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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
11:17
Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear
Published on: August 24, 2012
D-cycloserine facilitates context-specific fear extinction learning.
Mark E Bouton1, Drina Vurbic, Amanda M Woods
1Department of Psychology, University of Vermont, 2 Colchester Avenue, Burlington, VT 05405-0134, USA. Mark.Bouton@uvm.edu
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
|August 2, 2008
Summary
D-cycloserine (DCS) enhances fear extinction learning in rats, but only when extinction is already occurring. The drug
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Behavioral Psychology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- D-cycloserine (DCS) is investigated for its potential to enhance fear extinction learning.
- The precise behavioral effects and underlying mechanisms of DCS in this process remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To re-analyze existing data and conduct new experiments to understand the conditions under which DCS facilitates fear extinction.
- To investigate the specificity of DCS effects on extinction learning and context-dependency.
Main Methods:
- Re-analysis of data from previous null-result experiments in rats.
- Conducting two additional experiments manipulating the number of extinction trials.
- Testing for fear renewal in the original conditioning context.
Main Results:
- Rats with above-median extinction learning benefited from DCS, while those with below-median learning did not.
- DCS facilitated extinction learning only when combined with a moderate number of extinction trials, not a small number.
- DCS did not prevent fear renewal when the cue was tested in the original conditioning context.
Conclusions:
- DCS facilitates fear extinction learning, but its efficacy is dependent on the engagement of the extinction process.
- The benefits of DCS are context-specific, as it does not affect fear renewal in the original conditioning environment.
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