Combining the trauma film and fear conditioning paradigms: A theoretical review and meta-analysis with relevance to PTSD

A growing literature has sought to combine fear conditioning paradigms with the trauma film paradigm to study the associative learning properties of intrusive re-experiencing in PTSD. We review this innovative approach and the recent findings by highlighting their relevance to cognitive and conditioning theories of PTSD. We also conduct a meta-analysis of the available studies to demonstrate that, for most outcome measures, fear learning using a traumatic film clip unconditional stimulus yields results similar to those seen with an electro-tactile unconditional stimulus, which implies that the combined paradigm shares at least some properties of more standard fear conditioning paradigms. We argue that careful use of this combined paradigm will provide important new insights into the mechanisms underlying memory symptoms of PTSD and will allow rigorous testing of cognitive theories of the disorder.