Trial reportJournal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN2021
Augmentation of fear extinction by theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation of the prefrontal cortex in humans.
Trial report in Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation affect explicit but not implicit emotion regulation: a meta-analysis.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2023Pooled it
- Social support facilitates threat extinction retention in humans: an fMRI study.Translational psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Intermittent theta burst stimulation over the left prefrontal cortex: no additional effect for virtual reality exposure therapy in acrophobia-a randomized trial.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Case Report: A Multimodal Treatment Approach Combining Multi-Target rTMS with a Modified, Largely Self-Administered, Clinician-Supervised Exposure and Response Prevention Protocol Using a Verbal Termination Cue in Two Patients with Severe Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- A systematic review of spontaneous recovery in human fear conditioning.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2026Review
- A potential target for noninvasive neuromodulation of PTSD symptoms derived from focal brain lesions in veterans.Nature neuroscience · 2024Article
- A potential neuromodulation target for PTSD in Veterans derived from focal brain lesions.Research square · 2024Article
- Contemporary Approaches Toward Neuromodulation of Fear Extinction and Its Underlying Neural Circuits.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2023Article
- Causally mapping human threat extinction relevant circuits with depolarizing brain stimulation methods.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Continuous theta-burst stimulation over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex disrupts fear memory reconsolidation in humans.iScience · 2022Article
- Executive functions modulate conditioned fear extinction and reinstatement: The differential roles of shifting, updating, and inhibition.International journal of clinical and health psychology : IJCHPArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Fear extinction alone does not erase the original fear memory. Interventions that enhance extinction can be beneficial for the treatment of fear-related disorders. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation has been shown to improve memory performance. The present study examined the effects of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) on fear extinction and the return of fear memory in humans. Methods: Ninety-one young healthy volunteers underwent 3 experiments using a randomized controlled experimental design. Participants first acquired fear conditioning, after which they received 30 Hz iTBS before and after extinction training. The iTBS was applied to 1 of 2 targets: the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the vertex (control). Fear responses were measured 24 hours later and 1 month later. Results: During the spontaneous recovery and reinstatement tests, iTBS of the left dlPFC before and after extinction significantly reduced fear response, whereas iTBS of the vertex had no effect on fear memory performance. This combined approach had a relatively long-lasting effect (i.e., at least 1 month). Limitations: We did not explore the effect of iTBS of the dlPFC on the expression of fear without extinction training. The neural mechanisms of iTBS with fear extinction to inhibit the fear response are unclear. Our results are preliminary and should be interpreted with caution. Conclusion: `The present results showed that 30 Hz iTBS of the left dlPFC enhanced retention of fear extinction. Our study introduces a new intervention for fear memory and suggests that the left dlPFC may be a treatment target for fear-related 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.