High trait anxiety during adolescence interferes with discriminatory context learning.

ABSTRACT: Persistent adult anxiety disorders often begin in adolescence. As emphasis on early treatment grows, we need a better understanding of how adolescent anxiety develops. In the current study, we used a fear conditioning paradigm to identify disruptions in cue and context threat-learning in 19 high anxious (HA) and 24 low anxious (LA) adolescents (12-17years). We presented three neutral female faces (conditioned stimulus, CS) in three contingent relations with an unconditioned stimulus (UCS, a shrieking female scream) in three virtual room contexts. The degree of contingency between the CSs and the UCSs varied across the rooms: in the predictable scream condition, the scream followed the face on 100% of trials; in the unpredictable scream condition, the scream and face appeared randomly and i

SUBMITTER: Cohen Kadosh K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6309538 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature