ABSTRACT
Any attempt to desynchronize the false alarm effects in the fear reaction and in protective behavior must retain the basic features of the experimental paradigm that has been used so far. In order not to throw the baby out with the bath water, the new manipulation attempted in the next experiment capitalized on the discovery that most of the subjects who engaged in protective behavior did so immediately after the onset of Warning A. This regularity ought to be judged in the context of instructions that allow complete freedom in the choice of the timing of protective behavior, as long as it takes place before the onset of the shock. In other words, subjects could act from the onset of Warning A, throughout A, throughout B, and well into Warning C, having 3 full minutes at their disposal. In view of our claim that the exact timing of the decision concerning protective behavior may well be the key to the understanding of the relationships between it and the fear reaction, it was particularly tempting to manipulate the decision time by instructions.
