Transfer of Extinction Retrieval Cues Attenuates the Renewal Effect in Rats

An experiment using rats investigated whether retrieval cues for an extinction memory could also be brought under the control of cues not physically present during extinction learning. Following the extinction of a fear motivated task in a context different from original learning, rats were exposed to the training context either immediately, 30 min, or 60 min after extinction. When tested back in the original context, rats that were exposed to the training context immediately following extinction treated the context as if it had received extinction in that setting, i.e., no renewal. This attenuation of renewal was reduced or eliminated with longer post-extinction delays, which suggests the importance of an active extinction memory during exposure. These findings are consistent with other research examining the transfer of retrieval cues using original memories and old reactivated memories, and in this case demonstrate a similarity between extinction learning with original acquisition.