Fear extinction, persistent disruptive behavior and XXXX traits: fMRI in late adolescence.

@entity1 @entity10420 @entity146 @entity74 @entity952
UNASSIGNED: @entity1 diagnosed with a @entity952 ( @entity952 , i.e. Oppositional Defiant @entity74 ), especially those with @entity10420 traits, are at risk of developing persistent and severe @entity146 . Reduced fear conditioning has been proposed to underlie persistent antisocial development. However, we have recently shown that both @entity952 persisters and desisters are characterized by increased fear conditioning compared with healthy controls (HCs). In this study, we investigated whether brain function during fear extinction is associated with @entity952 subgroup-membership and @entity10420 traits. Adolescents from a childhood arrestee cohort (mean age 17.6 years, s.d. 1.4) who met criteria for a @entity952 diagnosis during previous assessments were re-assessed and categorized as persistent @entity952 (n   =   25) or desistent @entity952 (n   =   25). Functional MRI during the extinction phase of a classical fear-conditioning task was used to compare regional brain function between these subgroups and 25 matched controls. Both @entity952 persisters and desisters showed hyperreactivity during fear extinction, when compared with HCs. Impulsive-irresponsible @entity10420 traits were positively associated with responses in the fear neurocircuitry and mediated the association between neural activation and group membership. These results suggest that fear acquisition and fear extinction deficits may provide an endophenotype for an emotionally hyperreactive subtype of antisocial development.
