Eye movements during recall of aversive memory decreases conditioned fear

• Published in: Behaviour research and therapy 2013-10, Vol.51 (10), p.633-640
• Main Authors: Leer, Arne, Engelhard, Iris M., Altink, Annemarie, van den Hout, Marcel A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anxiety; Aversive; Biological and medical sciences; Cognitive therapy; Conditioning; Conditioning, Classical - physiology; Extinction; Eye movements; Eye Movements - physiology; Fear; Fear - physiology; Fear - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Galvanic Skin Response - physiology; Human; Human fear conditioning; Humans; Learning theory; Learning. Memory; Memory; Mental health care; Mental Recall - physiology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Recall; Stimulus; US deflation; US devaluation; Visual task performance
• ISSN: 0005-7967; 1873-622X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.brat.2013.07.004

Cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders typically involves exposure to the conditioned stimulus (CS). Despite its status as an effective and primary treatment, many patients do not show clinical improvement or relapse. Contemporary learning theory suggests that treatment may be optimized by adding techniques that aim at revaluating the aversive consequence (US) of the feared stimulus. This study tested whether US devaluation via a dual task – imagining the US while making eye movements – decreases conditioned fear. Following fear acquisition one group recalled the US while making eye movements (EM) and one group merely recalled the US (RO). Next, during a test phase, all participants were re-presented the CSs. Dual tasking, relative to the control condition, decreased memory vividness and emotionality. Moreover, only in the dual task condition reductions were observed in self-reported fear, US expectancy, and CS unpleasantness, but not in skin conductance responses. Findings provide the first evidence that the dual task decreases conditioned fear and suggest it may be a valuable addition to exposure therapy. •Devaluation of aversive memory was hypothesized to reduce conditioned responding.•Healthy subjects acquired fear, then recalled the US with or without eye movements.•Only recalling the US with eye movements reduced memory vividness and emotionality.•Only the dual task reduced conditioned fear and evaluative conditioned responses.•The underlying mechanism seems US devaluation rather than habituation to the US.