Fear conditioning and stimulus generalization in association with age in children and adolescents |
| |
Authors: | Reinhard Julia Slyschak Anna Schiele Miriam A Andreatta Marta Kneer Katharina Reif Andreas Domschke Katharina Gamer Matthias Pauli Paul Deckert Jürgen Romanos Marcel |
| |
Institution: | 1.Center of Mental Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany ;2.Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany ;3.Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany ;4.Department of Psychology, Education and Child Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands ;5.Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany ;6.Department of Psychology (Experimental Clinical Psychology), University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany ;7.Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany ; |
| |
Abstract: | The aim of the study was to investigate age-related differences in fear learning and generalization in healthy children and adolescents (n = 133), aged 8–17 years, using an aversive discriminative fear conditioning and generalization paradigm adapted from Lau et al. (2008). In the current task, participants underwent 24 trials of discriminative conditioning of two female faces with neutral facial expressions, with (CS+) or without (CS−) a 95-dB loud female scream, presented simultaneously with a fearful facial expression (US). The discriminative conditioning was followed by 72 generalization trials (12 CS+, 12 GS1, 12 GS2, 12 GS3, 12 GS4, and 12 CS−): four generalization stimuli depicting gradual morphs from CS+ to CS− in 20%-steps were created for the generalization phases. We hypothesized that generalization in children and adolescents is negatively correlated with age. The subjective ratings of valence, arousal, and US expectancy (the probability of an aversive noise following each stimulus), as well as skin conductance responses (SCRs) were measured. Repeated-measures ANOVAs on ratings and SCR amplitudes were calculated with the within-subject factors stimulus type (CS+, CS−, GS1-4) and phase (Pre-Acquisition, Acquisition 1, Acquisition 2, Generalization 1, Generalization 2). To analyze the modulatory role of age, we additionally calculated ANCOVAs considering age as covariate. Results indicated that (1) subjective and physiological responses were generally lower with increasing age irrespective to the stimulus quality, and (2) stimulus discrimination improved with increasing age paralleled by reduced overgeneralization in older individuals. Longitudinal follow-up studies are required to analyze fear generalization with regard to brain maturational aspects and clarify whether overgeneralization of conditioned fear promotes the development of anxiety disorders or vice versa. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|