The mechanisms by which exposure to adversity contributes to psychopathology development are poorly understood. Recent models link experiences of threat of harm and deprivation to psychopathology via disruptions in learning mechanisms underlying fear acquisition and extinction. We empirically tested dimensional elements of this model, by examining whether exposure to images of community violence or neglect differentially influenced fear learning and extinction relative to exposure to neutral images. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three exposure conditions: viewing images depicting neglect (n = 25), violence (n = 25) or control images (n = 24). All participants then completed a fear conditioning and extinction task in which the CS + was paired with an aversive tone, and the CS- was presented alone during conditioning. Both CSs were presented alone during extinction and extinction retest. Skin conductance responses (SCR) and subjective ratings were assessed. Relative to control images, viewing scenes of neglect attenuated SCRs to the CSs during conditioning, extinction and extinction retest. Exposure to images of community violence accentuated SCRs during US anticipation on CS + trials and impaired the retention of safety learning (larger SCRs to the CS + compared to the CS- at retest and the CS + at the end of extinction). No significant group differences emerged in subjective ratings. Findings lend preliminary support for suggestions that adverse experiences may be linked to impairments in fear and safety learning and provide key evidence suggesting that the expression of these impairments may differ as a function of the type of adversity.

中文翻译：

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接触暴力和忽视图像对恐惧学习和灭绝的影响不同

对逆境导致精神病理学发展的机制知之甚少。最近的模型通过破坏恐惧获得和灭绝背后的学习机制，将伤害和剥夺威胁的经历与精神病理学联系起来。我们通过检查暴露于社区暴力或忽视图像相对于暴露于中性图像是否对恐惧学习和灭绝有不同的影响，凭经验测试了该模型的维度元素。参与者被随机分配到三种暴露条件之一：观看描述忽视的图像 (n = 25)、暴力 (n = 25) 或控制图像 (n = 24)。然后所有参与者完成了恐惧条件反射和消退任务，其中 CS + 与厌恶语气配对，而 CS- 在条件反射期间单独呈现。在灭绝和灭绝重新测试期间，两个 CS 都单独呈现。评估了皮肤电导反应 (SCR) 和主观评级。相对于控制图像，在调节、消光和消光重新测试期间，观看忽视场景会将 SCR 衰减到 CS。在美国对 CS + 试验的预期中，暴露于社区暴力的图像会加剧 SCR，并损害安全学习的保留（与重新测试时的 CS- 和灭绝结束时的 CS + 相比，CS + 的更大 SCR）。主观评分中没有出现显着的组别差异。研究结果初步支持不利经历可能与恐惧和安全学习障碍有关的建议，并提供关键证据表明这些障碍的表现可能因逆境类型而异。