Lecture 8 - Deconstructing fear memory

Question 1

Three important background/historical context points for psychotherapy mentioned in this lecture?

Answer 1

• Psychotherapy was not based on empirical science until about the 1960s
• Awareness of past ineffective or harmful methods emphasized the importance of EBTs
• Historical perspectives highlight the importance of critical testing of therapeutic methods and warns against overestimating the significance of discoveries

Question 2

What is central to anxiety disorders?

Answer 2

Irrational and learned fears

Question 3

Neurobiological evidence for extinction/new inhibitory memories?

Answer 3

Evidence shows extinction involves new inhibitory memory networks (Hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex), whereas original fear memories remain intact in the Amygdala.

Question 4

How is reconsolidation different from extinction?

Answer 4

Reconsolidation proposes a way to treat fear by altering the original fear memory (as opposed to the new inhibitory memories as in extinction)