Leveraging occasional reinforced extinction via mental imagery of the unconditioned stimulus to optimize extinction learning

Occasionally presenting the unconditioned stimulus (US) during extinction training (occasional reinforced extinction, ORE) either unpaired or paired with the conditioned stimulus (CS) provides initial evidence for a less pronounced return of fear. However, translating this approach into clinical practice is challenging due to ethical and practical concerns of exposing patients to the original USs. The present study investigated extinction of fear responses in a novel approach employing ORE using vivid fear imagery of the US instead of actually exposing to it. Three experimental groups underwent differential fear conditioning. Subsequently, participants either received a non-reinforced (standard extinction, N = 25), occasional paired (N = 26), or occasional unpaired (N = 25) reinforced extinction training, followed by assessments for spontaneous recovery, reinstatement, and reacquisition of fear responses. Response patterns during spontaneous recovery, reinstatement and reacquisition showed no benefit from either paired or unpaired imaginative ORE. The current findings suggest that incorporating fear imagery of the US in ORE so far does not result in reducing the return of fear. Further investigation is needed to determine whether imaginal ORE with adjustments could still be a readily applicable strategy for translating the ORE approach into clinical practice.