A cognitively demanding working-memory intervention enhances extinction

This study suggests that doing mentally demanding tasks, like eye movements, while recalling fear memories can better reduce anxiety, supporting how EMDR works.

Article Abstract

“Improving extinction learning has the potential to optimize psychotherapy for persistent anxiety-related disorders. Recent findings show that extinction learning can be improved with a cognitively demanding eye-movement intervention. It is, however, unclear whether [1] any cognitively-demanding task can enhance extinction, or whether it is limited to eye movements, and [2] the effectiveness of such an intervention can be enhanced by increasing cognitive load. Participants (n = 102, n = 75 included in the final sample) completed a Pavlovian threat conditioning paradigm across two days. One group underwent standard extinction (Control), a second group underwent extinction paired with a 1-back working memory task (Low-Load), and a third group underwent extinction paired with a 2-back working memory task (High-Load). We found that the conditioned response during extinction was reduced for both the Low-Load and the High-Load groups compared to the Control group. This reduction persisted during recovery the following day when no working memory task was executed. Finally, we found that within the High-Load group, participants with lower accuracy scores on the 2-back task (i.e., for who the task was more difficult) had a stronger reduction in the conditioned response. We did not observe this relationship within the Low-Load group. Our findings suggest that cognitive load induced by a working memory intervention embedded during extinction reduces persistent threat responses.”

—Description from publisher

Article Access

Open Access 

de Voogd, L. D., & Phelps, E. A. (2020). A cognitively demanding working-memory intervention enhances extinction. Scientific Reports, 10, 7020. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-63811-0