Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Siegen, Obergraben 23, 57072 Siegen, Germany; Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster, Malmedyweg 15, 48149 Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany.
Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University Hospital Münster, Malmedyweg 15, 48149 Münster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Hospital Muenster, Schmeddingstraße 50, 48149 Muenster, Germany.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2022 Dec;58:101169. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101169. Epub 2022 Oct 28.
Fear generalization is pivotal for the survival-promoting avoidance of potential danger, but, if too pronounced, it promotes pathological anxiety. Similar to adult patients with anxiety disorders, healthy children tend to show overgeneralized fear responses.
This study aims to investigate neuro-developmental aspects of fear generalization in adolescence - a critical age for the development of anxiety disorders.
We compared healthy adolescents (14-17 years) with healthy adults (19-34 years) regarding their fear responses towards tilted Gabor gratings (conditioned stimuli, CS; and slightly differently titled generalization stimuli, GS). In the conditioning phase, CS were paired (CS+) or remained unpaired (CS-) with an aversive stimulus (unconditioned stimuli, US). In the test phase, behavioral, peripheral and neural responses to CS and GS were captured by fear- and UCS expectancy ratings, a perceptual discrimination task, pupil dilation and source estimations of event-related magnetic fields.
Closely resembling adults, adolescents showed robust generalization gradients of fear ratings, pupil dilation, and estimated neural source activity. However, in the UCS expectancy ratings, adolescents revealed shallower generalization gradients indicating overgeneralization. Moreover, adolescents showed stronger visual cortical activity after as compared to before conditioning to all stimuli.
Various aspects of fear learning and generalization appear to be mature in healthy adolescents. Yet, cognitive aspects might show a slower course of development.
恐惧泛化对于促进对潜在危险的生存回避至关重要，但如果过于明显，则会导致病理性焦虑。与患有焦虑症的成年患者类似，健康的儿童往往表现出过度泛化的恐惧反应。
本研究旨在探讨青少年时期恐惧泛化的神经发育方面-这是焦虑障碍发展的关键时期。
我们比较了健康的青少年（14-17 岁）和健康的成年人（19-34 岁）对倾斜的 Gabor 光栅（条件刺激，CS；和略微不同的标题泛化刺激，GS）的恐惧反应。在 conditioning 阶段，CS 与厌恶刺激（非条件刺激，US）配对（CS+）或保持不配对（CS-）。在测试阶段，通过恐惧和 UCS 预期评分、感知辨别任务、瞳孔扩张和事件相关磁场的源估计来捕获 CS 和 GS 的行为、外周和神经反应。
与成年人非常相似，青少年表现出强烈的恐惧评分、瞳孔扩张和估计的神经源活动的泛化梯度。然而，在 UCS 预期评分中，青少年显示出较浅的泛化梯度，表明过度泛化。此外，与所有刺激相比，青少年在 conditioning 前后的视觉皮层活动更强。
健康青少年的恐惧学习和泛化的各个方面似乎已经成熟。然而，认知方面可能会表现出较慢的发展过程。
