Temporally massed CS presentations generate more fear extinction than spaced presentations.

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Abstract
Rodent fear conditioning models both excitatory learning and the pathogenesis of human anxiety, whereas extinction of conditional fear is a paradigm of inhibitory learning and the explicit model for behavior therapy. Many studies support a general learning rule for acquisition: Temporally spaced training is more effective than massed training. The authors asked whether this rule applies to extinction of conditional fear in mice. The authors find that both short- and long-term fear extinction are greater with temporally massed presentations of the conditional stimulus (CS). The data also indicate that once CS presentations are sufficiently massed to initiate, or "induce," extinction learning, further CS presen- tations are more effective when spaced. Pairing an initially neutral stimulus, such as a noise (conditional stimulus, CS), with an intrinsically aversive stimulus, such as a mild footshock (unconditional stimulus, US), generates robust conditional fear in rodents. Such Pavlovian fear conditioning has served as an important model for the study of molecular mecha- nisms underlying learning and memory for many decades (Davis, 1986; Fendt & Fanselow, 1999; LeDoux, 1992; McGaugh, 2000). In addition, fear conditioning has long been an important experi- mental model for the pathogenesis of human anxiety disorders (Eysenck, 1979). Before the institution of modern ethical stan-

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