Downstream effects of observational threat learning: Generalization and reversal learning across development

Observational threat learning is a complex social learning process through which typical and atypical fears develop. While studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of observational learning for the acquisition and extinction of threat, the intricacies of this learning process and how it varies across development have been less explored. To this end, we examined the extent to which children, adolescents, and adults generalized threat responses following observational threat learning. We also tested the capacity for reversal acquisition of these threat associations, again through observation. Participants (n = 159) from three age groups underwent four consecutive learning phases: observational threat acquisition, direct generalization, observational reversal threat acquisition, and a direct reversal test. Threat responses were measured using psychophysiological and subjective indices. Results indicated that following successful observational threat learning, children, adults, and adolescents experienced threat generalization. Developmental differences emerged for reversal threat acquisition, with adolescents demonstrating poorer learning than children and adults. The study expands current knowledge on how observational threat learning is used in changing circumstances and how it unfolds across development.