A proof-of-concept study of vicarious extinction learning and autonomic synchrony in parent–child dyads and posttraumatic stress disorder

Though threat-extinction models continue to inform scientific study of traumatic stress, knowledge of learning and extinction as mechanisms linking exposure to psychopathology remains critically limited among youth. This proof-of-concept study advances the study of threat-extinction in youth by determining feasibility of electrodermal stimulation (EDS), vicarious extinction learning via their parent, and social threat learning in pediatric PTSD (pPTSD). Typically developing (TD) and PTSD-diagnosed youth in 45 mother–child dyads completed an extinction learning paradigm. The use of EDS was first investigated in a cohort of TD youth (n = 20) using a 2-day paradigm without vicarious extinction, while direct (for TD and pPTSD) and vicarious (for pPTSD) extinction were investigated in a 3-day paradigm (n = 25). Threat acquisition and extinction were monitored using skin-conductance response (SCR) and behavioral expectations of EDS. Using Bayesian modeling to accommodate this pilot sample, our results demonstrate: (1) EDS-conditioning to be highly feasible and well-tolerated across TD and trauma-exposed youth, (2) Successful direct and vicarious extinction learning in trauma-exposed youth, and (3) PTSD-associated patterns in extinction learning and physiological synchrony between parent–child dyads. In summary, these novel approaches have the potential to advance translational studies in the mechanistic understanding of parent–child transmission of risk and youth psychopathology.