title: A developmental analysis of threat/safety learning and extinction recall during middle childhood.
abstract: The current study examined developmental changes in fear learning and generalization in 54 healthy 5-10-year old children using a novel fear conditioning paradigm. In this task, the conditioned stimuli (CS+/CS-) were two blue and yellow colored cartoon bells, and the unconditioned stimulus was an unpleasant loud alarm sound presented with a red cartoon bell. Physiological and subjective data were acquired. Three weeks after conditioning, 48 of these participants viewed the CS-, CS+, and morphed images resembling the CS+. Participants made threat-safety discriminations while appraising threat and remembering the CS+. Although no age-related differences in fear learning emerged, patterns of generalization were qualified by child age. Older children demonstrated better discrimination between the CS+ and CS morphs than younger age groups and also reported more fear to stimuli resembling the CS+ than younger children. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address: kalina.michalska@nih.gov.
authors.forename: Kalina J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Michalska
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Tomer
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shechner
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL 33124, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Britton
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Leibenluft
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Pine
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.
authors.forename: Nathan A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fox
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Aversive conditioning; Development; Extinction recall; Fear generalization; Fear learning; Skin conductance