Humans acquire fears in the real world (Context a). They then receive treatment for those fears in a therapist's office (Context b). Finally, they return to the real world (Context a). Unfortunately, animal research shows clearly that this a-b-a progression is one that, in its final stage (the return to Context a), leads to the renewal of an eliminated fear. Because therapists often have no choice but to follow this a-b-a progression, it is important to search for fear-elimination procedures that make fear resistant to renewal. The proposed research would exploit animal models to do so, examining a wide variety of procedures whose possible success is predicted by contemporary theory. All of the procedures use standard and well understood assays of fear in laboratory animals: Experiments 1 through 7 use the conditioned suppression (CER) procedure. Experiments 8+9 use both CER and conditioned punishment procedures. While continuing the search for procedures that resist renewal, the latter experiments provide an analysis of the role of a response contingency that is thought to be a crucial feature of participant modeling -- a type of therapy thought to be successful in treatments of fear in humans.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01MH057459-01A1
Application #
2679826
Study Section
Psychobiology, Behavior, and Neuroscience Review Committee (PBN)
Project Start
1998-09-15
Project End
2002-05-31
Budget Start
1998-09-15
Budget End
1999-05-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
1998
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
153223151
City
Amherst
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
01003
Rauhut, A S; Thomas, B L; Ayres, J J (2001) Treatments that weaken Pavlovian conditioned fear and thwart its renewal in rats: implications for treating human phobias. J Exp Psychol Anim Behav Process 27:99-114