Trial reportNature2010
Preventing the return of fear in humans using reconsolidation update mechanisms.
Trial report in Nature, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 508 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
508 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,250 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of ketamine on fear memory extinction: a review of preclinical literature.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Pharmacological memory modulation to augment trauma-focused psychotherapy for PTSD: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.Translational psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Consolidation/reconsolidation therapies for the prevention and treatment of PTSD and re-experiencing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Translational psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Promoting memory consolidation during sleep: A meta-analysis of targeted memory reactivation.Psychological bulletin · 2020Pooled it
- Navigating the garden of forking paths for data exclusions in fear conditioning research.eLife · 2019Pooled it
- The synergy of methylphenidate- and reconsolidation-based extinction normalizes ventromedial prefrontal function in drug addiction.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Trial
- A novel imagery-based retrieval-extinction training for intervention in nicotine addiction.BMC medicine · 2025Trial
- Effects of the histone deacetylase inhibitor valproic acid in combination with fear-memory retrieval before exposure therapy for spider phobia: A randomized controlled trial.Psychological medicine · 2025Trial
- Effect of conditioned stimuli-triggered memory retrieval-extinction in patients with methamphetamine use disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Exploring Post-Retrieval Strategies to Reduce Drug Craving in Methamphetamine Use Disorders.Addiction biology · 2025Trial
- Preventing fear return in humans: Music-based intervention during reactivation-extinction paradigm.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Long term structural and functional neural changes following a single infusion of Ketamine in PTSD.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Cannabinoid modulation of corticolimbic activation during extinction learning and fear renewal in adults with posttraumatic stress disorder.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2023Trial
- A novel stress-based intervention reduces cigarette use in non-treatment seeking smokers.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- The effect of a methadone-initiated memory reconsolidation updating procedure in opioid use disorder: A translational study.EBioMedicine · 2022Trial
- Effects of cannabidiol on symptoms induced by the recall of traumatic events in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder.Psychopharmacology · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Reactivation-induced motor skill learning.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Trial
- Augmentation of fear extinction by theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex in humans.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2021Trial
- The effects of FAAH inhibition on the neural basis of anxiety-related processing in healthy male subjects: a randomized clinical trial.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2021Trial
448 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Recent research on changing fears has examined targeting reconsolidation. During reconsolidation, stored information is rendered labile after being retrieved. Pharmacological manipulations at this stage result in an inability to retrieve the memories at later times, suggesting that they are erased or persistently inhibited. Unfortunately, the use of these pharmacological manipulations in humans can be problematic. Here we introduce a non-invasive technique to target the reconsolidation of fear memories in humans. We provide evidence that old fear memories can be updated with non-fearful information provided during the reconsolidation window. As a consequence, fear responses are no longer expressed, an effect that lasted at least a year and was selective only to reactivated memories without affecting others. These findings demonstrate the adaptive role of reconsolidation as a window of opportunity to rewrite emotional memories, and suggest a non-invasive technique that can be used safely in humans to prevent the return of fear.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.