Abstract
Laboratory models of extinction learning in animals and humans have the potential to illuminate methods for improving clinical treatment of fear-based clinical disorders. However, such translational research often neglects important differences between threat responses in animals and fear learning in humans, particularly as it relates to the treatment of clinical disorders. Specifically, the conscious experience of fear and anxiety, along with the capacity to deliberately engage top-down cognitive processes to modulate that experience, involves distinct brain circuitry and is measured and manipulated using different methods than typically used in laboratory research. This paper will identify how translational research that investigates methods of enhancing extinction learning can more effectively model such elements of human fear learning, and how doing so will enhance the relevance of this research to the treatment of fear-based psychological disorders.
Highlights
Fear-based disorders are among the most prevalent categories of psychiatric conditions [1]. effective treatments exist for these disorders, response rates remain suboptimal [2,3].One promising direction for improving such treatments is to translate insights from basic research on fear learning and memory into modified or novel clinical approaches
Together with findings showing that disorder-specific conditioned stimulus (CS)–unconditioned stimulus (US) combinations lead to more durable conditioned fears [123,124], these results suggest that the presence of a meaningful conceptual relationship between temporally associated stimuli increases the difficulty of breaking such associations
We began by highlighting some of the primary successes of extinction learning as a translational model for the treatment of anxiety and fear-based disorders
Summary
Fear-based disorders are among the most prevalent categories of psychiatric conditions [1]. Laboratory research on fear conditioning and extinction learning can serve as a useful translational model for understanding the factors underlying the development and elimination of maladaptive fear responses. Such insights can illuminate potential methods of improving treatments of fear-based disorders [4]. The brain circuitry involved in fear conditioning and extinction is relatively well-understood and conserved across species This enables research with potential clinical relevance to occur at numerous different levels, ranging from brain imaging studies with clinically anxious patients [5] to studies testing the effects of pharmacological blockade of particular neurotransmitters in. We conclude with suggestions for how to bridge the gap between research in the laboratory and the clinic
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
