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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear
Published on: August 24, 2012
Spontaneous recovery varies inversely with the training-extinction interval
1Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA. rescorla@cattell.psych.upenn.edu
Abstract:
Four experiments found the magnitude of spontaneous recovery after extinction to be greater with a shorter interval between initial conditioning and extinction. Experiments 1 and 2 used a Pavlovian magazine approach procedure with rat subjects, Experiment 3 used an instrumental training procedure with rats, and Experiment 4 used a sign-tracking procedure with pigeons. These results are not anticipated by many accounts of spontaneous recovery that attribute it to the fading of learning that occurred during extinction.
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