Alterations in Fear Extinction Neural Circuitry and Fear-Related Behavior Linked to Trauma Exposure in Children.

Alterations in Fear Extinction Neural Circuitry and Fear-Related Behavior Linked to Trauma Exposure in Children. Behav Brain Res. 2020 Oct 15;:112958 Authors: Marusak HA, Hehr A, Bhogal A, Peters C, Iadipaolo A, Rabinak CA Abstract Exposure to childhood trauma is extremely common (>60%) and is a leading risk factor for fear-based disorders, including anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. These disorders are characterized by deficits in fear extinction and dysfunction in underlying neural circuitry. Given the strong and pervasive link between childhood trauma and the development of psychopathology, fear extinction may be a key mechanism. The present study tests the impact of childhood trauma exposure on fear extinction and underlying neural circuitry. Children (Nā€‰=ā€‰44, 45% trauma-exposed; 6-11 yrs) completed a novel two-day virtual reality fear extinction experiment. On day one, participants underwent fear conditioning and extinction. Twenty-four hours later, participants completed a test of extinction recall during fMRI. Conditioned fear was measured throughout the experiment using skin conductance and fear-related behavior, and activation in fear-related brain regions was estimated during recall. There were no group differences in conditioned fear during fear conditioning or extinction learning. During extinction recall, however, trauma-exposed children kept more distance from both the previously extinguished and the saf...
Source: Behavioural Brain Research - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Behav Brain Res Source Type: research