title: Facilitated acquisition of standard but not long delay classical eyeblink conditioning in behaviorally inhibited adolescents.
abstract: Adolescence is a key age in the development of anxiety disorders. The present study assessed the relationship between behavioral inhibition, a risk factor for anxiety typified by avoidance, and acquisition of the classically conditioned eyeblink response. 168 healthy high school students (mean age 15.7 years, 54% female) were given a battery of self-report measures including the Adult Measure of Behavioural Inhibition (AMBI). The study compared acquisition of three experimental training conditions. Two groups were given paired CS-US training: standard delay of 500-ms or long delay of 1000-ms with CS overlapping and co-terminating with a 50-ms airpuff US. A third group received unpaired training of 1000-ms CS and 50-ms airpuff US. Inhibited individuals showed greater acquisition of the conditioned eyeblink response in the 500-ms CS condition, but not in the paired 1000-ms condition. No differences in spontaneous blinks or reactivity to the stimulus were evident in the 1000-ms unpaired CS condition. Results support a relationship between associative learning and anxiety vulnerability that may be mediated by cerebellar functioning in inhibited individuals.
authors.affiliation: Stress and Motivated Behavior Institute, USA; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Newark, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Caulfield
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Newark, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: VanMeenen
authors.affiliation: Stress and Motivated Behavior Institute, USA; Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Newark, NJ, USA. Electronic address: servatrj@njms.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Servatius
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000293:Adolescent; D001767:Blinking / Q000502:physiology; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D003215:Conditioning, Eyelid / Q000502:physiology*; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D010812:Physical Stimulation; D011594:Psychometrics; D057566:Self Report; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Adolescent anxiety; Anxiety vulnerability; Behavioral inhibition; Delay eyeblink conditioning; Long delay eyeblink conditioning