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Updated: Jun 20, 2025

Fear Incubation Using an Extended Fear-Conditioning Protocol for Rats
Published on: August 22, 2020
Exercise and Fear and Safety Learning
Ameera Azar1,2, Troy Hubert3, Thomas G Adams3,4
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin Dell Medical School, Austin, TX, USA.
Abstract:
Fear conditioning paradigms have been studied for over 100 years and are of great interest to the behavioral and clinical sciences given that several safety learning processes (e.g., extinction learning and recall) are thought to be fundamental to the success of exposure-based therapies for anxiety and related disorders. This chapter provides an overview of preclinical and clinical investigations that examined the effects of exercise on initial fear acquisition, fear extinction learning and consolidation, and return of fear outcomes. This chapter highlights the collective body of evidence suggesting that exercise administered after extinction learning enhances the consolidation and subsequent recall of extinction memories to a greater extent than exercise administered prior to extinction learning. This suggests that the addition of exercise after exposure therapy sessions may improve treatment outcomes for people with anxiety and related disorders. Potential mechanisms are discussed in addition to suggestions for future research to improve our understanding of the effects of exercise on fear conditioning and extinction outcomes.
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