Background and objectives: Safety signals are conditioned inhibitory stimuli that indicate the absence of unconditioned stimuli. It is not clear whether the presence of safety signals is detrimental or beneficial in extinction-based interventions. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of safety signals on autonomic and expectancy fear-related responses.
Methods: Following the conditional discrimination paradigm (AX +, BX-), undergraduate students (N = 48) underwent an aversive conditioning procedure, while safety signals were experimentally created. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions during extinction: presence or absence of safety signals.
Results: Significant reductions of fear-related responses were found in both groups. Expectancy measures showed that the presence of safety signals did not interfere with reduction of fear related responses at follow-up.
Limitations: The analogue nature of the study affects its ecological validity. There are some methodological issues.
Conclusions: Safety signals did not interfere with extinction learning. Attention may be a mechanism associated with the maintenance of fear responses.
Keywords: Conditional discrimination; Conditioned inhibition; Extinction; Fear conditioning; Safety behavior; Safety signals.
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