Exaggerated sensitivity to threat and reduced medial prefrontal engagement during threat generalization in reactive aggressive adolescents.
Neuroimage
; 294: 120645, 2024 Jul 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38734156
ABSTRACT
Aggressive adolescents tend to exhibit abnormal fear acquisition and extinction, and reactive aggressive adolescents are often more anxious. However, the relationship between fear generalization and reactive aggression (RA) remains unknown. According to Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) scores, 61 adolescents were divided into two groups, namely, a high RA group (N = 30) and a low aggression (LA) group (N = 31). All participants underwent three consecutive phases of the Pavlovian conditioning paradigm (i.e., habituation, acquisition, and generalization), and neural activation of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) was assessed by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The stimuli were ten circles with varying sizes, including two conditioned stimuli (CSs) and eight generalization stimuli (GSs). A scream at 85 dB served as the auditory unconditioned stimulus (US). The US expectancy ratings of both CSs and GSs were higher in the RA group than in the LA group. The fNIRS results showed that CSs and GSs evoked lower mPFC activation in the RA group compared to the LA group during fear generalization. These findings suggest that abnormalities in fear acquisition and generalization are prototypical dysregulations in adolescents with RA. They provide neurocognitive evidence for dysregulated fear learning in the mechanisms underlying adolescents with RA, highlighting the need to develop emotional regulation interventions for these individuals.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Córtex Pré-Frontal
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Condicionamento Clássico
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Espectroscopia de Luz Próxima ao Infravermelho
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Agressão
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Medo
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Generalização Psicológica
Limite:
Adolescent
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Neuroimage
Assunto da revista:
DIAGNOSTICO POR IMAGEM
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
China