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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear

Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear

Published on: August 24, 2012

Protection from extinction provided by a conditioned inhibitor.

Bridget L McConnell¹, Ralph R Miller

¹Department of Psychology, State University of New York, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA.

Learning & Behavior

|January 13, 2010

Summary

Higher-order associations enhance stimulus protection from extinction. A conditioned inhibitor, indirectly linked to a target stimulus, protected it from extinction, demonstrating complex associative learning in rats.

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Last Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear

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Fear Incubation Using an Extended Fear-Conditioning Protocol for Rats

Published on: August 22, 2020

Area of Science:

* Behavioral neuroscience
* Learning and memory
* Animal cognition

Background:

* Understanding how stimuli acquire and lose associative strength is crucial in learning theory.
* Higher-order associations, where a stimulus is linked indirectly to an outcome, are complex cognitive phenomena.
* The role of conditioned inhibitors in protecting target stimuli from extinction requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

* To investigate the influence of higher-order associations on the response potential of a target stimulus.
* To examine the protective effect of a Pavlovian conditioned inhibitor during extinction of a target cue.
* To determine if indirectly associated stimuli can influence the extinction of a target stimulus.

Main Methods:

* Three conditioned suppression experiments were conducted using rats.
* A Pavlovian conditioned inhibitor was compounded with a target cue during extinction treatment.
* Stimuli were extinguished alone, with an associatively neutral cue, or with a conditioned inhibitor.

Main Results:

* Strong suppression was observed to a target cue extinguished with a conditioned inhibitor, indicating protection from extinction.
* This protection effect was replicated in a sensory preconditioning preparation.
* The protection effect was attenuated when the conditioned excitor, used to train the inhibitor, was extinguished post-target extinction.

Conclusions:

* Conditioned inhibitors can enhance the response potential of a target stimulus, protecting it from extinction.
* Stimuli indirectly associated with a target cue can influence its response potential.
* Findings support the role of higher-order associations in modulating associative learning and extinction processes.