The role of consciousness in threat extinction learning.
Consciousness and cognition November 1, 2023 Charlene L M Lam, Tom J Barry, Jenny Yiend et al. 1 citation
Extinction learning, a process central to exposure therapy, may work differently when a feared stimulus is perceived without conscious awareness. In a threat conditioning experiment, healthy participants' pupils dilated more during extinction trials when they were unaware of the conditioned stimulus than when they were aware of it, with a moderate effect size. After fear was reinstated, recovery of fear was greater for the stimulus that had been suppressed from awareness during extinction. The findings suggest that extinction with reduced visual awareness weakens the modulation of fear responses compared to extinction with full perceptual awareness.