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Teens that fear screams: A comparison of fear conditioning, extinction, and reinstatement in adolescents and adults
Author(s) -
Den Miriam Liora,
Graham Bronwyn M.,
Newall Carol,
Richardson Rick
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21330
Subject(s) - psychology , extinction (optical mineralogy) , conditioning , anxiety , fear conditioning , classical conditioning , audiology , developmental psychology , unconditioned stimulus , neutral stimulus , psychiatry , medicine , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , biology
This study investigated differences between adolescents and adults on fear conditioning, extinction, and reinstatement (i.e., the recovery of conditioned fear following re‐exposure to the unconditioned stimulus [US] post‐extinction). Participants underwent differential conditioning (i.e., the Screaming Lady ) where one neutral face (CS+) was followed by the same face expressing fear and a loud scream (US) while another neutral face (CS−) remained neutral. Extinction involved non‐reinforced presentations of both CSs, after which participants were reinstated (2xUSs) or not. On two self‐report measures, both ages showed conditioning, good extinction learning and retention, and reinstatement‐induced relapse. However, only adolescents showed conditioning, extinction, and reinstatement on the eye tracking measure; relapse on this measure could not be assessed in adults given they did not show initial conditioning. Lastly, higher levels of depression predicted stronger conditioning and weaker extinction in adolescents only. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for adolescent anxiety disorders. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc . Dev Psychobiol 57: 818–832, 2015.