Forgetting of conditioned fear inhibition

Although excitatory conditioning was retained well, conditioned inhibition was not and inhibition was forgotten when the initial conditioning treatment was designed to reduce the role of possible proactive interference processes.

Abstract

Three experiments assessed retention of conditioned fear and of fear inhibition over long-term retention intervals (35 days in two experiments, 25 days in the third). Although excitatory conditioning was retained well, conditioned inhibition was not. This effect occurred when inhibition was assessed by compounding stimuli on an appetitive baseline and when it was assessed by testing cues on a baseline of unsignalled avoidance responding. Inhibition was also forgotten when the initial conditioning treatment was designed to reduce the role of possible proactive interference processes.