Published August 1, 2025 | Version v6
Journal article Open

Reduced discrimination between signals of danger and safety but not overgeneralization is linked to exposure to childhood adversity in healthy adults

Creators

  • 1. Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
  • 2. Department of Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, University Hospital of Würzburg, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
  • 3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
  • 4. Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
  • 5. Institute for Translational Psychiatry, University of Münster, Münster, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt – Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  • 6. Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany; German Center of Mental Health (DZPG), partner site Berlin-Potsdam, Berlin, Germany
  • 7. Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Frankfurt – Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  • 8. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Center of Mental Health, University Hospital of Würzburg, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
  • 9. Kbo Inn Salzach Hospital Clinical Center for Psychiatry, Wasserburg am Inn, Germany, Department of Psychiatry, LMU Munich, Munich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Munich, Germany
  • 10. Department of Psychology and Center of Mental Health, Julius Maximilians University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany
  • 11. Department of Psychology, Biological Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

Description

Childhood adversity is a strong predictor forof developing psychopathological conditions. Multiple theories on the mechanisms underlying this association have been suggested which, however, differ in the operationalization of ‘exposure’. Altered (threat) learning mechanisms represent central mechanisms by which environmental inputs shape emotional and cognitive processes and ultimately behavior. 1402 healthy participants underwent a fear conditioning paradigm (acquisition training, generalization), while acquiring skin conductance responses (SCRs) and ratings (arousal, valence, and contingency). Childhood adversity was operationalized as (1) dichotomization, and following (2) the specificity model, (3) the cumulative risk model, and (4) the dimensional model. Individuals exposed to childhood adversity showed blunted physiological reactivity in SCRs, but not ratings, and reduced CS+/CS- discrimination during both phases, mainly driven by attenuated CS + responding. The latter was evident across different operationalizations of ‘exposure’ following the different theories. None of the theories tested showed clear explanatory superiority. Notably, a remarkably different pattern of increased responding to the CS- is reported in the literature for anxiety patients, suggesting that individuals exposed to childhood adversity may represent a specific sub-sample. We highlight that theories linking childhood adversity to (vulnerability to) psychopathology need refinement.

Notes

The zip-folder contains the code and text necessary to create the manuscript with the above title that has been accepted at eLife (https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/91425). The data were not published alongside, as open access to the data was not indicated in the ethical approval.
This work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) – project number 44541416 – TRR 58 "Fear, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders", subproject Z02 to JD, KD, UD, TBL, UL, AR, MR, PP; subproject B01 to PP, subproject B07 to TBL, subproject C02 to KD and JD, subproject C10 to MG. 

Files

Childhood_adversity_and_Fear_cond.zip

Files (90.6 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:513182b2804a0f950a1d4fc088a69981
90.6 kB Preview Download