Re-presentation of Olfactory Exposure Therapy Success Cues during Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep did not Increase Therapy Outcome but Increased Sleep Spindles.

Exposure therapy induces extinction learning and is an effective treatment for specific phobias. Sleep after learning promotes extinction memory and benefits therapy success. As sleep-dependent memory-enhancing effects are based on memory reactivations during sleep, here we aimed at applying the beneficial effect of sleep on therapy success by cueing memories of subjective therapy success during non-rapid eye movement sleep after in vivo exposure-based group therapy for spider phobia.