{
  "abstract": "Return of fear after exposure poses a significant challenge for treatment of anxiety dis- orders. In this study, we used computational modeling to test competing mechanisms underlying spontaneous recovery of fear over time. We fit computational models of a novel theory of spontaneous recovery—selective maintenance of aversive memories— to behavior from a fear conditioning and extinction task (N=316), and showed that they uniquely captured spontaneous recovery and quantitatively outperformed alternative models embodying theories from the literature. The results were supported across mul- tiple datasets, including a preregistered replication (N=355) and a sample with mental health symptoms (N=520). The selective maintenance modeling framework addition- ally offers mechanistic insights into overgeneralization and the development of anxi- ety. Indeed, in the symptomatic sample we found that symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder correlated with estimates of overgeneralization in the model. Through simu- lations, we further demonstrated that insights from our model can explain how targeted interventions such as retrieval cues and cognitive interventions can prevent the return of fear. These results highlight selective maintenance of aversive events in memory as a critical and testable target for improving anxiety treatments and preventing relapse.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Isabel Berwian"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yongjing Ren"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sashank Pisupati"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jialing Ding"
    },
    {
      "name": "Seohyun Moon"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jamie C. Chiu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Deepta Chandrasekhar"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yael Niv"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cv6trcztkh6m5.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.31234/osf.io/2kdtf_v3",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "cv6trcztkh6m5",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/2kdtf_v3/",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "bepress",
      "Anxiety Disorders"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Clinical Psychology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Cognitive Psychology"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Computational Modeling"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Memory"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Psychotherapy"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Quantitative Methods"
    ],
    [
      "bepress",
      "Social and Behavioral Sciences"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2805|Memory and Neural Mechanisms"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221616276",
  "pdf_url": "https://osf.io/2kdtf/download",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-10",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cv6trcztkh6m5.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:37Z",
      "native_id": "2kdtf",
      "source": "osf",
      "url": "https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/2kdtf_v2/"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "bepress:Clinical Psychology",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Selective maintenance of aversive memories as a mechanism of spontaneous recovery of fear",
  "title_text": "Selective maintenance of aversive memories as a mechanism of spontaneous recovery of fear",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:21:18Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cv6trcztkh6m5",
  "venue": "PsyArXiv",
  "versions": []
}