Trial reportNeuropharmacology2013
Cannabinoid facilitation of fear extinction memory recall in humans.
Trial report in Neuropharmacology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers, 3 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
87 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 135 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cannabis use and trauma-focused treatment for co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder and substance use disorders: A meta-analysis of individual patient data.Journal of anxiety disorders · 2024Pooled it
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on the Effects of Exercise on the Endocannabinoid System.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2022Pooled it
- Cannabinoid Receptors: An Update on Cell Signaling, Pathophysiological Roles and Therapeutic Opportunities in Neurological, Cardiovascular, and Inflammatory Diseases.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Pooled it
- Dose-dependent effect of acute THC on extinction memory recall and fear renewal: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.Psychopharmacology · 2026Trial
- Cannabinoid modulation of corticolimbic activation during extinction learning and fear renewal in adults with posttraumatic stress disorder.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2023Trial
- The short-term impact of 3 smoked cannabis preparations versus placebo on PTSD symptoms: A randomized cross-over clinical trial.PloS one · 2021Trial
- Acute effects of cannabinoids on symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder: A human laboratory study.Depression and anxiety · 2020Trial
- Effects of acute Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol on next-day extinction recall is mediated by post-extinction resting-state brain dynamics.Neuropharmacology · 2018Trial
- Modulation of fear extinction processes using transcranial electrical stimulation.Translational psychiatry · 2016Trial
- Cannabinoid Modulation of Frontolimbic Activation and Connectivity During Volitional Regulation of Negative Affect.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- Cannabinoid modulation of amygdala subregion functional connectivity to social signals of threat.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2014Trial
- Cannabinoid modulation of prefrontal-limbic activation during fear extinction learning and recall in humans.Neurobiology of learning and memory · 2014Trial
- The endocannabinoid system and the ageing brain.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- Acute and chronic cannabis vapor exposure produces immediate and delayed impacts on phases of fear learning in a sex specific manner.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- A systematic review of spontaneous recovery in human fear conditioning.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
- Randomized trial of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) versus placebo to augment the effects of prolonged exposure therapy on fear extinction learning in post-traumatic stress disorder: Study rationale and protocol.Contemporary clinical trials · 2026Article
- Understanding the Role of Endocannabinoids in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Ginkgo Biloba as a niche theme cognitive enhancer agent, 1420 dokumen of Scopus database. A bibliometric study from 1988 to 2024.F1000Research · 2025Article
- Pharmacological diacylglycerol lipase inhibition impairs contextual fear extinction in mice.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Impact of Childhood Trauma Exposure, Genetic Variation in Endocannabinoid Signaling, and Anxiety on Frontolimbic Pathways in Children.Cannabis and cannabinoid research · 2023Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
A first-line approach to treat anxiety disorders is exposure-based therapy, which relies on extinction processes such as repeatedly exposing the patient to stimuli (conditioned stimuli; CS) associated with the traumatic, fear-related memory. However, a significant number of patients fail to maintain their gains, partly attributed to the fact that this inhibitory learning and its maintenance is temporary and conditioned fear responses can return. Animal studies have shown that activation of the cannabinoid system during extinction learning enhances fear extinction and its retention. Specifically, CB1 receptor agonists, such as Δ9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC), can facilitate extinction recall by preventing recovery of extinguished fear in rats. However, this phenomenon has not been investigated in humans. We conducted a study using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, between-subjects design, coupling a standard Pavlovian fear extinction paradigm and simultaneous skin conductance response (SCR) recording with an acute pharmacological challenge with oral dronabinol (synthetic THC) or placebo (PBO) 2 h prior to extinction learning in 29 healthy adult volunteers (THC = 14; PBO = 15) and tested extinction retention 24 h after extinction learning. Compared to subjects that received PBO, subjects that received THC showed low SCR to a previously extinguished CS when extinction memory recall was tested 24 h after extinction learning, suggesting that THC prevented the recovery of fear. These results provide the first evidence that pharmacological enhancement of extinction learning is feasible in humans using cannabinoid system modulators, which may thus warrant further development and clinical testing. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Cognitive Enhancers'.
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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.