Interpreting Results

Let’s take another look at the results of the study by Schiller, Phelps, and their colleagues. The Y-axis on the graph below shows the skin conductance response of the subjects. Higher values indicate higher levels of fear.^[1] You will be adjusting the lines, so move them up to indicate more fear and down to indicate less fear. The X-axis shows the end of Day 1, after successful fear conditioning, and the first trial on Day 3, when spontaneous recovery is being measured.

We have placed the circles for Day 1 in their correct positions. The fact that they sit high on the graph reflects the fact that all three groups of participants were successfully conditioned on Day 1 to fear the yellow box. The differences among the three lines are not statistically significant.^[2] Your task is to grab the circles on the right and move them to the appropriate positions for the results of the experiment. You can move them up or down or leave them where they are.  When you have entered your solution, you can look at the actual results.

Remember, spontaneous recovery means that the person returns to the fear level they had learned earlier, on Day 1. No spontaneous recovery means that the fear response (high levels of skin conductance) had been eliminated. Lower fear is shown if the dots get closer to the X-axis.

Instructions: Click and drag the circles on the right (Day 3) to where you think they should be to reflect the results of the experiment. When you’re done, click the link below to see the actual results.

Click here to see the results.

The figure above shows the actual results from the experiment. The green line (control group) and the blue line (6-hour group) show slight declines in fear level, but not much. These two groups are not significantly different statistically on either Day 1 or Day 3. The fact that these two groups showed high levels of fear on Day 3 is consistent with spontaneous recovery of the fear response after extinction on Day 2.

The red line (10-minute group) drops dramatically from Day 1 to Day 3. This means that the fear these subjects learned on Day 1 and then had extinguished on Day 2 remained extinguished on Day 3. There was no spontaneous recovery of the fear response. These results are consistent with the idea that a learned fear response can either stay strong across several days (see the two control conditions) or it can be eliminated (see the reinstatement treatment condition) if new learning takes place under just the right conditions (i.e., while the fear memory is still active).

Keep in mind that one experiment doesn’t convince anyone—certainly not experienced scientists. But, when many similar experiments are conducted and they generally give consistent results, then scientists become increasingly confident that the results are not just due to chance, but that they are seeing something real. Go online and search for “memory reinstatement” or “memory reconsolidation” and you will find many studies that are related to the one you have just studied. Together, these experiments suggest that memories can be altered. In fact, every time we retrieve a memory, it is possible that we alter details or emotional elements of the memory. Our memories may change across our lifetimes in profound ways.