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Sketchpad Series

Examining the Role of the Time Delay Between Acquisition and Extinction in Fear Extinction Mechanisms with Virtual Reality

Poster Session D - Monday, March 31, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Shreya Rajagopal¹ (shreyara@umich.edu), Shuhao Cao, Elizabeth Lockwood, Ananya Menon, Oreen Morag, Olivia Terry, Elizabeth Duval, Thad Polk; ¹University of Michigan

Exposure therapy, a common treatment for anxiety and stress disorders, relies on Pavlovian fear extinction. However, its mixed long-term success underscores the need to understand the mechanisms underlying fear extinction in humans. One key factor may be the timing of extinction relative to fear acquisition. Animal studies suggest that immediate extinction disrupts the consolidation of fear memories, reducing fear renewal, while delayed extinction preserves fear memory and increases renewal. To test this hypothesis in humans, we use a virtual reality paradigm. Participants acquire fear responses to two stimuli (colors of a virtual lamp) paired with loud bursts of white noise. Fear is measured through skin conductance responses. Extinction occurs either immediately (10 minutes after acquisition) or after a delay (3 days after). Half of the participants undergo extinction in the same virtual environment as acquisition, while the other half undergo extinction in a different environment. Fear renewal, measured as the difference in fear responses between same- and different-context groups, indicates the persistence of fear memory. We hypothesize that immediate extinction will reduce renewal by disrupting memory consolidation, while delayed extinction will lead to greater renewal due to preserved fear memory. These findings aim to advance our understanding of fear extinction and inform improvements in exposure therapy to reduce relapse rates.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Emotion-cognition interactions