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Extinction and Renewal of Conditioned Eyeblink Responses in Focal Cerebellar Disease

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Abstract

Extinction of conditioned aversive responses (CR) has been shown to be context-dependent. The hippocampus and prefrontal cortex are of particular importance. The cerebellum may contribute to context-related processes because of its known connections with the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Context dependency of extinction can be demonstrated by the renewal effect. When CR acquisition takes place in context A and is extinguished in context B, renewal refers to the recovery of the CR in context A (A-B-A paradigm). In the present study acquisition, extinction and renewal of classically conditioned eyeblink responses were tested in 18 patients with subacute focal cerebellar lesions and 18 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Standard delay eyeblink conditioning was performed using an A-B-A paradigm. All cerebellar patients underwent a high-resolution T1-weighted brain MRI scan to perform lesion-symptom mapping. CR acquisition was not significantly different between cerebellar and control participants allowing to draw conclusions on extinction. CR extinction was significantly less in cerebellar patients. Reduction of CR extinction tended to be more likely in patients with lesions in the lateral parts of lobule VI and Crus I. A significant renewal effect was present in controls only. The present data provide further evidence that the cerebellum contributes to extinction of conditioned eyeblink responses. Because acquisition was preserved and extinction took place in another context than acquisition, more lateral parts of the cerebellar hemisphere may contribute to context-related processes. Furthermore, lack of renewal in cerebellar patients suggest a contribution of the cerebellum to context-related processes.

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Funding

This work was funded by German Research Foundation (DFG) grant SFB 1280 (A05) to DT.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstr. 55, 45147, Essen, Germany

    Katharina M. Steiner, Yvonne Gisbertz, Dae-In Chang, Björn Koch, Ellen Uslar, Jens Claassen, Thomas M. Ernst & Dagmar Timmann

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LVR-Hospital Essen, Faculty of Medicine, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Dae-In Chang

  3. Department of Neurology, MediClin Fachklinik Rhein/Ruhr, Essen, Germany

    Elke Wondzinski & Mario Siebler

  4. Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, Essen University Hospital, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

    Sophia L. Göricke

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  1. Katharina M. Steiner
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Steiner, K.M., Gisbertz, Y., Chang, DI. et al. Extinction and Renewal of Conditioned Eyeblink Responses in Focal Cerebellar Disease. Cerebellum 18, 166–177 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-018-0973-y

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