Neurobehavioural mechanisms of threat generalization moderate the link between childhood maltreatment and psychopathology in emerging adulthood

Lange, Iris; Goossens, Liesbet; Bakker, Jindra; Michielse, Stijn; Winkel, Ruud van; Lissek, Shmuel; Leibold, Nicole; Wichers, Marieke; Os, Jim van; Amelsvoort, Thérèse van; Schruers, Koen

doi:10.1503/jpn.180053

Cited by 34 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Trauma exposure during these sensitive periods seems to aggravate fear generalization in later life in military veterans with PTSD (Morey et al, ). In line with this, overgeneralization in the expectancy of threat was associated with higher levels of psychopathology in young adults, but only in those with a history of childhood maltreatment (Lange et al, ). In a recent article, we reported on impairments in generalization processes in a preliminary sample of female patients with PTSD related to childhood maltreatment (Thome et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Generalization of fear in post‐traumatic stress disorder

et al. 2019

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Overgeneralization (i.e., the transfer of fear to stimuli not related to an aversive event) is part of alterations in associative fear learning in mental disorders. In the present experimental study, we investigated whether this holds true for post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to childhood abuse. We expected that fear generalization under experimental conditions reflects generalization of aversive stimuli to different social domains in real life. Sixty‐four women with PTSD after childhood abuse and 30 healthy participants (HC) underwent a differential fear conditioning and generalization paradigm. Online risk ratings, reaction time, and fear‐potentiated startle served as dependent variables. Based on the subjectively assessed generalization of triggered intrusions across different domains of life, PTSD participants were split into two groups reporting low (low‐GEN) and high (high‐GEN) generalization. PTSD patients reported a higher expectation of an aversive event. During fear conditioning, they assessed the risk of danger related to a safety cue slower and showed a blunted fear‐potentiated startle toward the danger cue. During generalization testing, reaction time increased in the high‐GEN patients and decreased in the HC group with increasing similarity of a stimulus with the conditioned safety cue. Alterations of fear learning in PTSD suggest impaired defensive responses in case of a high threat probability. Moreover, our findings bridge the gap between the generalization of aversive cues during everyday life and laboratory‐based experimental parameters: impairments in the processing of cues signaling safety generalize particularly in those patients who report a spreading of PTSD symptoms across different domains of everyday life.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Generalization of fear in post‐traumatic stress disorder

et al. 2019

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“…Hermann, Bankó, Gál, and Vidnyánszky (2015) revealed that strength of resting-state functional connectivity between FFA and lateral occipital cortex (LOC) predicted the ability to discriminate the identity of noisy face images. Threat generalization is one of the consequences of experiencing extreme (Lange et al, 2019;Morey et al, 2015) and altered activity of the LOC seems to be a part of the neural basis of this process (Lange et al, 2017). Negative association between cumulative stress index and connectivity between the FFA and sLOC probably reflect problems with emotional face discrimination.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between early and recent life stress and emotional expression processing: A functional connectivity study

Sokołowski

Folkierska-Żukowska

Jednoróg

et al. 2020

Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci

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The aim of this study was to characterize neural activation during the processing of negative facial expressions in a non-clinical group of individuals characterized by two factors: the levels of stress experienced in early life and in adulthood. Two models of stress consequences were investigated: the match/mismatch and cumulative stress models. The match/mismatch model assumes that early adversities may promote optimal coping with similar events in the future through fostering the development of coping strategies. The cumulative stress model assumes that effects of stress are additive, regardless of the timing of the stressors. Previous studies suggested that stress can have both cumulative and match/mismatch effects on brain structure and functioning and, consequently, we hypothesized that effects on brain circuitry would be found for both models. We anticipated effects on the neural circuitry of structures engaged in face perception and emotional processing. Hence, the amygdala, fusiform face area, occipital face area, and posterior superior temporal sulcus were selected as seeds for seed-based functional connectivity analyses. The interaction between early and recent stress was related to alterations during the processing of emotional expressions mainly in to the cerebellum, middle temporal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. For cumulative stress levels, such alterations were observed in functional connectivity to the middle temporal gyrus, lateral occipital cortex, precuneus, precentral and postcentral gyri, anterior and posterior cingulate gyri, and Heschl's gyrus. This study adds to the growing body of literature suggesting that both the cumulative and the match/mismatch hypotheses are useful in explaining the effects of stress.

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“…The resulting clusters were characterized by comparing the individually averaged generalization gradients between subgroups. To this end, we calculated three different indices for each subject: The mean score of the responses to all six conditioned and generalization stimuli (mean responses); the difference between CS+ and CS− responses (CS-differentiation); and the linear deviation score (LDS) 13,46 as an index of linearity of the generalization gradient, calculated as the difference of the mean response to the conditioned stimuli minus the mean response to the generalization stimuli [(CS+ + CS−)/2 – (GS1 + GS2 + GS3 + GS4)/4].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual differences in human fear generalization—pattern identification and implications for anxiety disorders

et al. 2019

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Previous research indicates that anxiety disorders are characterized by an overgeneralization of conditioned fear as compared with healthy participants. Therefore, fear generalization is considered a key mechanism for the development of anxiety disorders. However, systematic investigations on the variance in fear generalization are lacking. Therefore, the current study aims at identifying distinctive phenotypes of fear generalization among healthy participants. To this end, 1175 participants completed a differential fear conditioning phase followed by a generalization test. To identify patterns of fear generalization, we used a k-means clustering algorithm based on individual arousal generalization gradients. Subsequently, we examined the reliability and validity of the clusters and phenotypical differences between subgroups on the basis of psychometric data and markers of fear expression. Cluster analysis reliably revealed five clusters that systematically differed in mean responses, differentiation between conditioned threat and safety, and linearity of the generalization gradients, though mean response levels accounted for most variance. Remarkably, the patterns of mean responses were already evident during fear acquisition and corresponded most closely to psychometric measures of anxiety traits. The identified clusters reliably described subgroups of healthy individuals with distinct response characteristics in a fear generalization test. Following a dimensional view of psychopathology, these clusters likely delineate risk factors for anxiety disorders. As crucial group characteristics were already evident during fear acquisition, our results emphasize the importance of average fear responses and differentiation between conditioned threat and safety as risk factors for anxiety disorders.

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Neurobehavioural mechanisms of threat generalization moderate the link between childhood maltreatment and psychopathology in emerging adulthood

Abstract: Stichting the Weijerhorst and by a fellowship of the Dutch Brain Foundation to M. Wichers (Hersenstichting Nederland: 2012 1-03).

Cited by 34 publications

References 55 publications

Generalization of fear in post‐traumatic stress disorder

Generalization of fear in post‐traumatic stress disorder

The relationship between early and recent life stress and emotional expression processing: A functional connectivity study

Individual differences in human fear generalization—pattern identification and implications for anxiety disorders

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