title: Developmental aspects of fear: Comparing the acquisition and generalization of conditioned fear in children and adults.
abstract: Most research on human fear conditioning and its generalization has focused on adults whereas only little is known about these processes in children. Direct comparisons between child and adult populations are needed to determine developmental risk markers of fear and anxiety. We compared 267 children and 285 adults in a differential fear conditioning paradigm and generalization test. Skin conductance responses (SCR) and ratings of valence and arousal were obtained to indicate fear learning. Both groups displayed robust and similar differential conditioning on subjective and physiological levels. However, children showed heightened fear generalization compared to adults as indexed by higher arousal ratings and SCR to the generalization stimuli. Results indicate overgeneralization of conditioned fear as a developmental correlate of fear learning. The developmental change from a shallow to a steeper generalization gradient is likely related to the maturation of brain structures that modulate efficient discrimination between danger and (ambiguous) safety cues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), and Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.|Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Miriam A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schiele
authors.affiliation: Center of Mental Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reinhard
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Goethe-University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reif
authors.affiliation: Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Domschke
authors.affiliation: Center of Mental Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Romanos
authors.affiliation: Center of Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Deckert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology (Biological Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy), and Center of Mental Health, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. pauli@psychologie.uni-wuerzburg.de.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pauli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: development; fear conditioning; fear generalization; maturation; skin conductance