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Reward Processes and Rehearsal in Exposure Therapy

NCT06132425 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 88

Last updated 2025-06-13

Study results available
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Summary

The purpose of this study is to 1) examine the importance of self-reported relief following exposure and 2) test whether positive-focused rehearsal following exposure can improve treatment outcomes for participants who endorse fear of public speaking.

Exposure therapy is an extinction-based behavioral technique, often employed in the context of cognitive behavioral therapy. It involves strategically exposing an individual to a feared stimulus in an effort to generate new non-fear associations with that stimulus. Relief refers to the positive, rewarding emotions associated with the absence of an expected aversive outcome following exposure to a feared stimulus.

In the current study, participants will engage in a series of short public speaking exposures that take place over two sessions. After every two exposures, participants will be asked to complete either a positive or neutral rehearsal exercise, consisting of recalling either positive or neutral aspects of the speech exposures. At multiple points throughout the study, participants will complete ratings of reward sensitivity, positive affect, relief, and expectancy of the aversive outcome.

The investigators will test the following: 1) the relationship of reward sensitivity and positive affect with relief following exposures, 2) the relationship between relief after exposure and learning rate (i.e., learning that the feared stimulus does not predict an aversive outcome), 3) potential differences in exposure outcomes between the positive and neutral rehearsal groups.

Conditions

  • Anxiety Disorders
  • Public Speaking Fear

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Exposure

All participants complete two study visits, each consisting of 8 exposure trials for durations of 1 minute each, resulting in a total of 16 exposures. For each exposure, participants are assigned a speech topic and given 1 minute to give an unprepared speech to two study confederates.

BEHAVIORAL

Rehearsal

After every two exposures, participants will complete a rehearsal task where the participant is asked to use a positive or neutral approach to remember and recount the exposures they have just completed.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2023-04-18
Primary Completion
2023-12-12
Completion
2023-12-12

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06132425 on ClinicalTrials.gov