Behavioral techniques for attenuating the expression of fear associations in an animal model of anxiety

Background and objectives Recent data indicate that extinguished fear often returns when the testing conditions differ from those of treatment. Several manipulations including extensive extinction training, extinction in multiple contexts, and spacing the extinction trials and sessions reduce the return of fear. Moreover, extensive extinction and extinction in multiple contexts summate in reducing return of fear, and the spacing of the extinction trials and the spacing of extinction sessions summate in reducing return of fear. Here we evaluated whether these techniques also attenuate the context specificity of latent inhibition, and whether they summate to further decrease fear responding at test. Methods In two experiments, with rats as subjects in a lick suppression preparation, we assessed the effects of massive CS preexposure, CS preexposure in multiple contexts, and of spacing the CS-preexposure trials and sessions, in reducing the context specificity of latent inhibition. Results Fear responding was attenuated by all four manipulations. Moreover, extensive CS preexposure in multiple contexts, and conjoint spacing of the CS-preexposure trials and sessions, were more effective in reducing the context specificity of latent inhibition than each manipulation alone. Limitations Our experimental designs evaluated degrees of context specificity of latent inhibition but omitted groups in which latent inhibition was assessed without a context shift away from the context of latent inhibition treatment. This precluded us from drawing conclusions concerning absolute (as opposed to relative) levels of recovery from latent inhibition. Conclusions Techniques effective in decreasing the return of conditioned fear following extinction are also effective in decreasing the context specificity of latent inhibition in an animal model of anxiety. Fear and anxiety disorders might be prevented in anxious human participants with the same techniques used here, but that is still an empirical question.