The Application Of The Retrieval-Extinction Paradigm In Traumatic Memories Intervention

Individuals who have experienced traumatic events such as an earthquake,a car accident,a loss of loved ones,will have a strong traumatic memory.Out of them,fear memory is the most common one.At present,there are mainly two kinds of intervention paradigms for conditioned fear:one is the exposure therapy based on Pavlov's exposure treatment,namely,the traditional fear extinction paradigm;the other is the recent retrieval-extinction paradigm based on memory reconsolidation theory.Traditional extinction paradigm is the simplest way to reduce the expression of fear memory,but its extinction effects cannot last long.Compared with the traditional paradigm,retrieval-extinction paradigm can inhibit the recurrence after fear extinction.But at present,there is still controversy about its intervention effect.The experiment has two main objectives:to test the removal effect of the extraction extinction paradigm on traumatic memory and,to apply the extraction extinction paradigm in basic researches into clinical practice.Experiment One is to retest the effect of the classic extraction extinction paradigm,where the 3x3x2 mixed design is adopted.In the experiment,pictures are used as CS,squeal is used as US and,conditioned fear is acquired via the matching of CS and US.Then,a contrast on the intervention effect of the traditional extinction paradigm,the CS paradigm and the US paradigm on conditioned fear is made.The results showed that,in the traditional and US extraction group,the subjects had a recurrence of fear,but the CS extraction group had no recurrence.Experiment Two is the transition from the classical paradigm to the clinical situation,where the 3×3×2 mixed design is adopted.In the experiment,trauma films are used to simulate trauma.While watching the trauma film,the subjects will imagine they themselves are experiencing those traumatic events and thus induce trauma mood.Then,increase the ecological validity and,a contrast on the intervention effect of the traditional extinction paradigm,the CS paradigm and the US paradigm is made.The experimental results show that the US paradigm cannot subsidise extinction fear,and CS and traditional extraction paradigm can be effective intervention of traumatic memory and CS extraction regression better effectiveness paradigm.Finally,according to the results of the two experiments,the effects of the three types of fear intervention paradigm are discussed.