title: Subsecond fear discrimination in rats: adult impairment in adolescent heavy alcohol drinkers.
abstract: Discriminating safety from danger must be accurate and rapid. Yet, the rapidity with which fear discrimination emerges remains unknown. Rapid fear discrimination in adulthood may be susceptible to impairment by adolescent heavy alcohol drinking, which increases incidence of anxiety disorders. Rats were given voluntary, adolescent alcohol access, and heavy drinkers were identified. In adulthood, rapid fear discrimination of safety, uncertainty, and danger cues was assessed. Normal rats, but not heavy drinkers, showed discriminative fear <1 sec following cue onset. This provides the first demonstration of subsecond fear discrimination and its adult impairment in adolescent heavy alcohol drinkers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.
authors.forename: Alyssa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: DiLeo
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA.
authors.forename: Kristina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts 02467, USA michael.mcdannald@bc.edu.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: McDannald
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000187:drug effects / Q000523:psychology; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000187:drug effects; D003463:Cues; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000187:drug effects; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D005239:Fear / Q000187:drug effects; D007206:Individuality; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D011930:Reaction Time; D012646:Self Administration; D013997:Time Factors; D014836:Volition
chemical_list: D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D000431:Ethanol