Reduced discrimination between signals of danger and safety but not overgeneralization is linked to exposure to childhood adversity in healthy adults
Childhood adversity is a strong predictor of 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.
Authors
- Katharina Domschke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2550-9132)
- Marcel Romanos (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7628-8299)
- Paul Pauli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0692-6720)
- Ulrike Lueken (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1564-4012)
- Elisabeth Johanna Leehr (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9264-5003)
- Miriam A. Schiele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2613-6515)
- Maren Klingelhöfer-Jens (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5393-7871)
- Jonathan Repple (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1379-9491)
- Tina B. Lonsdorf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1501-4846)
- Andreas Reif (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0992-634X)
- Matthias Gamer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9676-9038)
- Peter Zwanzger (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5385-8188)
- Udo Dannlowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0623-3759)
- Joscha Böhnlein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9870-5599)
- Dirk Schümann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5014-713X)
- Katharina Hutterer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1275-5980)
- Jürgen Deckert
- Karoline Rosenkranz
Institutions
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Universität Hamburg (DE)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- Bielefeld University (DE)
- University of Münster (DE)
- University of Würzburg (DE)
- University Medical Center Freiburg (DE)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (DE)
- University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (DE)
- Inn-Salzach-Klinikum (DE)
- Universitätsklinikum Würzburg (DE)
- University Hospital Frankfurt (DE)
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- eLife
- Published
- 2025-02-20
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.91425.3
- Primary Topic
- Child Abuse and Trauma
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft