{"id":1280,"date":"2023-03-31T17:38:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T17:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/15-4-3-learn-it-interpreting-experimental-results-on-consolidation\/"},"modified":"2023-07-28T01:26:16","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T01:26:16","slug":"15-4-3-learn-it-interpreting-experimental-results-on-consolidation","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/chapter\/15-4-3-learn-it-interpreting-experimental-results-on-consolidation\/","title":{"raw":"Reconsolidation Therapy: Learn It 3\u2014Interpreting Experimental Results on Reconsolidation","rendered":"Reconsolidation Therapy: Learn It 3\u2014Interpreting Experimental Results on Reconsolidation"},"content":{"raw":"<h2>Interpreting Results<\/h2>\r\nLet\u2019s 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.[footnote]The actual dependent variable was a bit more complicated than the simple measure of skin conductance suggested in the figure. Consult the original study if you need to know the exact way that skin conductance was measured.[\/footnote] 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\u00a0recovery is being measured.\r\n\r\nWe 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.[footnote]In real research, we seldom find exactly the same averages for different conditions. There is always some natural variability. We use statistical tests to be sure that these typical differences are not greater than we would expect by chance.[\/footnote] 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. \u00a0When you have entered your solution, you can look at the actual results.\r\n\r\nRemember, 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.\r\n\r\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\"><strong>Instructions:<\/strong> 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.<center><iframe src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/oerfiles\/Psychology\/interactives\/reconsolidation\/linegraph1.html\" width=\"680\" height=\"400\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/center>[reveal-answer q=\"47437\"]Click here to see the results.[\/reveal-answer]\r\n[hidden-answer a=\"47437\"]<img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5155 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/27042646\/reconsolidation_results1.png\" alt=\"Results showing skin conductance (the amount of fear) on the y axis, and the Days of the experiment on the x-axis. Initially, all three groups (control group reinstatment plus long delay, control group with no reinstatement, and the treatment group with reinstatement and a short delay), all start with high fear scores. On day 3, the control group and the control group with reinstatement have only gone down slightly in their fear response, while come day 3, the treatment group's response has entirely disappeared.\" width=\"710\" height=\"399\" \/>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.\r\n\r\nThe 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).\r\n\r\n[\/hidden-answer]\r\n\r\n<\/section>Keep in mind that one experiment doesn\u2019t convince anyone\u2014certainly 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 \u201cmemory reinstatement\u201d 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.","rendered":"<h2>Interpreting Results<\/h2>\n<p>Let\u2019s 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.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"The actual dependent variable was a bit more complicated than the simple measure of skin conductance suggested in the figure. Consult the original study if you need to know the exact way that skin conductance was measured.\" id=\"return-footnote-1280-1\" href=\"#footnote-1280-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a> 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\u00a0recovery is being measured.<\/p>\n<p>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.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"In real research, we seldom find exactly the same averages for different conditions. There is always some natural variability. We use statistical tests to be sure that these typical differences are not greater than we would expect by chance.\" id=\"return-footnote-1280-2\" href=\"#footnote-1280-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a> 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. \u00a0When you have entered your solution, you can look at the actual results.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<section class=\"textbox tryIt\"><strong>Instructions:<\/strong> 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&#8217;re done, click the link below to see the actual results.<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/oerfiles\/Psychology\/interactives\/reconsolidation\/linegraph1.html\" width=\"680\" height=\"400\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"qa-wrapper\" style=\"display: block\"><button class=\"show-answer show-answer-button collapsed\" data-target=\"q47437\">Click here to see the results.<\/button><\/p>\n<div id=\"q47437\" class=\"hidden-answer\" style=\"display: none\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5155 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/05\/27042646\/reconsolidation_results1.png\" alt=\"Results showing skin conductance (the amount of fear) on the y axis, and the Days of the experiment on the x-axis. Initially, all three groups (control group reinstatment plus long delay, control group with no reinstatement, and the treatment group with reinstatement and a short delay), all start with high fear scores. On day 3, the control group and the control group with reinstatement have only gone down slightly in their fear response, while come day 3, the treatment group's response has entirely disappeared.\" width=\"710\" height=\"399\" \/>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.<\/p>\n<p>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).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>Keep in mind that one experiment doesn\u2019t convince anyone\u2014certainly 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 \u201cmemory reinstatement\u201d or &#8220;memory reconsolidation&#8221; 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.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-1280-1\">The actual dependent variable was a bit more complicated than the simple measure of skin conductance suggested in the figure. Consult the original study if you need to know the exact way that skin conductance was measured. <a href=\"#return-footnote-1280-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-1280-2\">In real research, we seldom find exactly the same averages for different conditions. There is always some natural variability. We use statistical tests to be sure that these typical differences are not greater than we would expect by chance. <a href=\"#return-footnote-1280-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":20,"menu_order":21,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Psychology in Real Life: Reconsolidation\",\"author\":\"Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":1260,"module-header":"learn_it","content_attributions":[{"type":"cc","description":"Psychology in Real Life: Reconsolidation","author":"Patrick Carroll for Lumen Learning","organization":"Lumen Learning","url":"","project":"","license":"cc-by","license_terms":""}],"internal_book_links":[],"video_content":null,"cc_video_embed_content":{"cc_scripts":"","media_targets":[]},"try_it_collection":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5724,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1280\/revisions\/5724"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/1260"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/1280\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/content.one.lumenlearning.com\/introductiontopsychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=1280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}