A window of vulnerability: Impaired fear extinction in adolescence

Baker, Kathryn; Den, Miriam; Graham, Bronwyn M.; Richardson, Rick

doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2013.10.009

Cited by 58 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 104 publications

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“…ontogenetic adaptations that are suitable at a specific developmental stage (Oppenheim 1980;Spear 2000), and may arise from a combination of pronounced brain maturation and cognitive changes during adolescence (Baker et al 2014). In particular, the significant structural and functional maturation (e.g., synaptic pruning and changes in functional connectivity) of the PFC and amygdala during adolescence likely contributes to the alterations to fear regulation in this sensitive period.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This developmental period is a critical time for interventions because adolescent fear disorders are a strong predictor for adult anxiety and other psychological disorders (Kessler et al 2012). Although extinction of learned fear is widely accepted as a valid model for exposure-based therapy (Graham and Milad 2011), there is a relatively small body of research on fear extinction in adolescent rodents and humans (Baker et al 2014;Casey et al 2015). A prominent finding of these studies is that retention of fear extinction is impaired in this stage of development, relative to both younger and older age groups (McCallum et al 2010;Kim et al 2011;Pattwell et al 2012).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Forming competing fear learning and extinction memories in adolescence makes fear difficult to inhibit

Baker

Richardson

2015

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Fear inhibition is markedly impaired in adolescent rodents and humans. The present experiments investigated whether this impairment is critically determined by the animal's age at the time of fear learning or their age at fear extinction. Male rats (n ¼ 170) were tested for extinction retention after conditioning and extinction at different ages. We examined neural correlates of impaired extinction retention by detection of phosphorylated mitogen-activated protein kinase immunoreactivity (pMAPK-IR) in several brain regions. Unexpectedly, adolescent rats exhibited good extinction retention if fear was acquired before adolescence. Further, fear acquired in adolescence could be successfully extinguished in adulthood but not within adolescence. Adolescent rats did not show extinction-induced increases in pMAPK-IR in the medial prefrontal cortex or the basolateral amygdala, or a pattern of reduced caudal central amygdala pMAPK-IR, as was observed in juveniles. This dampened prefrontal and basolateral amygdala MAPK activation following extinction in adolescence occurred even when there was no impairment in extinction retention. In contrast, only adolescent animals that exhibited impaired extinction retention showed elevated pMAPK-IR in the posterior paraventricular thalamus. These data suggest that neither the animal's age at the time of fear acquisition or extinction determines whether impaired extinction retention is exhibited. Rather, it appears that forming competing fear conditioning and extinction memories in adolescence renders this a vulnerable developmental period in which fear is difficult to inhibit. Furthermore, even under conditions that promote good extinction, the neural correlates of extinction in adolescence are different than those recruited in animals of other ages.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Forming competing fear learning and extinction memories in adolescence makes fear difficult to inhibit

Baker

Richardson

2015

Learn. Mem.

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“…Examination of extinction processes during adolescence is highly relevant for developing treatment approaches for fear and anxiety disorders that target this age group. Exposure-type therapies that are based on the principles of extinction learning in adults may not be effective for alleviating fear and anxiety in the adolescent (Baker et al, 2014; Liberman et al, 2006). …”

Section: Adolescent Fear Conditioning and Expression In Rodent Modelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adolescent transitions in reflexive and non-reflexive behavior: Review of fear conditioning and impulse control in rodent models

Hunt

Burk

Barnet

2016

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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Adolescence is a time of critical brain changes that pave the way for adult learning processes. However, the extent to which learning in adolescence is best characterized as a transitional linear progression from childhood to adulthood, or represents a period that differs from earlier and later developmental stages, remains unclear. Here we examine behavioral literature on associative fear conditioning and complex choice behavior with rodent models. Many aspects of fear conditioning are intact by adolescence and do not differ from adult patterns. Sufficient evidence, however, suggests that adolescent learning cannot be characterized simply as an immature precursor to adulthood. Across different paradigms assessing choice behavior, literature suggests that adolescent animals typically display more impulsive patterns of responding compared to adults. The extent to which the development of basic conditioning processes serves as a scaffold for later adult decision making is an additional research area that is important for theory, but also has widespread applications for numerous psychological conditions.

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“…Although there has been considerable research on threat conditioning and extinction in adults [29,34], there has been a relatively small, but increasing, amount of research in youth. Translational research has highlighted developmental differences in threat conditioning and extinction between juvenile, adolescent, and adult rodents [36,37], with particular deficits in extinction learning identified during adolescence. Similarly, in humans, there are distinctions in disorder phenomenology [38,39] and neural architecture [40,41] that strongly challenge the generalization of adult findings to youth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extinction learning in childhood anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder: implications for treatment

McGuire

Orr

Essoe

et al. 2016

Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics

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Introduction Threat conditioning and extinction play an important role in anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although these conditions commonly affect children, threat conditioning and extinction have been primarily studied in adults. However, differences in phenomenology and neural architecture prohibit the generalization of adult findings to youth. Areas covered A comprehensive literature search using PubMed and PsycInfo was conducted to identify studies that have used differential conditioning tasks to examine threat acquisition and extinction in youth. The information obtained from this review helps to clarify the influence of these processes on the etiology and treatment of youth with OCD, PTSD and other anxiety disorders. Thirty studies of threat conditioning and extinction were identified. Expert Commentary Youth with anxiety disorders, OCD, and PTSD have largely comparable threat acquisition relative to unaffected controls, with some distinctions noted for youth with PTSD or youth who have suffered maltreatment. However, impaired extinction was consistently observed across youth with these disorders and appears to be consistent with deficiencies in inhibitory learning. Incorporating strategies to improve inhibitory learning may improve extinction learning within extinction-based treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Strategies to improve inhibitory learning in CBT are discussed.

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A window of vulnerability: Impaired fear extinction in adolescence

Cited by 58 publications

References 104 publications

Forming competing fear learning and extinction memories in adolescence makes fear difficult to inhibit

Forming competing fear learning and extinction memories in adolescence makes fear difficult to inhibit

Adolescent transitions in reflexive and non-reflexive behavior: Review of fear conditioning and impulse control in rodent models

Extinction learning in childhood anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder: implications for treatment

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