Context Fear Conditioning in Virtual Reality: Investigating the Effect of Novel Exploration on Extinction Memory Storage in Humans
2022 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 80 credits / 120 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
Studies in rodents have shown that enhanced extinction memory storage of context fear can be achieved by novel exploration. This effect relies on behavioral tagging, a memory mechanism that explains how weak events that normally are forgotten can become long-lasting memories. This study aimed to investigate the effect of novel expliration on the consolidation of context fear extinction learning in humans. Fifty-eight participants attended a context fear conditioning paradigm in virtual reality. They were randomly assigned to perform a novel exploration task (experimental group) or a visual attention task (control group) one hour before extinction. The analyses of skin conductance responses indicated no effect ot the novel exploration task designed for this study. We conclude that a novel exploration task ought to include a violation of expectations to function as a strong event in human studies.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2022.
Keywords [en]
Behavioural tagging, context fear conditioning, extinction learning, novel exploration, virtual reality
National Category
Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-478266OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-478266DiVA, id: diva2:1674704
Educational program
Master Programme in Social Sciences
Supervisors
Examiners
2023-03-032022-06-222023-03-03Bibliographically approved