Cued UCS rehearsal and the impact of painful conditioned stimuli: UCS rehearsal increases SCRs but reduces experienced pain

The effects of cued UCS rehearsal on responses to a mildly painful CS previously paired with a highly painful UCS were investigated. Following CS pretest and CS-UCS pairings, subjects either mentally rehearsed the UCS (condition 1), received the real UCS (condition 2), mentally rehearsed an unrelated painful experience (condition 3), or waited (condition 4). In a fifth condition, subjects received CS and UCS unpaired before engaging in UCS rehearsal. During a posttest, subjects received CS-alone presentations and rated experienced pain and anxiety, while electrodermal responses were assessed. These responses were compared to pretest and acquisition responses. UCS rehearsal led to pain reduction of the CS comparable to the habituation effects of real UCS confrontation. In line with an associative basis for this effect, UCS rehearsal did not influence the pain experience of an unpaired CS. Yet, rehearsal of a memory of an unrelated painful experience also reduced the pain experience of the CS. Electrodermal responses showed delayed extinction and incubation after UCS rehearsal, but there were no significant effects on subjective anxiety. Incubation of electrodermal responses was related to low self-consciousness and the combination of low self-consciousness and high trait anxiety. Trait anxiety and worry proneness per se did not relate to incubation. The findings suggest that worry-like processes can have functional values like reducing pain impact, and cast doubt upon the contention that UCS rehearsal leads to an overall incubation of fear.