Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 13, 2026

Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear
Published on: August 24, 2012
Fear conditioning in panic disorder: Enhanced resistance to extinction
Tanja Michael1, Jens Blechert, Noortje Vriends
1Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute for Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland. tanja.michael@unibas.ch
Abstract:
Enhanced conditionability has been proposed as a crucial factor in the etiology and maintenance of panic disorder (PD). To test this assumption, the authors of the current study examined the acquisition and extinction of conditioned responses to aversive stimuli in PD. Thirty-nine PD patients and 33 healthy control participants took part in a differential aversive conditioning experiment. A highly annoying but not painful electrical stimulus served as the unconditioned stimulus (US), and two neutral pictures were used as either the paired conditioned stimulus (CS+) or the unpaired conditioned stimulus (CS-). Results indicate that PD patients do not show larger conditioned responses during acquisition than control participants. However, in contrast to control participants, PD patients exhibited larger skin conductance responses to CS+ stimuli during extinction and maintained a more negative evaluation of them, as indicated by valence ratings obtained several times throughout the experiment. This suggests that PD patients show enhanced conditionability with respect to extinction.
Related Concept Videos
Panic Disorder
Behavior Therapy
Exposure therapy is a cornerstone of behavioral treatment for anxiety disorders. It involves systematic exposure to feared stimuli, either in real...
Preparedness and Phobias
Classical Conditioning in Daily Life
John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner famously demonstrated the development of fear through classical conditioning in their experiment with Little Albert. They paired the...
Principles of Classical Conditioning
During the...
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...

