Erasing fear for an imagined threat event

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Pharmacology

Background:

• Fear memories are typically strong and resistant to change.
• Recent evidence suggests fear memories can be made plastic upon retrieval, a process called disrupting reconsolidation.
• Disrupting reconsolidation may offer a therapeutic strategy for anxiety disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if disrupting reconsolidation can reduce subjective anxiety.
• To determine if this effect applies to learned fear of non-experienced threats.
• To examine the impact on both behavioral and subjective fear components.

Main Methods:

• An instructed fear-learning paradigm in humans was used.
• Participants experienced an anticipated but not actual noxious event.
• Beta-adrenergic receptor blockade was administered during memory reconsolidation.

Main Results:

• Beta-blockade during reconsolidation significantly reduced behavioral fear expression (startle response).
• Subjective feelings of anxiety were also diminished 24 hours later.
• Physiological (skin conductance) and cognitive (expectancy) aspects of threat anticipation remained unaffected.

Conclusions:

• Learned fear memory components may not reconsolidate uniformly.
• Targeting subjective anxiety via disrupting reconsolidation is feasible.
• Findings have significant implications for psychotherapy, particularly for anxiety disorders involving imagined threats.