Development of fear acquisition and extinction in children: Effects of age and anxiety

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Tanja Jovanovic, Emory University; Karin Maria Nylocks, Emory University; Kaitlyn L. Gamwell, Emory University; Ami Smith, Emory University; Telsie Davis, Emory University; Seth Davin Norrholm, Emory University; Bekh Bradley-Davino, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-09-01
• Publisher: Elsevier: 12 months
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nlm.2013.10.016
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
• ISSN: 1074-7427
• Volume: 113
• Start Page: 135
• End Page: 142
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was funded in part by the Brain and Behavior Foundation (formerly NARSAD; S.D.N. and T.J.).; This research was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grants MH070129 and MH100122 (PI, T.J.); the Emory Medical Care Foundation; the Atlanta Clinical Translational Science Institute; the NIH National Centers for Research Resources (M01 RR00039).
• Keywords: Behavioral Sciences; DISORDERS; RESPONSES; Anxiety; PREFRONTAL CORTEX; Neurosciences & Neurology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; CHILDHOOD; Fear conditioning; Neurosciences; Extinction; ADOLESCENTS; Science & Technology; INHIBITION; Psychology; Psychology, Multidisciplinary; ACTIVATION; Development; POTENTIATED STARTLE; AMYGDALA; Social Sciences; HUMANS; Children
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience; Psychology, Behavioral; Psychology, Developmental

Abstract

Development of anxiety disorders is associated with neurobiological changes in areas that are a critical part of the fear neurocircuitry. Fear conditioning paradigms can offer insight into the mechanisms underlying the neurobiological ontogeny of anxiety. A small number of studies have focused on the effects of age and anxiety separately in school age children. The present study aimed to investigate these effects in 8-13. year old children with higher and lower trait anxiety. We examined differential fear conditioning and extinction using skin conductance responses and fear-potentiated startle in 60 children recruited from a low-income urban population. The results indicated that children under 10. years of age show poor discrimination of conditioned stimuli, and that anxiety increases fear responses during fear acquisition. After controlling for age and trauma exposure, fear-potentiated startle to the safety cue predicted child anxiety levels suggesting that impaired safety signal learning may be a risk factor for anxiety disorders in adulthood. Identifying risk phenotypes in children may provide opportunities for early intervention and prevention of illness.