Emotionale Reaktionen und Regulationsstrategien Jugendlicher in einer Angst induzierenden Interaktionssituation mit ihren Müttern

Die Studie zielt darauf, drei bislang unverbundene Forschungsbereiche zu integrieren: 1. Bindungsentwicklung; 2. Angstentwicklung im Jugendalter; 3. psychobiologische Stressforschung. Im Sinne eines Multimethoden-Ansatzes wurden die emotionalen Reaktionen Jugendlicher (N=74; 14 und 16 Jahre) in einer Interaktionssituation ("Talkshow-Situation") mit ihren Müttern auf der subjektiven Gefühls-, der emotionalen Ausdrucks- und der physiologischen Aktivierungsebene erfasst. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Talkshow-Situation bei Jugendlichen substantiell Angst auslöst und ihr Regulationsverhalten sich valide als Bindungsverhalten interpretieren lässt, mit 60% sicheren, 19% ambivalenten und 21% vermeidenden Bindungsklassifikationen. Die subjektive Leistungsangst beeinflusst die Stärke der Angstreaktion in Interaktion mit dem Alter und Bindungsstatus. Verhaltensbeobachtungs- und Selbstauskunftsdaten werden durch die physiologischen Belastungsindizes Alpha-Amylase und Cortisol kreuzvalidiert

The role of exposure in the treatment of anxiety in children and adolescents

$\bf Background$ In children and adolescents, anxiety disorders (ADs) are among the most prevalent mental disorders. While there is a solid empirical foundation to support CBT as an evidence-based treatment for childhood ADs, the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of CBT are not well explored. Exposure is assumed to be vital to the efficacy of CBT in ADs, but empirical evidence (e.g., dismantling studies) showing that exposure is indeed a vital element of effective treatments is relatively scarce. The proposed meta-analysis aims to investigate the role of exposure in reducing symptoms of anxiety among children and adolescents. $\bf Methods$ A systematic search of several electronic databases including PubMed/MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Psyndex plus, Web of Science, Scopus, and EMBASE will be conducted (from inception onwards). We will include randomized and non-randomized clinical trials examining exposure and anxiety among children and adolescents. If feasible, we will also include experimental, quasi-experimental, and observational studies. The primary outcome will be improvement in anxiety levels (recovery or change in anxiety rating scale) after exposure. Three reviewers will independently screen all citations, abstract data, and full-text articles. The methodological quality (or risk of bias) of individual studies will be appraised using an appropriate tool. If feasible, we will conduct mixed effects meta-analysis. Additional analyses will be conducted to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity (e.g., dose of exposure, age group, methodological quality). $\bf Discussion$ This systematic review and meta-analysis will examine the role of exposure in reducing symptoms of anxiety among youth. The review will provide information on the working mechanisms underlying the efficacy of CBT. Our findings will be of interest to mental health professionals, researchers, and policy makers who wish to support children and adolescents with anxiety disorders by guiding well-informed treatment decisions

Enhanced discriminative fear learning of phobia-irrelevant stimuli in spider-fearful individuals

Avoidance is considered as a central hallmark of all anxiety disorders. The acquisition and expression of avoidance, which leads to the maintenance and exacerbation of pathological fear is closely linked to Pavlovian and operant conditioning processes. Changes in conditionability might represent a key feature of all anxiety disorders but the exact nature of these alterations might vary across different disorders. To date, no information is available on specific changes in conditionability for disorder-irrelevant stimuli in specific phobia (SP). The first aim of this study was to investigate changes in fear acquisition and extinction in spider-fearful individuals as compared to non-fearful participants by using the $\textit {de novo}$ fear conditioning paradigm. Secondly, we aimed to determine whether differences in the magnitude of context-dependent fear retrieval exist between spider-fearful and non-fearful individuals. Our findings point to an enhanced fear discrimination in spider-fearful individuals as compared to non-fearful individuals at both the physiological and subjective level. The enhanced fear discrimination in spider-fearful individuals was neither mediated by increased state anxiety, depression, nor stress tension. Spider-fearful individuals displayed no changes in extinction learning and/or fear retrieval. Surprisingly, we found no evidence for context-dependent modulation of fear retrieval in either group. Here, we provide first evidence that spider-fearful individuals show an enhanced discriminative fear learning of phobia-irrelevant $\textit {(de novo)}$ stimuli. Our findings provide novel insights into the role of fear acquisition and expression for the development and maintenance of maladaptive responses in the course of SP

A new 3-day standardized eyeblink conditioning protocol to assess extinction learning from infancy to adulthood

Associative learning can be observed from the neonatal period onward, providing opportunities to examine changes in basic learning and memory abilities. One method that is suitable to study associative learning is classical eyeblink conditioning (EBC) which is dependent on the cerebellum. Extinction learning can be systematically investigated in this paradigm by varying the context during learning and extinction. Because of methodological difficulties and ethical challenges, no studies have compared extinction learning using EBC across human development. Our goal was to test feasibility of a 3-day delay EBC paradigm that can be used from infancy to adulthood. Acceptance/safety was tested especially for infancy by investigating attrition rates and parental report on infant wellbeing. On a paradigm side, we tested if the paradigm leads to successful acquisition and extinction. An air puff served as unconditional stimulus (US) and a tone as conditional stimulus (CS). On day 1 during acquisition, participants received 36 US–CS pairings in context A. On day 2, participants received 12 acquisition trials in context A to consolidate association learning, followed by 48 extinction trials (tone alone presentations) in context B. Renewal was assessed on day 3 and incorporated 12 CS alone trials presented in both the acquisition context and the extinction context. Eyeblink responses were videotaped and coded offline. The protocol was tested with 12–36-months-old infants ($\it N$ = 72), adolescents ($\it N$ = 8), and adults ($\it N$ = 8). Concerning the acceptance/safety side, attrition ranged from 21 to 58% in infant samples due to the complex preparation of the children for the paradigm. However, attrition is equal to or lower than other infant learning paradigms. Parents of infant samples were very interested in the paradigm and reported low levels of infant stress, exhaustion, and negative feelings during the sessions. Data quality was very high, and no participant had to be excluded because of insufficient data. Concerning the paradigm side, participants showed successful acquisition and extinction as a group. The procedure is ethically sound, feasible, tolerated by many infants, and acceptable among parents. The data show successful acquisition and extinction rates, making the paradigm a valuable tool for investigating developmental changes in extinction learning over the lifespan