SynthesisPsychological bulletin2016
Harnessing reconsolidation to weaken fear and appetitive memories: A meta-analysis of post-retrieval extinction effects.
Synthesis in Psychological bulletin, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 2 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
60 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Promoting memory consolidation during sleep: A meta-analysis of targeted memory reactivation.Psychological bulletin · 2020Pooled it
- Modulation of naturalistic maladaptive memories using behavioural and pharmacological reconsolidation-interfering strategies: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical and 'sub-clinical' studies.Psychopharmacology · 2018Pooled it
- The Use of Behavioral Reconsolidation Interference in Depressive Disorders. A Double-Blinded Randomized Controlled Experimental Registered Report.Psychophysiology · 2026Trial
- Effect of d-cycloserine on fear extinction training in adults with social anxiety disorder.PloS one · 2019Trial
- Who is studied in de novo fear conditioning paradigms? An examination of demographic and stimulus characteristics predicting fear learning.International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology · 2018Trial
- Preventing traumatic stress-induced behavioral abnormalities in rats with blue light phototherapy.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Authorship network bias in meta-analysis.Research synthesis methods · 2026Article
- Memory erasure by dopamine-gated retrospective learning.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- COAddiction biology · 2026Article
- Memory Reconsolidation Updating in Substance Addiction: Applications, Mechanisms, and Future Prospects for Clinical Therapeutics.Neuroscience bulletin · 2025Review
- Conflict Dynamics of Post-Retrieval Extinction: A Comparative Analysis of Unconditional and Conditional Reminders Using Skin Conductance Responses and EEG.Brain topography · 2024Article
- Aversive memories can be weakened during human sleep via the reactivation of positive interfering memories.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Fear attenuation collaborations to optimize translation.Behavioral neuroscience · 2024Article
- Carbon Dioxide Reactivity Differentially Predicts Fear Expression After Extinction and Retrieval-Extinction in Rats.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2024Article
- Memory persistence: from fundamental mechanisms to translational opportunities.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
- Drug memory reconsolidation: from molecular mechanisms to the clinical context.Translational psychiatry · 2023Review
- Consensus design of a calibration experiment for human fear conditioning.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Locus coeruleus input-modulated reactivation of dentate gyrus opioid-withdrawal engrams promotes extinction.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Reconsolidation and Fear Extinction: An Update.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2023Article
- The relationship between sleep quality, snoring symptoms, night shift and risk of stroke in Chinese over 40 years old.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A new understanding of the mechanisms of memory retrieval and reconsolidation holds the potential for improving exposure-based treatments. Basic research indicates that following fear extinction, safety and fear memories may compete, raising the possibility of return of fear. One possible solution is to modify original fear memories through reconsolidation interference, reducing the likelihood of return of fear. Postretrieval extinction is a behavioral method of reconsolidation interference that has been explored in the context of conditioned fear and appetitive memory paradigms. This meta-analysis examines the magnitude of postretrieval extinction effects and potential moderators of these effects. A PubMed and PsycINFO search was conducted through June 2014. Sixty-three comparisons examining postretrieval extinction for preventing the return of fear or appetitive responses in animals or humans met inclusion criteria. Postretrieval extinction demonstrated a significant, small-to-moderate effect (g = .40) for further reducing the return of fear in humans and a significant, large effect (g = 0.89) for preventing the return of appetitive responses in animals relative to standard extinction. For fear outcomes in animals, effects were small (g = 0.21) and nonsignificant, but moderated by the number of animals housed together and the duration of time between postretrieval extinction/extinction and test. Across paradigms, these findings support the efficacy of this preclinical strategy for preventing the return of conditioned fear and appetitive responses. Overall, findings to date support the continued translation of postretrieval extinction research to human and clinical applications, with particular application to the treatment of anxiety, traumatic stress, and substance use disorders.
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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.