><br>RESULTS: Significant reductions of fear-related responses were found in both groups. Expectancy measures showed that the presence of safety signals did not interfere with reduction of fear related responses at follow-up. LIMITATIONS: The analogue nature of the study affects its ecological validity. There are some methodological issues. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Safety signals did not interfere with extinction learning. Attention may be a mechanism associated with the maintenance of fear responses.<br><br>Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0005-7916
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbtep.2017.04.003
ID  - ref1
ER  -