Examining threat responses through a developmental lens

Adolescence has been characterized by risk taking and fearlessness. Yet, the emergence of anxiety disorders that are associated with fear peaks during this developmental period. Moreover, adolescents show heightened sensitivity to stress relative to children and adults. To address inconsistencies between the common characterization of adolescents as fearless and the evidence of heightened anxiety and stress during this time, we build upon foundational discoveries of threat-related circuitry and behavior in adult rodents by Joseph LeDoux and colleagues. Specifically, the conservation of this circuitry across species has provided opportunities for identifying mechanisms underlying threat responses that we have extended to developing humans and rodents. We elucidate situations in which adolescents show heightened threat responses and others where they appear fearless and link them to developmental changes of threat circuitry during this period. We discuss the potential adaptiveness of these threat responses for survival of the individual and species but also the potential risks for anxiety and stress. We end by offering potential new ways in which behavioral treatments for youth with anxiety and stress-related disorders may be optimized to target the developing vs developed brain.