Imagery Rescripting Versus Extinction: Distinct and Combined Effects on Expectancy and Revaluation Learning

M. Woelk; J. Krans; F. Raes; B. Vervliet; M.A. Hagenaars

doi:10.1177/21677026211055169

Imagery Rescripting Versus Extinction: Distinct and Combined Effects on Expectancy and Revaluation Learning

M. Woelk^*, J. Krans, F. Raes, B. Vervliet, M.A. Hagenaars

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Anxiety disorders are effectively treated with exposure therapy, but relapse remains high. Fear may reinstate after reoccurrence of the negative event because the expectancy of the aversive outcome (unconditioned stimulus [US]) is adjusted but not its evaluation. Imagery rescripting (ImRs) is an intervention that is proposed to work through revaluation of the US. The aim of our preregistered study was to test the effects of ImRs and extinction on US expectancy and US revaluation. Day 1 (n = 106) consisted of acquisition with an aversive film clip as US. The manipulation (ImRs + extinction, extinction-only, or ImRs-only) took place on Day 2. Reinstatement of fear was tested on Day 3. Results showed expectancy learning in both extinction conditions but not in the ImRs-only condition and no enhanced revaluation learning in ImRs. The combination of ImRs and extinction slowed down extinction but did not protect against reinstatement, which pleads in favor of stand-alone interventions in clinical practice.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	622-639
Journal	Clinical Psychological Science
Volume	10
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026211055169
Publication status	Published - Jul 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Anouk van den Brand, Pepijn van der Post, Marloes van Slooten, Ferdi Spronk, and Marjoke van de Werken for their assistance in the data collection; Mathijs and Jeroen for their technical support in Leuven; Jim and Dennis for their technical support in Utrecht; and Nicole Montijn for providing the R script for the figures.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.

Funding

We thank Anouk van den Brand, Pepijn van der Post, Marloes van Slooten, Ferdi Spronk, and Marjoke van de Werken for their assistance in the data collection; Mathijs and Jeroen for their technical support in Leuven; Jim and Dennis for their technical support in Utrecht; and Nicole Montijn for providing the R script for the figures.

Keywords

anxiety
extinction
fear conditioning
imagery rescripting
open data
preregistered

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10.1177/21677026211055169Licence: CC BY

21677026211055169Final published version, 681 KBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Imagery Rescripting Versus Extinction: Distinct and Combined Effects on Expectancy and Revaluation Learning",

abstract = "Anxiety disorders are effectively treated with exposure therapy, but relapse remains high. Fear may reinstate after reoccurrence of the negative event because the expectancy of the aversive outcome (unconditioned stimulus [US]) is adjusted but not its evaluation. Imagery rescripting (ImRs) is an intervention that is proposed to work through revaluation of the US. The aim of our preregistered study was to test the effects of ImRs and extinction on US expectancy and US revaluation. Day 1 (n = 106) consisted of acquisition with an aversive film clip as US. The manipulation (ImRs + extinction, extinction-only, or ImRs-only) took place on Day 2. Reinstatement of fear was tested on Day 3. Results showed expectancy learning in both extinction conditions but not in the ImRs-only condition and no enhanced revaluation learning in ImRs. The combination of ImRs and extinction slowed down extinction but did not protect against reinstatement, which pleads in favor of stand-alone interventions in clinical practice.",

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AU - Vervliet, B.

AU - Hagenaars, M.A.

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Imagery Rescripting Versus Extinction: Distinct and Combined Effects on Expectancy and Revaluation Learning

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