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Tansey R, Graff K, Rai S, Merrikh D, Godfrey KJ, Vanderwal T, Bray S. Development of human visual cortical function: A scoping review of task- and naturalistic-fMRI studies through the interactive specialization and maturational frameworks. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 162:105729. [PMID: 38763178 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2024] [Revised: 05/12/2024] [Accepted: 05/14/2024] [Indexed: 05/21/2024]
Abstract
Overarching theories such as the interactive specialization and maturational frameworks have been proposed to describe human functional brain development. However, these frameworks have not yet been systematically examined across the fMRI literature. Visual processing is one of the most well-studied fields in neuroimaging, and research in this area has recently expanded to include naturalistic paradigms that facilitate study in younger age ranges, allowing for an in-depth critical appraisal of these frameworks across childhood. To this end, we conducted a scoping review of 94 developmental visual fMRI studies, including both traditional experimental task and naturalistic studies, across multiple sub-domains (early visual processing, category-specific higher order processing, naturalistic visual processing). We found that across domains, many studies reported progressive development, but few studies describe regressive or emergent changes necessary to fit the maturational or interactive specialization frameworks. Our findings suggest a need for the expansion of developmental frameworks and clearer reporting of both progressive and regressive changes, along with well-powered, longitudinal studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ryann Tansey
- Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
| | - Kirk Graff
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Shefali Rai
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Daria Merrikh
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Kate J Godfrey
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
| | - Tamara Vanderwal
- Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada; BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Signe Bray
- Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Radiology, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
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Camacho MC, Nielsen AN, Balser D, Furtado E, Steinberger DC, Fruchtman L, Culver JP, Sylvester CM, Barch DM. Large-scale encoding of emotion concepts becomes increasingly similar between individuals from childhood to adolescence. Nat Neurosci 2023; 26:1256-1266. [PMID: 37291338 DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01358-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2022] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Humans require a shared conceptualization of others' emotions for adaptive social functioning. A concept is a mental blueprint that gives our brains parameters for predicting what will happen next. Emotion concepts undergo refinement with development, but it is not known whether their neural representations change in parallel. Here, in a sample of 5-15-year-old children (n = 823), we show that the brain represents different emotion concepts distinctly throughout the cortex, cerebellum and caudate. Patterns of activation to each emotion changed little across development. Using a model-free approach, we show that activation patterns were more similar between older children than between younger children. Moreover, scenes that required inferring negative emotional states elicited higher default mode network activation similarity in older children than younger children. These results suggest that representations of emotion concepts are relatively stable by mid to late childhood and synchronize between individuals during adolescence.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Catalina Camacho
- Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
| | - Ashley N Nielsen
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Dori Balser
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Emily Furtado
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - David C Steinberger
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Leah Fruchtman
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Joseph P Culver
- Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Chad M Sylvester
- Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Deanna M Barch
- Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
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3
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Gold AL, Abend R, Britton JC, Behrens B, Farber M, Ronkin E, Chen G, Leibenluft E, Pine DS. Age Differences in the Neural Correlates of Anxiety Disorders: An fMRI Study of Response to Learned Threat. Am J Psychiatry 2020; 177:454-463. [PMID: 32252541 PMCID: PMC9078083 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19060650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Although both pediatric and adult patients with anxiety disorders exhibit similar neural responding to threats, age-related differences have been found in some functional MRI (fMRI) studies. To reconcile disparate findings, the authors compared brain function in youths and adults with and without anxiety disorders while rating fear and memory of ambiguous threats. METHODS Two hundred medication-free individuals ages 8-50 were assessed, including 93 participants with an anxiety disorder. Participants underwent discriminative threat conditioning and extinction in the clinic. Approximately 3 weeks later, they completed an fMRI paradigm involving extinction recall, in which they rated their levels of fear evoked by, and their explicit memory for, morph stimuli with varying degrees of similarity to the extinguished threat cues. RESULTS Age moderated two sets of anxiety disorder findings. First, as age increased, healthy subjects compared with participants with anxiety disorders exhibited greater amygdala-ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) connectivity when processing threat-related cues. Second, age moderated diagnostic differences in activation in ways that varied with attention and brain regions. When rating fear, activation in the vmPFC differed between the anxiety and healthy groups at relatively older ages. In contrast, when rating memory for task stimuli, activation in the inferior temporal cortex differed between the anxiety and healthy groups at relatively younger ages. CONCLUSIONS In contrast to previous studies that demonstrated age-related similarities in the biological correlates of anxiety disorders, this study identified age differences. These findings may reflect this study's focus on relatively late-maturing psychological processes, particularly the appraisal and explicit memory of ambiguous threat, and inform neurodevelopmental perspectives on anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea L. Gold
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and Pediatric Anxiety Research Center, Bradley Hospital, Riverside, R.I
| | - Rany Abend
- Emotion and Development Branch, NIMH, Bethesda, Md
| | | | | | | | - Emily Ronkin
- Emotion and Development Branch, NIMH, Bethesda, Md
| | - Gang Chen
- Scientific and Statistical Computing Core, NIMH, Bethesda, Md
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Sa de Almeida J, Lordier L, Zollinger B, Kunz N, Bastiani M, Gui L, Adam-Darque A, Borradori-Tolsa C, Lazeyras F, Hüppi PS. Music enhances structural maturation of emotional processing neural pathways in very preterm infants. Neuroimage 2019; 207:116391. [PMID: 31765804 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2019] [Revised: 11/18/2019] [Accepted: 11/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Prematurity disrupts brain maturation by exposing the developing brain to different noxious stimuli present in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and depriving it from meaningful sensory inputs during a critical period of brain development, leading to later neurodevelopmental impairments. Musicotherapy in the NICU environment has been proposed to promote sensory stimulation, relevant for activity-dependent brain plasticity, but its impact on brain structural maturation is unknown. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that music listening triggers neural substrates implied in socio-emotional processing and, thus, it might influence networks formed early in development and known to be affected by prematurity. Using multi-modal MRI, we aimed to evaluate the impact of a specially composed music intervention during NICU stay on preterm infant's brain structure maturation. 30 preterm newborns (out of which 15 were exposed to music during NICU stay and 15 without music intervention) and 15 full-term newborns underwent an MRI examination at term-equivalent age, comprising diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), used to evaluate white matter maturation using both region-of-interest and seed-based tractography approaches, as well as a T2-weighted image, used to perform amygdala volumetric analysis. Overall, WM microstructural maturity measured through DTI metrics was reduced in preterm infants receiving the standard-of-care in comparison to full-term newborns, whereas preterm infants exposed to the music intervention demonstrated significantly improved white matter maturation in acoustic radiations, external capsule/claustrum/extreme capsule and uncinate fasciculus, as well as larger amygdala volumes, in comparison to preterm infants with standard-of-care. These results suggest a structural maturational effect of the proposed music intervention on premature infants' auditory and emotional processing neural pathways during a key period of brain development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joana Sa de Almeida
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Woman, Child and Adolescent, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Lara Lordier
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Woman, Child and Adolescent, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Nicolas Kunz
- Center of BioMedical Imaging (CIBM), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Matteo Bastiani
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, UK; NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, University of Nottingham, UK; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN) - Centre for Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB), University of Oxford, UK
| | - Laura Gui
- Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, Center of BioMedical Imaging (CIBM), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Alexandra Adam-Darque
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Woman, Child and Adolescent, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Cristina Borradori-Tolsa
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Woman, Child and Adolescent, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - François Lazeyras
- Department of Radiology and Medical Informatics, Center of BioMedical Imaging (CIBM), University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Petra S Hüppi
- Division of Development and Growth, Department of Woman, Child and Adolescent, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
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Neural correlates of emotion processing predict resilience in youth at familial risk for mood disorders. Dev Psychopathol 2019; 31:1037-1052. [PMID: 31064610 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579419000579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Aberrant face emotion processing has been demonstrated in youth with and at a familial risk for bipolar and major depressive disorders. However, the neurobiological factors related to emotion processing that underlie resilience from youth-onset mood disorders are not well understood. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data during an implicit emotion processing task were collected at baseline from a sample of 50 youth, ages 8-17, who were healthy but also familially at high risk for either bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder, and 24 healthy controls with no family history of psychopathology (HCL). Participants were reevaluated 3 years later and classified into three groups for analysis: high-risk youth who converted to a psychiatric diagnosis (CVT; N = 23), high-risk youth who were resilient from developing any psychopathology (RES; N = 27), and HCL youth (N = 24) who remained healthy at follow-up. For happy > calm faces, the CVT and RES groups had significantly lower activation in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL), while the RES group had lower activation in the right supramarginal gyrus. For fear > calm faces, the RES group had lower activation in the right precuneus and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) compared to the CVT group. Connectivity analyses revealed the RES group exhibited higher left IPL connectivity with visual cortical regions for happy > calm faces, and higher IFG connectivity with frontal, temporal, and limbic regions for fear > calm faces. These connectivities were correlated with improvements in prosocial behaviors and global functioning. Our findings suggest that differential activation and connectivity in the IPL, IFG, and precuneus in response to emotional stimuli may represent distinct resilience and risk markers for youth-onset mood disorders.
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Stevens JS, van Rooij SJH, Jovanovic T. Developmental Contributors to Trauma Response: The Importance of Sensitive Periods, Early Environment, and Sex Differences. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 2019; 38:1-22. [PMID: 27830573 PMCID: PMC5425320 DOI: 10.1007/7854_2016_38] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
This review considers early factors that interact with development to contribute to later trauma responses, including developmental sensitive periods, the effects of early environment, and the emergence of sex differences. We also describe development of neural substrates that have been associated with posttraumatic stress disorder and specifically focus on fear behavior and circuitry. Emerging evidence suggests that there may be developmental shifts around age 10 in these underlying circuits that may contribute to vulnerability. We also discuss age-related changes in the importance of caregiver availability as positive buffering factors. Hormonal changes later in development with onset during puberty appear to further shape development trajectories toward risk or resilience. We highlight these recent findings as well as the great need for further longitudinal research from middle childhood through early adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer S Stevens
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 49 Jesse Hill Jr Dr, Suite 331, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA
| | - Sanne J H van Rooij
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 49 Jesse Hill Jr Dr, Suite 331, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA
| | - Tanja Jovanovic
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 49 Jesse Hill Jr Dr, Suite 331, Atlanta, GA, 30303, USA.
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Leblanc É, Dégeilh F, Daneault V, Beauchamp MH, Bernier A. Attachment Security in Infancy: A Preliminary Study of Prospective Links to Brain Morphometry in Late Childhood. Front Psychol 2017; 8:2141. [PMID: 29312029 PMCID: PMC5733037 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02141] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Accepted: 11/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
A large body of longitudinal research provides compelling evidence for the critical role of early attachment relationships in children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. It is expected that parent–child attachment relationships may also impact children’s brain development, however, studies linking normative caregiving experiences and brain structure are scarce. To our knowledge, no study has yet examined the associations between the quality of parent–infant attachment relationships and brain morphology during childhood. The aim of this preliminary study was to investigate the prospective links between mother–infant attachment security and whole-brain gray matter (GM) volume and thickness in late childhood. Attachment security toward the mother was assessed in 33 children when they were 15 months old. These children were then invited to undergo structural magnetic resonance imaging at 10–11 years of age. Results indicated that children more securely attached to their mother in infancy had larger GM volumes in the superior temporal sulcus and gyrus, temporo-parietal junction, and precentral gyrus in late childhood. No associations between attachment security and cortical thickness were found. If replicated, these results would suggest that a secure attachment relationship and its main features (e.g., adequate dyadic emotion regulation, competent exploration) may influence GM volume in brain regions involved in social, cognitive, and emotional functioning through experience-dependent processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Élizabel Leblanc
- Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Fanny Dégeilh
- Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.,CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Véronique Daneault
- Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Functional Neuroimaging Unit, University of Montreal's Geriatric Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada.,Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Miriam H Beauchamp
- Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.,CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Annie Bernier
- Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
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Fareri DS, Tottenham N. Effects of early life stress on amygdala and striatal development. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2016; 19:233-47. [PMID: 27174149 PMCID: PMC4912892 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 96] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2015] [Revised: 03/28/2016] [Accepted: 04/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Species-expected caregiving early in life is critical for the normative development and regulation of emotional behavior, the ability to effectively evaluate affective stimuli in the environment, and the ability to sustain social relationships. Severe psychosocial stressors early in life (early life stress; ELS) in the form of the absence of species expected caregiving (i.e., caregiver deprivation), can drastically impact one's social and emotional success, leading to the onset of internalizing illness later in life. Development of the amygdala and striatum, two key regions supporting affective valuation and learning, is significantly affected by ELS, and their altered developmental trajectories have important implications for cognitive, behavioral and socioemotional development. However, an understanding of the impact of ELS on the development of functional interactions between these regions and subsequent behavioral effects is lacking. In this review, we highlight the roles of the amygdala and striatum in affective valuation and learning in maturity and across development. We discuss their function separately as well as their interaction. We highlight evidence across species characterizing how ELS induced changes in the development of the amygdala and striatum mediate subsequent behavioral changes associated with internalizing illness, positing a particular import of the effect of ELS on their interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dominic S Fareri
- Gordon F. Derner Institute for Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY 11530, United States.
| | - Nim Tottenham
- Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States
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9
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Zhu X, Bhatt RS, Joseph JE. Pruning or tuning? Maturational profiles of face specialization during typical development. Brain Behav 2016; 6:e00464. [PMID: 27313976 PMCID: PMC4907975 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2015] [Revised: 01/14/2016] [Accepted: 03/04/2016] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Face processing undergoes significant developmental change with age. Two kinds of developmental changes in face specialization were examined in this study: specialized maturation, or the continued tuning of a region to faces but little change in the tuning to other categories; and competitive interactions, or the continued tuning to faces accompanied by decreased tuning to nonfaces (i.e., pruning). METHODS Using fMRI, in regions where adults showed a face preference, a face- and object-specialization index were computed for younger children (5-8 years), older children (9-12 years) and adults (18-45 years). The specialization index was scaled to each subject's maximum activation magnitude in each region to control for overall age differences in the activation level. RESULTS Although no regions showed significant face specialization in the younger age group, regions strongly associated with social cognition (e.g., right posterior superior temporal sulcus, right inferior orbital cortex) showed specialized maturation, in which tuning to faces increased with age but there was no pruning of nonface responses. Conversely, regions that are associated with more basic perceptual processing or motor mirroring (right middle temporal cortex, right inferior occipital cortex, right inferior frontal opercular cortex) showed competitive interactions in which tuning to faces was accompanied by pruning of object responses with age. CONCLUSIONS The overall findings suggest that cortical maturation for face processing is regional-specific and involves both increased tuning to faces and diminished response to nonfaces. Regions that show competitive interactions likely support a more generalized function that is co-opted for face processing with development, whereas regions that show specialized maturation increase their tuning to faces, potentially in an activity-dependent, experience-driven manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xun Zhu
- Department of Psychology Shihezi University Xinjiang China; Department of Neurosciences Medical University of South Carolina Charleston South Carolina 29425
| | - Ramesh S Bhatt
- Department of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences University of Kentucky Lexington Kentucky 40506
| | - Jane E Joseph
- Department of Neurosciences Medical University of South Carolina Charleston South Carolina 29425
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10
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Del Piero LB, Saxbe DE, Margolin G. Basic emotion processing and the adolescent brain: Task demands, analytic approaches, and trajectories of changes. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2016; 19:174-89. [PMID: 27038840 PMCID: PMC4912905 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2016.03.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2015] [Revised: 03/14/2016] [Accepted: 03/15/2016] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Early neuroimaging studies suggested that adolescents show initial development in brain regions linked with emotional reactivity, but slower development in brain structures linked with emotion regulation. However, the increased sophistication of adolescent brain research has made this picture more complex. This review examines functional neuroimaging studies that test for differences in basic emotion processing (reactivity and regulation) between adolescents and either children or adults. We delineated different emotional processing demands across the experimental paradigms in the reviewed studies to synthesize the diverse results. The methods for assessing change (i.e., analytical approach) and cohort characteristics (e.g., age range) were also explored as potential factors influencing study results. Few unifying dimensions were found to successfully distill the results of the reviewed studies. However, this review highlights the potential impact of subtle methodological and analytic differences between studies, need for standardized and theory-driven experimental paradigms, and necessity of analytic approaches that are can adequately test the trajectories of developmental change that have recently been proposed. Recommendations for future research highlight connectivity analyses and non-linear developmental trajectories, which appear to be promising approaches for measuring change across adolescence. Recommendations are made for evaluating gender and biological markers of development beyond chronological age.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Darby E Saxbe
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, United States
| | - Gayla Margolin
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, United States
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11
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Joseph JE, Zhu X, Gundran A, Davies F, Clark JD, Ruble L, Glaser P, Bhatt RS. Typical and atypical neurodevelopment for face specialization: an FMRI study. J Autism Dev Disord 2015; 45:1725-41. [PMID: 25479816 DOI: 10.1007/s10803-014-2330-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their relatives process faces differently from typically developed (TD) individuals. In an fMRI face-viewing task, TD and undiagnosed sibling (SIB) children (5-18 years) showed face specialization in the right amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, with left fusiform and right amygdala face specialization increasing with age in TD subjects. SIBs showed extensive antero-medial temporal lobe activation for faces that was not present in any other group, suggesting a potential compensatory mechanism. In ASD, face specialization was minimal but increased with age in the right fusiform and decreased with age in the left amygdala, suggesting atypical development of a frontal-amygdala-fusiform system which is strongly linked to detecting salience and processing facial information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jane E Joseph
- Department of Neurosciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Clinical Sciences Building, Room 325E, MSC 616, Charleston, SC, 29425, USA,
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12
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Whalen DJ, Belden AC, Barch D, Luby J. Emotion Awareness Predicts Body Mass Index Percentile Trajectories in Youth. J Pediatr 2015; 167:821-828.e4. [PMID: 26227437 PMCID: PMC4586388 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2015.06.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/03/2015] [Revised: 06/02/2015] [Accepted: 06/25/2015] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To examine the rate of change in body mass index (BMI) percentile across 3 years in relation to emotion identification ability and brain-based reactivity in emotional processing regions. STUDY DESIGN A longitudinal sample of 202 youths completed 3 functional magnetic resonance imaging-based facial processing tasks and behavioral emotion differentiation tasks. We examined the rate of change in the youth's BMI percentile as a function of reactivity in emotional processing brain regions and behavioral emotion identification tasks using multilevel modeling. RESULTS Lower correct identification of both happiness and sadness measured behaviorally predicted increases in BMI percentile across development, whereas higher correct identification of both happiness and sadness predicted decreases in BMI percentile, while controlling for children's pubertal status, sex, ethnicity, IQ score, exposure to antipsychotic medication, family income-to-needs ratio, and externalizing, internalizing, and depressive symptoms. Greater neural activation in emotional reactivity regions to sad faces also predicted increases in BMI percentile during development, also controlling for the aforementioned covariates. CONCLUSION Our findings provide longitudinal developmental data demonstrating links between both emotion identification ability and greater neural reactivity in emotional processing regions with trajectories of BMI percentiles across childhood.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diana J. Whalen
- Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
| | - Andrew C. Belden
- Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
| | - Deanna Barch
- Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry,Washington University, Department of Psychology
| | - Joan Luby
- Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry
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13
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Belden AC, Pagliaccio D, Murphy ER, Luby JL, Barch DM. Neural Activation During Cognitive Emotion Regulation in Previously Depressed Compared to Healthy Children: Evidence of Specific Alterations. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2015; 54:771-81. [PMID: 26299299 PMCID: PMC4548276 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2015.06.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2014] [Revised: 05/08/2015] [Accepted: 06/30/2015] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Impairments in cognitive emotion regulation (CER) have been linked to functional neural abnormalities and the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD). Few functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated the neural underpinnings of CER in samples with depression. As CER develops in childhood, understanding dysfunctional CER-related alterations in brain function during this period could advance knowledge of the developmental psychopathology of MDD. METHOD This study tested whether neural activity in brain regions known to support cognitive reappraisal differed between healthy 7- to 15-year-old children and same-age peers with a history of MDD (MDD-ever). A total of 64 children participated in this event-related fMRI study, which used a developmentally appropriate and validated fMRI reappraisal task. Children were instructed to passively view sad or neutral images and to decrease negative emotions using cognitive reappraisal. RESULTS MDD-ever and healthy children showed similar patterns of cortical activation during reappraisal, but with a significant difference found in 1 key CER region, the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). In addition, individual differences in CER were associated with left IFG activity during reappraisal. CONCLUSION Alterations in the neurocircuitry of reappraisal are evident in children with a depression history compared to healthy controls. The finding that MDD-ever children showed reappraisal-related neural responses in many regions similar to healthy controls has clinical implications. Findings suggest that identification of alterations in reappraisal in children with remitted depression, for whom much, although not all, of the neural circuitry remains intact, may be an important window of opportunity for intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - David Pagliaccio
- Washington University in St. Louis. Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis
| | | | | | - Deanna M. Barch
- Washington University in St. Louis. Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis
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Brain-behavior relationships in the experience and regulation of negative emotion in healthy children: implications for risk for childhood depression. Dev Psychopathol 2015; 26:1289-303. [PMID: 25422962 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579414001035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Structural and functional alterations in a variety of brain regions have been associated with depression and risk for depression across the life span. A majority of these regions are associated with emotion reactivity and/or regulation. However, it is generally unclear what mechanistic role these alterations play in the etiology of depression. A first step toward understanding this is to characterize the relationships between variation in brain structure/function and individual differences in depression severity and related processes, particularly emotion regulation. To this end, the current study examines how brain structure and function predict concurrent and longitudinal measures of depression symptomology and emotion regulation skills in psychiatrically healthy school-age children (N = 60). Specifically, we found that smaller hippocampus volumes and greater responses to sad faces in emotion reactivity regions predict increased depressive symptoms at the time of scan, whereas larger amygdala volumes, smaller insula volumes, and greater responses in emotion reactivity regions predict decreased emotion regulation skills. In addition, larger insula volumes predict improvements in emotion regulation skills even after accounting for emotion regulation at the time of scan. Understanding brain-behavior relationships in psychiatrically healthy samples, especially early in development, will help inform normative developmental trajectories and neural alterations in depression and other affective pathology.
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15
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Chai XJ, Hirshfeld-Becker D, Biederman J, Uchida M, Doehrmann O, Leonard JA, Salvatore J, Kenworthy T, Brown A, Kagan E, de Los Angeles C, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, Gabrieli JDE. Functional and structural brain correlates of risk for major depression in children with familial depression. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2015; 8:398-407. [PMID: 26106565 PMCID: PMC4474282 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2014] [Revised: 05/14/2015] [Accepted: 05/17/2015] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Despite growing evidence for atypical amygdala function and structure in major depression, it remains uncertain as to whether these brain differences reflect the clinical state of depression or neurobiological traits that predispose individuals to major depression. We examined function and structure of the amygdala and associated areas in a group of unaffected children of depressed parents (at-risk group) and a group of children of parents without a history of major depression (control group). Compared to the control group, the at-risk group showed increased activation to fearful relative to neutral facial expressions in the amygdala and multiple cortical regions, and decreased activation to happy relative to neutral facial expressions in the anterior cingulate cortex and supramarginal gyrus. At-risk children also exhibited reduced amygdala volume. The extensive hyperactivation to negative facial expressions and hypoactivation to positive facial expressions in at-risk children are consistent with behavioral evidence that risk for major depression involves a bias to attend to negative information. These functional and structural brain differences between at-risk children and controls suggest that there are trait neurobiological underpinnings of risk for major depression. We studied brain correlates of familial risk for major depression. At-risk children exhibited hyperactivation to fearful faces compared to controls. At-risk children exhibited hypoactivation to happy faces compared to controls. At-risk children exhibited reduced amygdala volume compared to controls. These results identify trait neurobiological underpinnings of risk for depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqian J Chai
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | | | - Joseph Biederman
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA ; Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Mai Uchida
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA ; Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Oliver Doehrmann
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Julia A Leonard
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - John Salvatore
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Tara Kenworthy
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA ; Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Ariel Brown
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA ; Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Elana Kagan
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02215, USA ; Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Carlo de Los Angeles
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - John D E Gabrieli
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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16
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Bridgett DJ, Burt NM, Edwards ES, Deater-Deckard K. Intergenerational transmission of self-regulation: A multidisciplinary review and integrative conceptual framework. Psychol Bull 2015; 141:602-654. [PMID: 25938878 PMCID: PMC4422221 DOI: 10.1037/a0038662] [Citation(s) in RCA: 313] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
This review examines mechanisms contributing to the intergenerational transmission of self-regulation. To provide an integrated account of how self-regulation is transmitted across generations, we draw from over 75 years of accumulated evidence, spanning case studies to experimental approaches, in literatures covering developmental, social, and clinical psychology, and criminology, physiology, genetics, and human and animal neuroscience (among others). First, we present a taxonomy of what self-regulation is and then examine how it develops--overviews that guide the main foci of the review. Next, studies supporting an association between parent and child self-regulation are reviewed. Subsequently, literature that considers potential social mechanisms of transmission, specifically parenting behavior, interparental (i.e., marital) relationship behaviors, and broader rearing influences (e.g., household chaos) is considered. Finally, evidence that prenatal programming may be the starting point of the intergenerational transmission of self-regulation is covered, along with key findings from the behavioral and molecular genetics literatures. To integrate these literatures, we introduce the self-regulation intergenerational transmission model, a framework that brings together prenatal, social/contextual, and neurobiological mechanisms (spanning endocrine, neural, and genetic levels, including gene-environment interplay and epigenetic processes) to explain the intergenerational transmission of self-regulation. This model also incorporates potential transactional processes between generations (e.g., children's self-regulation and parent-child interaction dynamics that may affect parents' self-regulation) that further influence intergenerational processes. In pointing the way forward, we note key future directions and ways to address limitations in existing work throughout the review and in closing. We also conclude by noting several implications for intervention work.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Nicole M Burt
- Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University
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17
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Fear of the unknown: uncertain anticipation reveals amygdala alterations in childhood anxiety disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology 2015; 40:1428-35. [PMID: 25502633 PMCID: PMC4397401 DOI: 10.1038/npp.2014.328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2014] [Revised: 10/22/2014] [Accepted: 11/18/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Children with anxiety disorders (ADs) experience persistent fear and worries that are highly debilitating, conferring risk for lifelong psychopathology. Anticipatory anxiety is a core clinical feature of childhood ADs, often leading to avoidance of uncertain and novel situations. Extensive studies in non-human animals implicate amygdala dysfunction as a critical substrate for early life anxiety. To test specific amygdala-focused hypotheses in preadolescent children with ADs, we used fMRI to characterize amygdala activation during uncertain anticipation and in response to unexpected stimuli. Forty preadolescent (age 8-12 years) children, 20 unmedicated AD patients and 20 matched controls completed an anticipation task during an fMRI scan. In the task, symbolic cues preceded fear or neutral faces, such that 'certain' cues always predicted the presentation of fear or neutral faces, whereas 'uncertain' cues were equally likely to be followed by fear or neutral faces. Both AD children and controls showed robust amygdala response to faces. In response to the uncertain cues, AD children had increased amygdala activation relative to controls. Moreover, in the AD children, faces preceded by an 'uncertain' cue elicited increased amygdala activation, as compared with the same faces following a 'certain' cue. Children with ADs experience distress both in anticipation of and during novel and surprising events. Our findings suggest that increased amygdala activation may have an important role in the generation of uncertainty-related anxiety. These findings may guide the development of neuroscientifically informed treatments aimed at relieving the suffering and preventing the lifelong disability associated with pediatric ADs.
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18
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Pagliaccio D, Luby JL, Bogdan R, Agrawal A, Gaffrey MS, Belden AC, Botteron KN, Harms MP, Barch DM. HPA axis genetic variation, pubertal status, and sex interact to predict amygdala and hippocampus responses to negative emotional faces in school-age children. Neuroimage 2015; 109:1-11. [PMID: 25583614 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.01.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2014] [Revised: 12/30/2014] [Accepted: 01/02/2015] [Indexed: 01/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Accumulating evidence suggests a role for stress exposure, particularly during early life, and for variation in genes involved in stress response pathways in neural responsivity to emotional stimuli. Understanding how individual differences in these factors predict differences in emotional responsivity may be important for understanding both normative emotional development and for understanding the mechanisms underlying internalizing disorders, like anxiety and depression, that have often been related to increased amygdala and hippocampus responses to negatively valenced emotional stimuli. The present study examined whether stress exposure and genetic profile scores (10 single nucleotide polymorphisms within four hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis genes: CRHR1, NR3C2, NR3C1, and FKBP5) predict individual differences in amygdala and hippocampus responses to fearful vs. neutral faces in school-age children (7-12 year olds; N = 107). Experience of more stressful and traumatic life events predicted greater left amygdala responses to negative emotional stimuli. Genetic profile scores interacted with sex and pubertal status to predict amygdala and hippocampus responses. Specifically, genetic profile scores were a stronger predictor of amygdala and hippocampus responses among pubertal vs. prepubertal children where they positively predicted responses to fearful faces among pubertal girls and positively predicted responses to neutral faces among pubertal boys. The current results suggest that genetic and environmental stress-related factors may be important in normative individual differences in responsivity to negative emotional stimuli, a potential mechanism underlying internalizing disorders. Further, sex and pubertal development may be key moderators of the effects of stress-system genetic variation on amygdala and hippocampus responsivity, potentially relating to sex differences in stress-related psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Pagliaccio
- The Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States.
| | - Joan L Luby
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
| | - Ryan Bogdan
- The Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States; Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
| | - Arpana Agrawal
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
| | - Michael S Gaffrey
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
| | - Andrew C Belden
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
| | - Kelly N Botteron
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States; Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
| | - Michael P Harms
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
| | - Deanna M Barch
- The Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States; Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States; Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States
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19
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Ferri J, Bress JN, Eaton NR, Proudfit GH. The impact of puberty and social anxiety on amygdala activation to faces in adolescence. Dev Neurosci 2014; 36:239-49. [PMID: 25034314 DOI: 10.1159/000363736] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2014] [Accepted: 05/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Adolescence is associated with the onset of puberty, shifts in social and emotional behavior and an increased vulnerability to social anxiety disorder. These transitions coincide with changes in amygdala response to social and affective stimuli. Utilizing an emotional face-matching task, we examined amygdala response to peer-aged neutral and fearful faces in relation to puberty and social anxiety in a sample of 60 adolescent females between the ages of 8 and 15 years. We observed amygdala activation in response to both neutral and fearful faces compared to the control condition but did not observe differential amygdala activation between fearful and neutral faces. Right amygdala activity in response to neutral faces was negatively correlated with puberty and positively correlated with social anxiety, and these effects were statistically independent. Puberty and social anxiety did not relate to amygdala activation in response to fearful faces. These findings suggest that emotional differentiation between fearful and neutral faces may arise during later pubertal development and may result from decreasing sensitivity to neutral faces rather than increasing sensitivity to threatening faces. Furthermore, these findings highlight the importance of considering individual differences in social anxiety when examining the neural response to social stimuli in adolescents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jamie Ferri
- Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y., USA
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20
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Suzuki H, Luby JL, Botteron KN, Dietrich R, McAvoy MP, Barch DM. Early life stress and trauma and enhanced limbic activation to emotionally valenced faces in depressed and healthy children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2014; 53:800-13.e10. [PMID: 24954829 PMCID: PMC4086855 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2014.04.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2013] [Revised: 04/01/2014] [Accepted: 05/01/2014] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Previous studies have examined the relationships between structural brain characteristics and early life stress in adults. However, there is limited evidence for functional brain variation associated with early life stress in children. We hypothesized that early life stress and trauma would be associated with increased functional brain activation response to negative emotional faces in children with and without a history of depression. METHOD Psychiatric diagnosis and life events in children (starting at age 3-5 years) were assessed in a longitudinal study. A follow-up magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study acquired data (N = 115 at ages 7-12, 51% girls) on functional brain response to fearful, sad, and happy faces relative to neutral faces. We used a region-of-interest mask within cortico-limbic areas and conducted regression analyses and repeated-measures analysis of covariance. RESULTS Greater activation responses to fearful, sad, and happy faces in the amygdala and its neighboring regions were found in children with greater life stress. Moreover, an association between life stress and left hippocampal and globus pallidus activity depended on children's diagnostic status. Finally, all children with greater life trauma showed greater bilateral amygdala and cingulate activity specific to sad faces but not the other emotional faces, although right amygdala activity was moderated by psychiatric status. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that limbic hyperactivity may be a biomarker of early life stress and trauma in children and may have implications in the risk trajectory for depression and other stress-related disorders. However, this pattern varied based on emotion type and history of psychopathology.
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21
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Belden AC, Luby JL, Pagliaccio D, Barch DM. Neural activation associated with the cognitive emotion regulation of sadness in healthy children. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2014; 9:136-47. [PMID: 24646887 PMCID: PMC4061244 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2014.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2013] [Revised: 01/29/2014] [Accepted: 02/11/2014] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Children's use of reappraisal was associated with increased prefrontal activation. Children showed deactivation in the amygdala while reappraising sad photos. Children's PFC activity during reappraisal was consistent with adult findings.
When used effectively, cognitive reappraisal of distressing events is a highly adaptive cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategy, with impairments in cognitive reappraisal associated with greater risk for psychopathology. Despite extensive literature examining the neural correlates of cognitive reappraisal in healthy and psychiatrically ill adults, there is a dearth of data to inform the neural bases of CER in children, a key gap in the literature necessary to map the developmental trajectory of cognitive reappraisal. In this fMRI study, psychiatrically healthy schoolchildren were instructed to use cognitive reappraisal to modulate their emotional reactions and responses of negative affect after viewing sad photos. Consistent with the adult literature, when actively engaged in reappraisal compared to passively viewing sad photos, children showed increased activation in the vlPFC, dlPFC, and dmPFC as well as in parietal and temporal lobe regions. When children used cognitive reappraisal to minimize their experience of negative affect after viewing sad stimuli they exhibited dampened amygdala responses. Results are discussed in relation to the importance of identifying and characterizing neural processes underlying adaptive CER strategies in typically developing children in order to understand how these systems go awry and relate to the risk and occurrence of affective disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andy C Belden
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
| | - Joan L Luby
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - David Pagliaccio
- The Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Deanna M Barch
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; The Program in Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA; Department of Radiology, Washington University in St. Louis, 660 S. Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
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22
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Luking KR, Luby JL, Barch DM. Kids, candy, brain and behavior: age differences in responses to candy gains and losses. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2014; 9:82-92. [PMID: 24534632 PMCID: PMC4061265 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2014.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2013] [Revised: 01/13/2014] [Accepted: 01/17/2014] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Neural responses to candy loss feedback vary greatly between children and adults. Children and adults show largely similar neural responses to candy gain feedback. Striatal responses to candy gains/losses are influenced by age and by task behavior. Insular responses to loss relate to age, even when controlling for task behavior.
The development of reward-related neural systems, from adolescence through adulthood, has received much recent attention in the developmental neuroimaging literature. However, few studies have investigated behavioral and neural responses to both gains and losses in pre-pubertal child populations. To address this gap in the literature, in the present study healthy children aged 7–11 years and young-adults completed an fMRI card-guessing game using candy pieces delivered post-scan as an incentive. Age differences in behavioral and neural responses to candy gains/losses were investigated. Adults and children displayed similar responses to gains, but robust age differences were observed following candy losses within the caudate, thalamus, insula, and hippocampus. Interestingly, when task behavior was included as a factor in post hoc mediation analyses, activation following loss within the caudate/thalamus related to task behavior and relationships with age were no longer significant. Conversely, relationships between response to loss and age within the hippocampus and insula remained significant even when controlling for behavior, with children showing heightened loss responses within the dorsal/posterior insula. These results suggest that both age and task behavior influence responses within the extended reward circuitry, and that children seem to be more sensitive than adults to loss feedback particularly within the dorsal/posterior insula.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine R Luking
- Neuroscience Program at Washington University in St. Louis, United States.
| | - Joan L Luby
- Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, United States
| | - Deanna M Barch
- Neuroscience Program at Washington University in St. Louis, United States; Department of Psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, United States; Department of Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, United States; Department of Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis, United States
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