Renewal of extinguished fear by context-shifting in rats' conditioned lick suppression

Abstract

Renewal of conditioned fear by changing contexts after extinction was explored in an experiment with rats' lick suppression preparation. After repeated pairing of a tone with an electric shock in one chamber (Context A), conditioned fear to the tone was extinguished in the other chamber (Context B) on the water licking baseline. Return to the original chamber renewed the conditioned fear (ABA renewal effect). It was also found that shifting to Context B after both conditioning and extinction in Context A resulted in a brief recovery of the conditioned fear (AAB renewal effect). Implications for relapse of phobia after behavioral therapeutic treatments, such as flooding and systematic desensitization, were discussed.