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Does neuroticism in adolescents moderate contextual and explicit threat cue modulation of the startle reflex?

ABSTRACT: This study evaluated the relationship between neuroticism (N), a probable risk factor for emotional disorders, and modulation of startle reflexes (SRs).One hundred thirty-two adolescents with varying levels of N but without anxiety or depressive disorders were evaluated in contextual cue and explicit threat cue paradigms.Within the explicit threat cue paradigm, N potentiated SRs more in conditions that were intermediately associated with threat of an aversive biceps contraction than conditions that were the furthest from and conditions that were the closest to the same threat. Also, N potentiated SRs across the entire experiment, regardless of experimental conditions, in male and not in female subjects.These results suggest that adolescents with high levels of N show greater sensitivity to contexts intermediately associated with threat. Results are discussed in comparison with other studies of groups at risk for anxiety and depressive disorders.

SUBMITTER: Craske MG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2648850 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Does neuroticism in adolescents moderate contextual and explicit threat cue modulation of the startle reflex?

Craske Michelle G MG Waters Allison M AM Nazarian Maria M Mineka Susan S Zinbarg Richard E RE Griffith James W JW Naliboff Bruce B Ornitz Edward M EM

Biological psychiatry 20080911 3

<h4>Background</h4>This study evaluated the relationship between neuroticism (N), a probable risk factor for emotional disorders, and modulation of startle reflexes (SRs).<h4>Methods</h4>One hundred thirty-two adolescents with varying levels of N but without anxiety or depressive disorders were evaluated in contextual cue and explicit threat cue paradigms.<h4>Results</h4>Within the explicit threat cue paradigm, N potentiated SRs more in conditions that were intermediately associated with threat ...[more]

PMID: 18789433

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Project description:BackgroundMajor theories propose that perturbed threat learning is central to pathological anxiety, but empirical support is inconsistent. Failures to detect associations with anxiety may reflect limitations in quantifying conditioned responses to anticipated threat, and hinder translation of theory into empirical work. In prior work, we could not detect threat-specific anxiety effects on states of conditioned threat using psychophysiology in a large sample of patients and healthy comparisons. Here, we examine the utility of an alternative fear potentiated startle (FPS) scoring in revealing associations between anxiety and threat conditioning and extinction in this dataset. Secondary analyses further explored associations among conditioned threat responses, subcortical morphometry, and treatment outcomes.MethodsYouths and adults with anxiety disorders and healthy comparisons (n = 306; 178 female participants; 8-50 years) previously completed a well-validated differential threat learning paradigm. FPS and skin conductance response (SCR) quantified psychophysiological responses during threat conditioning and extinction. In this report, we examined normalizing raw FPS scores to intertrial intervals (ITI) to address challenges in more common approaches to FPS scoring which could mask group effects. Secondary analyses examined associations between FPS and subcortical morphometry and with response to exposure-based cognitive behavioral therapy in a subsample of patients.ResultsPatients and comparisons showed comparable differential threat conditioning using FPS and SCR. While SCR suggested comparable extinction between groups, FPS revealed stronger retention of threat contingency during extinction in individuals with anxiety disorders. Extinction indexed with FPS was not associated with age, morphometry, or anxiety treatment outcome.ConclusionITI-normalized FPS may have utility in detecting difficulties in extinguishing conditioned threat responses in anxiety. These findings provide support for extinction theories of anxiety and encourage continued research on aberrant extinction in pathological anxiety.

Dataset Information

Does neuroticism in adolescents moderate contextual and explicit threat cue modulation of the startle reflex?

Publications

Does neuroticism in adolescents moderate contextual and explicit threat cue modulation of the startle reflex?

Similar Datasets

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