Methods for developmental studies of fear conditioning circuitry

Psychophysiologic studies use air puff as an aversive stimulus to document abnormal fear conditioning in children of parents with anxiety disorders. T his study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine chan ges in amygdala activity during air-puff conditioning among adults. Blood o xygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal was monitored in seven adults during 16 alternating presentations of two different colored lights (CS+ vs. CS-), o ne of which was consistently paired with an aversive air puff. A region-of- interest analysis demonstrated differential change in BOLD signal in the ri ght but not left amygdala across CS+ versus CS- viewing. The amygdala is en gaged by pairing of a light with an air puff. Given that prior studies rela te air-puff conditioning to risk for anxiety in children, these methods may provide an avenue for directly studying the developmental neurobiology of fear conditioning. (C) 2001 Society of Biological Psychiatry.