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Bashford-Largo J, Blair RJR, Blair KS, Dobbertin M, Elowsky J, Dominguez A, Hatch M, Bajaj S. Cortical volume alterations in the limbic network in adolescents with high reactive aggression. Dev Psychopathol 2024:1-9. [PMID: 38584251 DOI: 10.1017/s0954579424000750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
Previous studies show aggression-related structural alterations in frontal and limbic brain regions. Most studies have focused on overall aggression, instead of its subtypes, and on specific regions instead of networks. This study aims to identify both brain networks and regions that are associated with reactive and proactive subtypes of aggression. Structural MRI data were collected from 340 adolescents (125 F/215 M) with a mean age of 16.29 (SD = 1.20). Aggression symptomology was indexed via the Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ). Freesurfer was used to estimate Cortical Volume (CV) from seven networks and regions within specific networks associated with aggression. Two multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVAs) were conducted on groups for low versus higher reactive and proactive RPQ scores. Our reactive aggression MANCOVA showed a main effect in CV [F(14,321) = 1.935, p = 0.022,ηp2 = 0.078] across all the 7-Networks. Unpacking this main effect revealed significant volumetric differences in the right Limbic Network (LN) (p = 0.029) and the Temporal Pole (p = 0.011), where adolescents in the higher reactive aggression group showed higher cortical volumes. Such findings are consistent with region/voxel-specific analyses that have associated atypical structure within the LN and reactive aggression. Moreover, the temporal pole is highly interconnected with regions important in the regulation and initiation of reactive aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Child and Family Translational Research Center, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
- Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - R James R Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Karina S Blair
- Child and Family Translational Research Center, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Child and Family Translational Research Center, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Center, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Jaimie Elowsky
- Clinical Psychology Department, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Ahria Dominguez
- Clinical Health, Emotion, and Neuroscience (CHEN) Laboratory, Department of Neurological Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Melissa Hatch
- Mind and Brain Health Laboratories (MBHL), Department of Neurological Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Sahil Bajaj
- Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, MD Anderson Center, University of Texas, Houston, TX, USA
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Bashford-Largo J, Nakua H, Blair RJR, Dominguez A, Hatch M, Blair KS, Dobbertin M, Ameis S, Bajaj S. A Shared Multivariate Brain-Behavior Relationship in a Transdiagnostic Sample of Adolescents. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging 2024; 9:377-386. [PMID: 37572936 PMCID: PMC10858974 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2023.07.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/27/2023] [Indexed: 08/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Internalizing and externalizing psychopathology typically present in early childhood and can have negative implications on general functioning and quality of life. Prior work has linked increased psychopathology symptoms with altered brain structure. Multivariate analysis such as partial least squares correlation can help identify patterns of covariation between brain regions and psychopathology symptoms. This study examined the relationship between gray matter volume (GMV) and psychopathology symptoms in adolescents with various psychiatric diagnoses. METHODS Structural magnetic resonance imaging data were collected from 490 participants with various internalizing and externalizing diagnoses (197 female/293 male; age = 14.68 ± 2.35 years; IQ = 104.05 ± 13.11). Cortical and subcortical volumes were parcellated using the Desikan-Killiany atlas. Partial least squares correlation was used to identify multivariate linear relationships between GMV and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire difficulties domains (emotional, peer, conduct, and hyperactivity issues). Resampling approaches were used to determine significance (permutation test), stability (bootstrap resampling), and reproducibility (split-half resampling) of identified relationships. RESULTS We found a significant, stable, and largely reproducible dimension that linked lower Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire scores (less impairment) across all difficulties domains with greater widespread GMV (singular value = 1.17, accounts for 87.1% of the covariance; p < .001). This dimension emphasized the relationship between lower conduct problems and greater GMV in frontotemporal regions. CONCLUSIONS Our results indicate that the most significant and stable brain-behavior relationship in a transdiagnostic sample is a domain-general relationship, linking lower psychopathology symptom scores to greater global GMV. This finding suggests that a shared brain-behavior relationship may be present across adolescents with and without clinically significant psychopathology symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska; Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska.
| | - Hajer Nakua
- Center for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - R James R Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Ahria Dominguez
- Clinical Health, Emotion, and Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Neurological Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska
| | - Melissa Hatch
- Mind and Brain Health Labs. Department of Neurological Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska
| | - Karina S Blair
- Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska; Child and Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Unit, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Stephanie Ameis
- Center for Addiction and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, Temerty Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Sahil Bajaj
- Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, University of Texas, MD Anderson Center, Houston, Texas
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Hwang S, Suk JW, Meffert H, Lerdahl A, Garvey WF, Edwards R, Delizza A, Soltis-Vaughan B, Cordts K, Leibenluft E, Blair RJR. Neural Responses to Intranasal Oxytocin in Youths With Severe Irritability. Am J Psychiatry 2024; 181:291-298. [PMID: 38419495 PMCID: PMC10984767 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.20230174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The authors investigated the neural impact of intranasal oxytocin on emotion processing areas in youths with severe irritability in the context of disruptive mood and behavior disorders. METHODS Fifty-two participants with severe irritability, as measured by a score ≥4 on the Affective Reactivity Index (ARI), with diagnoses of disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) and/or disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) were randomly assigned to treatment with intranasal oxytocin or placebo daily for 3 weeks. Assessments were conducted at baseline and at the end of the trial; the primary outcomes were measures of irritability on the ARI and ratings on the Clinical Global Impressions severity scale (CGI-S) focusing on DBD and DMDD symptoms, and secondary outcomes included the CGI improvement scale (CGI-I) and ratings of proactive and reactive aggressive behavior on the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire. Forty-three participants (22 in the oxytocin group and 21 in the placebo group) completed pre- and posttreatment functional MRI (fMRI) scans with the affective Stroop task. RESULTS Youths who received oxytocin showed significant improvement in CGI-S and CGI-I ratings compared with those who received placebo. In the fMRI data, blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses to emotional stimuli in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex were significantly reduced after oxytocin compared with placebo. These BOLD response changes were correlated with improvement in clinical severity. CONCLUSIONS This study provides initial and preliminary evidence that intranasal oxytocin may induce neural-level changes in emotion processing in youths with irritability in the context of DBDs and DMDD. This may lead to symptom and severity changes in irritability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soonjo Hwang
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - Ji-Woo Suk
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - Harma Meffert
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - Arica Lerdahl
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - William F Garvey
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - Ryan Edwards
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - Alison Delizza
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - Brigette Soltis-Vaughan
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - Katrina Cordts
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
| | - R J R Blair
- Department of Psychiatry (Hwang, Lerdahl, Edwards), Department of Psychology (Delizza), and Department of Neurological Sciences (Soltis-Vaughan, Cordts), University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha; Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea (Suk); Slimmer AI, Groningen, the Netherlands (Meffert); Cognitive Ability and Plasticity Lab, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, U.K. (Garvey); Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, NIMH, Bethesda, Md. (Leibenluft); Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen (Blair)
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Seok JW, Soltis-Vaughan B, Lew BJ, Ahmad A, Blair RJR, Hwang S. Author Correction: Psychopharmacological treatment of disruptive behavior in youths: systematic review and network meta-analysis. Sci Rep 2024; 14:901. [PMID: 38195795 PMCID: PMC10776579 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-51047-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ji-Woo Seok
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA
- Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea
| | - Brigette Soltis-Vaughan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA
| | - Brandon J Lew
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA
| | - Aatiya Ahmad
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA
| | - R J R Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Soonjo Hwang
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA.
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Zhang R, Blair RJR, Blair KS, Dobbertin M, Elowsky J, Bashford-Largo J, Dominguez AJ, Hatch M, Bajaj S. Reduced grey matter volume in adolescents with conduct disorder: a region-of-interest analysis using multivariate generalized linear modeling. Discov Ment Health 2023; 3:25. [PMID: 37975932 PMCID: PMC10656392 DOI: 10.1007/s44192-023-00052-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Conduct disorder (CD) involves a group of behavioral and emotional problems that usually begins during childhood or adolescence. Structural brain alterations have been observed in CD, including the amygdala, insula, ventrolateral and medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and fusiform gyrus. The current study developed a multivariate generalized linear model (GLM) to differentiate adolescents with CD from typically developing (TD) adolescents in terms of grey matter volume (GMV). METHODS The whole-brain structural MRI data were collected from 96 adolescents with CD (mean age = [Formula: see text] years; mean IQ = [Formula: see text]; 63 males) and 90 TD individuals (mean age = [Formula: see text] years; mean IQ = [Formula: see text]; 59 males) matched on age, IQ, and sex. Region-wise GMV was extracted following whole-brain parcellation into 68 cortical and 14 subcortical regions for each participant. A multivariate GLM was developed to predict the GMV of the pre-hypothesized regions-of-interest (ROIs) based on CD diagnosis, with intracranial volume, age, sex, and IQ serving as the covariate. RESULTS A diagnosis of CD was a significant predictor for GMV in the right pars orbitalis, right insula, right superior temporal gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, and left amygdala (F(1, 180) = 5.460-10.317, p < 0.05, partial eta squared = 0.029-0.054). The CD participants had smaller GMV in these regions than the TD participants (MCD-MTD = [- 614.898] mm3-[- 53.461] mm3). CONCLUSIONS Altered GMV within specific regions may serve as a biomarker for the development of CD in adolescents. Clinical work can potentially target these biomarkers to treat adolescents with CD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ru Zhang
- Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA.
| | - R James R Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Karina S Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Inpatient Psychiatric Care Unit, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Jaimie Elowsky
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | | | - Ahria J Dominguez
- Clinical Health, Emotion, and Neuroscience (CHEN) Laboratory, Department of Neurological Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Melissa Hatch
- Mind and Brain Health Labs (MBHL), Department of Neurological Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Sahil Bajaj
- Department of Cancer Systems Imaging, Division of Diagnostic Imaging, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
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Zhang R, Blair RJR, Blair KS, Dobbertin M, Elowsky J, Bashford-Largo J, Dominguez AJ, Hatch M, Bajaj S. Reduced Grey Matter Volume in Adolescents with Conduct Disorder: A Region-of-Interest Analysis Using Multivariate Generalized Linear Modeling. Res Sq 2023:rs.3.rs-3425545. [PMID: 37961148 PMCID: PMC10635381 DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3425545/v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2023]
Abstract
Background Conduct disorder (CD) involves a group of behavioral and emotional problems that usually begins during childhood or adolescence. Structural brain alterations have been observed in CD, including the amygdala, insula, ventrolateral and medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and fusiform gyrus. The current study developed a multivariate generalized linear model (GLM) to differentiate adolescents with CD from typically developing (TD) adolescents in terms of grey matter volume (GMV). Methods The whole-brain structural MRI data were collected from 96 adolescents with CD (mean age = years; mean IQ = ; 63 males) and 90 TD individuals (mean age = years; mean IQ = ; 59 males) matched on age, IQ, and sex. Region-wise GMV was extracted following whole-brain parcellation into 68 cortical and 14 subcortical regions for each participant. A multivariate GLM was developed to predict the GMV of the pre-hypothesized regions-of-interest (ROIs) based on CD diagnosis, with intracranial volume, age, sex, and IQ serving as the covariate. Results A diagnosis of CD was a significant predictor for GMV in the right pars orbitalis, right insula, right superior temporal gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, and left amygdala (F(1, 180) = 5.460 - 10.317, p < 0.05, partial eta squared = 0.029 - 0.054). The CD participants had smaller GMV in these regions than the TD participants (MCD - MTD = [-614.898] mm3 - [-53.461] mm3). Conclusions Altered GMV within specific regions may serve as a biomarker for the development of CD in adolescents. Clinical work can potentially target these biomarkers to treat adolescents with CD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ru Zhang
- University of Southern California
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Sahil Bajaj
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
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Bashford-Largo J, R Blair RJ, Blair KS, Dobbertin M, Dominguez A, Hatch M, Bajaj S. Identification of structural brain alterations in adolescents with depressive symptomatology. Brain Res Bull 2023; 201:110723. [PMID: 37536609 PMCID: PMC10451038 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2023.110723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/05/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Depressive symptoms can emerge as early as childhood and may lead to adverse situations in adulthood. Studies have examined structural brain alternations in individuals with depressive symptoms, but findings remain inconclusive. Furthermore, previous studies have focused on adults or used a categorical approach to assess depression. The current study looks to identify grey matter volumes (GMV) that predict depressive symptomatology across a clinically concerning sample of adolescents. METHODS Structural MRI data were collected from 338 clinically concerning adolescents (mean age = 15.30 SD=2.07; mean IQ = 101.01 SD=12.43; 132 F). Depression symptoms were indexed via the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ). Freesurfer was used to parcellate the brain into 68 cortical regions and 14 subcortical regions. GMV was extracted from all 82 brain areas. Multiple linear regression was used to look at the relationship between MFQ scores and region-specific GMV parameter. Follow up regressions were conducted to look at potential effects of psychiatric diagnoses and medication intake. RESULTS Our regression analysis produced a significant model (R2 = 0.446, F(86, 251) = 2.348, p < 0.001). Specifically, there was a negative association between GMV of the left parahippocampal (B = -0.203, p = 0.005), right rostral anterior cingulate (B = -0.162, p = 0.049), and right frontal pole (B = -0.147, p = 0.039) and a positive association between GMV of the left bank of the superior temporal sulcus (B = 0.173, p = 0.029). Follow up analyses produced results proximal to the main analysis. CONCLUSIONS Altered regional brain volumes may serve as biomarkers for the development of depressive symptoms during adolescence. These findings suggest a homogeneity of altered cortical structures in adolescents with depressive symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA.
| | - R James R Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Karina S Blair
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA; Child and Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatric Unit, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Ahria Dominguez
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Melissa Hatch
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Sahil Bajaj
- The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
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Mathur A, Bashford-Largo J, Elowsky J, Zhang R, Dobbertin M, Tyler PM, Bajaj S, Blair KS, Blair RJR. Association Between Aggression and Differential Functional Activity of Neural Regions Implicated in Retaliation. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2023; 62:805-815. [PMID: 36889505 PMCID: PMC10330338 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2023.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2021] [Revised: 01/19/2023] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 03/10/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE The goal of the current study was to determine the extent to which atypical neural responsiveness during retaliation is associated with observed aggression in youth in residential care. METHOD This functional magnetic resonance imaging study involved 83 adolescents (56 male and 27 female; mean age, 16.18 years) in residential care performing a retaliation task. Of the 83 adolescents, 42 displayed aggressive behavior within the first 3 months of residential care, whereas 41 did not. During the retaliation task, participants were offered either fair or unfair divisions of $20 pots (allocation phase) and could either accept the offer or reject it, and, by spending $1, $2, or $3, punish the partner (retaliation phase). RESULTS The study's main findings were that aggressive adolescent showed the following: reduced down-regulation of activity within regions involved in representing the expected value of choice options (left ventromedial prefrontal cortex and left posterior cingulate cortex) as a function of offer unfairness and retaliation level; and reduced recruitment of regions implicated in response control (right inferior frontal gyrus and bilateral anterior insular cortex) and associated fronto-parietal regions as a function of retaliation level. The aggressive adolescents were also significantly more likely to have been aggressive prior to residential care and showed a strong trend for increased retaliation on the task. CONCLUSION We suggest that individuals with a greater propensity for aggression show reduced representation of the negative consequences of retaliation and associated reduced recruitment of regions potentially involved in over-ruling these negative consequences to engage in retaliation. DIVERSITY & INCLUSION STATEMENT We worked to ensure sex and gender balance in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure that the study questionnaires were prepared in an inclusive way. We worked to ensure race, ethnic, and/or other types of diversity in the recruitment of human participants. We worked to ensure sex balance in the selection of non-human subjects. We actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our author group. The author list of this paper includes contributors from the location and/or community where the research was conducted who participated in the data collection, design, analysis, and/or interpretation of the work. While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our reference list. While citing references scientifically relevant for this work, we also actively worked to promote sex and gender balance in our reference list. We actively worked to promote inclusion of historically underrepresented racial and/or ethnic groups in science in our author group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avantika Mathur
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Jaimie Elowsky
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Ru Zhang
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | | | - Sahil Bajaj
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Karina S Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - R James R Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Center Research Center, Genthofte Hospital, Hellerup, Denmark.
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9
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Seok JW, Soltis-Vaughan B, Lew BJ, Ahmad A, Blair RJR, Hwang S. Psychopharmacological treatment of disruptive behavior in youths: systematic review and network meta-analysis. Sci Rep 2023; 13:6921. [PMID: 37117632 PMCID: PMC10147946 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-33979-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 04/30/2023] Open
Abstract
To conduct a systematic review of the comparative efficacy of various psychotropic medications for the treatment of disruptive behavior (DBs) in youths. To this aim, we systematically reviewed randomized clinical trials (RCTs) of various psychotropic medications targeting symptoms of DBs and applied network meta-analysis to investigate their relative efficacy. Fifty-five RCTs meeting the inclusion criteria were selected. To predict and interpret relative treatment efficacy, we compared the efficacy of various psychotropic medications prescribed for DB symptoms based on their mechanism of action. Network meta-analysis revealed that for reducing DBs, second-generation antipsychotics, stimulants, and non-stimulant ADHD medications were more efficacious than placebo, and second-generation antipsychotics were the most efficacious. The dopaminergic modulation of top-down inhibitory process by these medications is discussed in this review. This study offers information on the relative efficacy of various psychotropic medications for the treatment of DB, and insight into a potential neurobiological underpinning for those symptoms. It also illustrates the potential utility of these neurobiological mechanisms as a target for future treatment studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji-Woo Seok
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA
- Digital Health Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, South Korea
| | - Brigette Soltis-Vaughan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA
| | - Brandon J Lew
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA
| | - Aatiya Ahmad
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA
| | - R J R Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Soonjo Hwang
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, 985578 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, 68198-5578, USA.
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10
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Bajaj S, Blair KS, Dobbertin M, Patil KR, Tyler PM, Ringle JL, Bashford-Largo J, Mathur A, Elowsky J, Dominguez A, Schmaal L, Blair RJR. Machine learning based identification of structural brain alterations underlying suicide risk in adolescents. Discov Ment Health 2023; 3:6. [PMID: 37861863 PMCID: PMC10501026 DOI: 10.1007/s44192-023-00033-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/21/2023]
Abstract
Suicide is the third leading cause of death for individuals between 15 and 19 years of age. The high suicide mortality rate and limited prior success in identifying neuroimaging biomarkers indicate that it is crucial to improve the accuracy of clinical neural signatures underlying suicide risk. The current study implements machine-learning (ML) algorithms to examine structural brain alterations in adolescents that can discriminate individuals with suicide risk from typically developing (TD) adolescents at the individual level. Structural MRI data were collected from 79 adolescents who demonstrated clinical levels of suicide risk and 79 demographically matched TD adolescents. Region-specific cortical/subcortical volume (CV/SCV) was evaluated following whole-brain parcellation into 1000 cortical and 12 subcortical regions. CV/SCV parameters were used as inputs for feature selection and three ML algorithms (i.e., support vector machine [SVM], K-nearest neighbors, and ensemble) to classify adolescents at suicide risk from TD adolescents. The highest classification accuracy of 74.79% (with sensitivity = 75.90%, specificity = 74.07%, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 87.18%) was obtained for CV/SCV data using the SVM classifier. Identified bilateral regions that contributed to the classification mainly included reduced CV within the frontal and temporal cortices but increased volume within the cuneus/precuneus for adolescents at suicide risk relative to TD adolescents. The current data demonstrate an unbiased region-specific ML framework to effectively assess the structural biomarkers of suicide risk. Future studies with larger sample sizes and the inclusion of clinical controls and independent validation data sets are needed to confirm our findings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sahil Bajaj
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14015 Flanagan Blvd. Suite #102, Boys Town, NE, USA.
| | - Karina S Blair
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14015 Flanagan Blvd. Suite #102, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14015 Flanagan Blvd. Suite #102, Boys Town, NE, USA
- Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Center, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Kaustubh R Patil
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Patrick M Tyler
- Child and Family Translational Research Center, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Jay L Ringle
- Child and Family Translational Research Center, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14015 Flanagan Blvd. Suite #102, Boys Town, NE, USA
- Center for Brain, Biology, and Behavior, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA
| | - Avantika Mathur
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14015 Flanagan Blvd. Suite #102, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Jaimie Elowsky
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14015 Flanagan Blvd. Suite #102, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Ahria Dominguez
- Multimodal Clinical Neuroimaging Laboratory (MCNL), Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14015 Flanagan Blvd. Suite #102, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Lianne Schmaal
- Center for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Orygen, Parkville, Australia
| | - R James R Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
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11
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Hubbard NA, Miller KB, Aloi J, Bajaj S, Wakabayashi KT, Blair RJR. Evaluating instrumental learning and striatal-cortical functional connectivity in adolescent alcohol and cannabis use. Addict Biol 2023; 28:e13258. [PMID: 36577718 PMCID: PMC10173870 DOI: 10.1111/adb.13258] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022]
Abstract
Adolescence is a vulnerable time for the acquisition of substance use disorders, potentially relating to ongoing development of neural circuits supporting instrumental learning. Striatal-cortical circuits undergo dynamic changes during instrumental learning and are implicated in contemporary addiction theory. Human studies have not yet investigated these dynamic changes in relation to adolescent substance use. Here, functional magnetic resonance imaging was used while 135 adolescents without (AUD-CUDLow ) and with significant alcohol (AUDHigh ) or cannabis use disorder symptoms (CUDHigh ) performed an instrumental learning task. We assessed how cumulative experience with instrumental cues altered cue selection preferences and functional connectivity strength between reward-sensitive striatal and cortical regions. Adolescents in AUDHigh and CUDHigh groups were slower in learning to select optimal instrumental cues relative to AUD-CUDLow adolescents. The relatively fast learning observed for AUD-CUDLow adolescents coincided with stronger functional connectivity between striatal and frontoparietal regions during early relative to later periods of task experience, whereas the slower learning for the CUDHigh group coincided with the opposite pattern. The AUDHigh group not only exhibited slower learning but also produced more instrumental choice errors relative to AUD-CUDLow adolescents. For the AUDHigh group, Bayesian analyses evidenced moderate support for no experience-related changes in striatal-frontoparietal connectivity strength during the task. Findings suggest that adolescent cannabis use is related to slowed instrumental learning and delays in peak functional connectivity strength between the striatal-frontoparietal regions that support this learning, whereas adolescent alcohol use may be more closely linked to broader impairments in instrumental learning and a general depression of the neural circuits supporting it.
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Affiliation(s)
- NA Hubbard
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
| | - KB Miller
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
| | - J Aloi
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN
| | - S Bajaj
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE
| | - KT Wakabayashi
- Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
| | - RJR Blair
- Child and Adolescent Mental Health Centre, Mental Health Services, Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
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12
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Aloi J, Crum KI, Blair KS, Zhang R, Bashford-Largo J, Bajaj S, Schwartz A, Carollo E, Hwang S, Leiker E, Filbey FM, Averbeck BB, Dobbertin M, Blair RJR. Individual associations of adolescent alcohol use disorder versus cannabis use disorder symptoms in neural prediction error signaling and the response to novelty. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2021; 48:100944. [PMID: 33773241 PMCID: PMC8024914 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2020] [Revised: 03/13/2021] [Accepted: 03/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Two of the most commonly used illegal substances by adolescents are alcohol and cannabis. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and cannabis use disorder (CUD) are associated with poorer decision-making in adolescents. In adolescents, level of AUD symptomatology has been negatively associated with striatal reward responsivity. However, little work has explored the relationship with striatal reward prediction error (RPE) representation and the extent to which any augmentation of RPE by novel stimuli is impacted. One-hundred fifty-one adolescents participated in the Novelty Task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In this task, participants learn to choose novel or non-novel stimuli to gain monetary reward. Level of AUD symptomatology was negatively associated with both optimal decision-making and BOLD response modulation by RPE within striatum and regions of prefrontal cortex. The neural alterations in RPE representation were particularly pronounced when participants were exploring novel stimuli. Level of CUD symptomatology moderated the relationship between novelty propensity and RPE representation within inferior parietal lobule and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. These data expand on an emerging literature investigating individual associations of AUD symptomatology levels versus CUD symptomatology levels and RPE representation during reinforcement processing and provide insight on the role of neuro-computational processes underlying reinforcement learning/decision-making in adolescents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Aloi
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States; College of Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States.
| | - Kathleen I Crum
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States; Adolescent Behavioral Health Research Program, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States; Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, United States
| | - Karina S Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Ru Zhang
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Sahil Bajaj
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Amanda Schwartz
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Erin Carollo
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Soonjo Hwang
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - Emily Leiker
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, United States
| | - Francesca M Filbey
- Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, United States
| | - Bruno B Averbeck
- Section on Learning and Decision Making, Laboratory of Neuropsychology, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research in Children, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
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13
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Zhang R, Bashford-Largo J, Lukoff J, Elowsky J, Carollo E, Schwartz A, Dobbertin M, Bajaj S, Blair KS, Leibenluft E, Blair RJR. Callous-Unemotional Traits Moderate the Relationship Between Irritability and Threatening Responding. Front Psychiatry 2021; 12:617052. [PMID: 34867494 PMCID: PMC8635046 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.617052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2020] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Irritability and callous-unemotional (CU; reduced guilt/empathy) traits vary dimensionally in the typically developing population but may be particularly marked in youth with conduct disorder (CD). While these dimensional traits are positively correlated, they have been associated with divergent forms of dysfunction, particularly with respect to threat processing (i.e., irritability with increased, and CU traits with decreased, threat responsiveness). This suggests that interactions between these two dimensions may be complex at the neurobiological level. However, this issue has received minimal empirical attention. Methods: The study included 105 adolescents (typically developing and cases with CD; N = 59). They were scanned with fMRI during a looming threat task that involved images of threatening and neutral human faces or animals that appeared to be either looming or receding. Results: Significant irritability-by-CU traits-by-Direction-by-Emotion interactions were seen within right thalamus/PAG, left lingual gyrus and right fusiform gyrus; irritability was positively associated with the BOLD response for Looming Threatening vs. Receding Threatening trials, particularly for youth with low CU traits. In contrast, CU traits were negatively associated with the same differential BOLD response but particularly for youth showing higher levels of irritability. Similar findings were seen within left ventral anterior and posterior cingulate cortices, though the addition of the interaction with CU traits was only seen at slightly more lenient thresholds. Conclusions: The results support previous work linking irritability to increased, and CU traits to reduced, threat responsiveness. However, for adolescents with high irritability, if CU traits are also high, the underlying neuropathology appears to relate to reduced, rather than increased, threat responsiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ru Zhang
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Jennie Lukoff
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Jaimie Elowsky
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Erin Carollo
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Amanda Schwartz
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Sahil Bajaj
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Karina S Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
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14
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Blair RJR, Bajaj S, Sherer N, Bashford-Largo J, Zhang R, Aloi J, Hammond C, Lukoff J, Schwartz A, Elowsky J, Tyler P, Filbey FM, Dobbertin M, Blair KS. Alcohol Use Disorder and Cannabis Use Disorder Symptomatology in Adolescents and Aggression: Associations With Recruitment of Neural Regions Implicated in Retaliation. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 2020; 6:536-544. [PMID: 33712378 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.11.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2020] [Revised: 11/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Alcohol and cannabis are commonly used by adolescents in the United States. Both alcohol use disorder (AUD) and cannabis use disorder (CUD) have been associated with an increased risk of aggression. One form of aggression seen during retaliation is reactive aggression to social provocation. This study investigated the association between AUD and CUD symptom severity and recruitment of neural regions implicated in retaliation. METHODS In this study, 102 youths aged 13-18 years (67 male; 84 in residential care) completed self-report measures of aggression-related constructs and participated in a retaliation task during functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the association between relative severity of AUD/CUD and atypical recruitment of regions implicated in retaliation. RESULTS AUD Identification Test scores were positively associated with irritability and reactive aggression scores. CUD Identification Test scores were positively associated with callous-unemotional traits and both proactive and reactive aggression scores. In functional magnetic resonance imaging analyses, only AUD Identification Test (not CUD Identification Test) scores were associated with an exaggerated recruitment of regions implicated in retaliation (dorsomedial frontal, anterior insula cortices, caudate, and, to a lesser extent, periaqueductal gray). CONCLUSIONS These data suggest that relative severity of AUD is associated with a disinhibited, exaggerated retaliation response that relates to an increased risk for reactive aggression. Similar findings were not related to severity of CUD.
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Affiliation(s)
- R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska.
| | - Sahil Bajaj
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Noah Sherer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Fordham University, New York City, New York
| | - Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Ru Zhang
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Joseph Aloi
- Department of Psychiatry, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
| | - Chris Hammond
- Department of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Jennie Lukoff
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Amanda Schwartz
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Jaimie Elowsky
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Patrick Tyler
- Child and Family Translational Research Center, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Francesca M Filbey
- Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Karina S Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
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15
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Aloi J, Blair KS, Crum KI, Bashford-Largo J, Zhang R, Lukoff J, Carollo E, White SF, Hwang S, Filbey FM, Dobbertin M, Blair RJR. Alcohol Use Disorder, But Not Cannabis Use Disorder, Symptomatology in Adolescents Is Associated With Reduced Differential Responsiveness to Reward Versus Punishment Feedback During Instrumental Learning. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging 2020; 5:610-618. [PMID: 32299790 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2019] [Revised: 02/11/2020] [Accepted: 02/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The two most commonly used illegal substances by adolescents in the United States are alcohol and cannabis. Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and cannabis use disorder (CUD) have been associated with dysfunction in decision-making processes in adolescents. One potential mechanism for these impairments is thought to be related to abnormalities in reward and punishment processing. However, very little work has directly examined potential differential relationships between AUD and CUD symptom severity and neural dysfunction during decision making in adolescents. METHODS In the current study, 154 youths participated in a passive avoidance learning task during functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the relationship between relative severity of AUD/CUD and dysfunction in processing reward and punishment feedback. RESULTS Increasing Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test scores were associated with reduced neural differentiation between reward and punishment feedback within regions of striatum, posterior cingulate cortex, and parietal cortex. However, increasing Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test scores were not associated with any neural dysfunction during the passive avoidance task. CONCLUSIONS These data expand on emerging literature that relative severity of AUD is associated with reduced responsivity to rewards in adolescents and that there are differential associations between AUD and CUD symptoms and neurocircuitry dysfunction in the developing adolescent brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Aloi
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska; MD/PhD Scholars Program, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska.
| | - Karina S Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Kathleen I Crum
- Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina
| | - Johannah Bashford-Largo
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Ru Zhang
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Jennie Lukoff
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Erin Carollo
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Stuart F White
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - Soonjo Hwang
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska
| | - Francesca M Filbey
- Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, Texas
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Nebraska
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16
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Leiker EK, Meffert H, Thornton LC, Taylor BK, Aloi J, Abdel-Rahim H, Shah N, Tyler PM, White SF, Blair KS, Filbey F, Pope K, Dobbertin M, Blair RJR. Alcohol use disorder and cannabis use disorder symptomatology in adolescents are differentially related to dysfunction in brain regions supporting face processing. Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging 2019; 292:62-71. [PMID: 31541926 PMCID: PMC6992382 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2019.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2019] [Revised: 09/09/2019] [Accepted: 09/12/2019] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Abstract
Despite extensive behavioral evidence of impairments in face processing and expression recognition in adults with alcohol or cannabis use disorders (AUD/CUD), neuroimaging findings have been inconsistent. Moreover, relatively little work has examined the relationship of AUD or CUD symptoms with face or expression processing within adolescents. Given the high prevalence of alcohol and cannabis use during adolescence, understanding how these usage behaviors interact with neural mechanisms supporting face and expression processing could have important implications for youth social and emotional functioning. In this study, adolescents (N = 104) responded to morphed fearful and happy expressions during fMRI and their level of AUD and/or CUD symptoms were related to the BOLD response data. We found that AUD and CUD symptom severity were both negatively related to responses to faces generally. However, whereas this relationship was shown for AUD within ventromedial prefrontal cortex and lingual gyrus, it was shown for CUD within rostromedial prefrontal cortex including anterior cingulate cortex. Additionally, AUD symptom levels were associated with differential responses within medial temporal pole and inferior parietal lobule as a function of expression. These results have potential implications for understanding the social and emotional functioning of adolescents with AUD and CUD symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily K Leiker
- Department of Psychiatry, Dell Medical School, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Harma Meffert
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA
| | - Laura C Thornton
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA
| | - Brittany K Taylor
- Department of Neurological Sciences, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Joseph Aloi
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA; Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Heba Abdel-Rahim
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA
| | - Niraj Shah
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA
| | - Patrick M Tyler
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA
| | - Stuart F White
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA
| | - Karina S Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA
| | - Francesca Filbey
- Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, USA
| | - Kayla Pope
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Matthew Dobbertin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, 14100 Crawford St, Boys Town, NE 68010, USA.
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17
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Blair RJR. Traits of empathy and anger: implications for psychopathy and other disorders associated with aggression. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 373:rstb.2017.0155. [PMID: 29483341 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Empathy and anger are two social emotions that modulate an individual's risk for aggression. Empathy is an emotional reaction to another individual's emotional state. Anger is an emotional reaction to threat, frustration or social provocation. Reduced empathy, seen in psychopathy, increases the risk for goal-directed aggression. Atypically increased anger (i.e. irritability), seen in conditions like disruptive mood dysregulation disorder and borderline personality disorder, increases the risk for reactive aggression. In this paper, I will outline core neurocognitive functions that correspond to empathy and which are compromised in individuals with psychopathic traits. In addition, I will outline neurocognitive functions involved in either the generation or regulation of anger and which are compromised in psychiatric conditions at increased risk for irritability/reactive aggression. It can be hoped that improved understanding of empathy and anger will lead to better assessment tools and improved interventions to reduce aggression risk.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, Omaha, NE 68131, USA
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Hwang S, Meffert H, Parsley I, Tyler PM, Erway AK, Botkin ML, Pope K, Blair RJR. Segregating sustained attention from response inhibition in ADHD: An fMRI study. Neuroimage Clin 2019; 21:101677. [PMID: 30682530 PMCID: PMC6352299 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.101677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2018] [Revised: 01/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The functional significance of the impairment shown by patients with ADHD on response inhibition tasks is unclear. Dysfunctional behavioral and BOLD responses to rare no-go cues might reflect disruption of response inhibition (mediating withholding the response) or selective attention (identifying the rare cue). However, a factorial go/no-go design (involving high and low frequency go and no-go stimuli) can disentangle these possibilities. METHODS Eighty youths [22 female, mean age = 13.70 (SD = 2.21), mean IQ = 104.65 (SD = 13.00); 49 with diagnosed ADHD] completed the factorial go/no-go task while undergoing fMRI. RESULTS There was a significant response type-by-ADHD symptom severity interaction within the left anterior insula cortex; increasing ADHD symptom severity was associated with decreased recruitment of this region to no-go cues irrespective of cue frequency. There was also a significant frequency-by-ADHD symptom severity interaction within the left superior frontal gyrus. ADHD symptom severity showed a quadratic relationship with responsiveness to low frequency cues (irrespective of whether these cues were go or no-go); within this region, at lower levels of symptom severity, increasing severity was associated with increased BOLD responses but at higher levels of symptom severity, decreasing BOLD responses. CONCLUSION The current study reveals two separable forms of dysfunction that together probably contribute to the impairments shown by patients with ADHD on go/no-go tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soonjo Hwang
- University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
| | | | - Ian Parsley
- University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Patrick M Tyler
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Anna K Erway
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Mary L Botkin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | - Kayla Pope
- Creighton University, Department of Psychiatry, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - R J R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
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Hwang S, Meffert H, VanTieghem MR, Sinclair S, Bookheimer SY, Vaughan B, Blair RJR. Dysfunctional Social Reinforcement Processing in Disruptive Behavior Disorders: An Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci 2018; 16:449-460. [PMID: 30466217 PMCID: PMC6245284 DOI: 10.9758/cpn.2018.16.4.449] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2017] [Revised: 09/12/2017] [Accepted: 11/13/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Objective Prior functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) work has revealed that children/adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) show dysfunctional reward/non-reward processing of non-social reinforcements in the context of instrumental learning tasks. Neural responsiveness to social reinforcements during instrumental learning, despite the importance of this for socialization, has not yet been previously investigated. Methods Twenty-nine healthy children/adolescents and 19 children/adolescents with DBDs performed the fMRI social/non-social reinforcement learning task. Participants responded to random fractal image stimuli and received social and non-social rewards/non-rewards according to their accuracy. Results Children/adolescents with DBDs showed significantly reduced responses within the caudate and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) to non-social (financial) rewards and social non-rewards (the distress of others). Connectivity analyses revealed that children/adolescents with DBDs have decreased positive functional connectivity between the ventral striatum (VST) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) seeds and the lateral frontal cortex in response to reward relative to non-reward, irrespective of its sociality. In addition, they showed decreased positive connectivity between the vmPFC seed and the amygdala in response to non-reward relative to reward. Conclusion These data indicate compromised reinforcement processing of both non-social rewards and social non-rewards in children/adolescents with DBDs within core regions for instrumental learning and reinforcement-based decision-making (caudate and PCC). In addition, children/adolescents with DBDs show dysfunctional interactions between the VST, vmPFC, and lateral frontal cortex in response to rewarded instrumental actions potentially reflecting disruptions in attention to rewarded stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soonjo Hwang
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - Harma Meffert
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
| | | | - Stephen Sinclair
- Department of Health and Human Services, Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Susan Y Bookheimer
- University of California and Brain Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Brigette Vaughan
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA
| | - R J R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, USA
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Lichtenberg NT, Lee B, Kashtelyan V, Chappa BS, Girma HT, Green EA, Kantor S, Lagowala DA, Myers MA, Potemri D, Pecukonis MG, Tesfay RT, Walters MS, Zhao AC, Blair RJR, Cheer JF, Roesch MR. Rat behavior and dopamine release are modulated by conspecific distress. eLife 2018; 7:e38090. [PMID: 30484770 PMCID: PMC6261252 DOI: 10.7554/elife.38090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2018] [Accepted: 11/12/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Rats exhibit 'empathy' making them a model to understand the neural underpinnings of such behavior. We show data consistent with these findings, but also that behavior and dopamine (DA) release reflects subjective rather than objective evaluation of appetitive and aversive events that occur to another. We recorded DA release in two paradigms: one that involved cues predictive of unavoidable shock to the conspecific and another that allowed the rat to refrain from reward when there were harmful consequences to the conspecific. Behavior and DA reflected pro-social interactions in that DA suppression was reduced during cues that predicted shock in the presence of the conspecific and that DA release observed on self-avoidance trials was present when the conspecific was spared. However, DA also increased when the conspecific was shocked instead of the recording rat and DA release during conspecific avoidance trials was lower than when the rat avoided shock for itself.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brian Lee
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Vadim Kashtelyan
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | | | - Henok T Girma
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Elizabeth A Green
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Shir Kantor
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Dave A Lagowala
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Matthew A Myers
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Danielle Potemri
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | | | - Robel T Tesfay
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Michael S Walters
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - Adam C Zhao
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral ResearchBoys Town National Research HospitalBoys TownUnited States
| | - Joseph F Cheer
- Department of Anatomy and NeurobiologyUniversity of Maryland School of MedicineBaltimoreUnited States
- Department of PsychiatryUniversity of Maryland School of MedicineBaltimoreUnited States
- Program in NeuroscienceUniversity of Maryland School of MedicineBaltimoreUnited States
| | - Matthew R Roesch
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
- Gemstone Honors ProgramUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
- Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive ScienceUniversity of MarylandCollege ParkUnited States
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Meffert H, Thornton LC, Tyler PM, Botkin ML, Erway AK, Kolli V, Pope K, White SF, Blair RJR. Moderation of prior exposure to trauma on the inverse relationship between callous-unemotional traits and amygdala responses to fearful expressions: an exploratory study. Psychol Med 2018; 48:2541-2549. [PMID: 29428004 PMCID: PMC6087685 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291718000156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous work has shown that amygdala responsiveness to fearful expressions is inversely related to level of callous-unemotional (CU) traits (i.e. reduced guilt and empathy) in youth with conduct problems. However, some research has suggested that the relationship between pathophysiology and CU traits may be different in those youth with significant prior trauma exposure. METHODS In experiment 1, 72 youth with varying levels of disruptive behavior and trauma exposure performed a gender discrimination task while viewing morphed fear expressions (0, 50, 100, 150 fear) and Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent responses were recorded. In experiment 2, 66 of these youth performed the Social Goals Task, which measures self-reports of the importance of specific social goals to the participant in provoking social situations. RESULTS In experiment 1, a significant CU traits-by-trauma exposure interaction was observed within right amygdala; fear intensity-modulated amygdala responses negatively predicted CU traits for those youth with low levels of trauma but positively predicted CU traits for those with high levels of trauma. In experiment 2, a bootstrapped model revealed that the indirect effect of fear intensity amygdala response on social goal importance through CU traits is moderated by prior trauma exposure. CONCLUSIONS This study, while exploratory, indicates that the pathophysiology associated with CU traits differs in youth as a function of prior trauma exposure. These data suggest that prior trauma exposure should be considered when evaluating potential interventions for youth with high CU traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harma Meffert
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
| | - Laura C Thornton
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
| | - Patrick M Tyler
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
| | - Mary L Botkin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
| | - Anna K Erway
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
| | - Venkata Kolli
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
| | - Kayla Pope
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
| | - Stuart F White
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research,Boys Town National Research Hospital,14100 Crawford Street,Boys Town,NE 68010,USA
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Aloi J, Blair KS, Crum KI, Meffert H, White SF, Tyler PM, Thornton LC, Mobley AM, Killanin AD, Adams KO, Filbey F, Pope K, Blair RJR. Adolescents show differential dysfunctions related to Alcohol and Cannabis Use Disorder severity in emotion and executive attention neuro-circuitries. Neuroimage Clin 2018; 19:782-792. [PMID: 29988822 PMCID: PMC6031867 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2018.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2018] [Revised: 04/27/2018] [Accepted: 06/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Alcohol and cannabis are two substances that are commonly abused by adolescents in the United States and which, when abused, are associated with negative medical and psychiatric outcomes across the lifespan. These negative psychiatric outcomes may reflect the detrimental impact of substance abuse on neural systems mediating emotion processing and executive attention. However, work indicative of this has mostly been conducted either in animal models or adults with Alcohol and/or Cannabis Use Disorder (AUD/CUD). Little work has been conducted in adolescent patients. In this study, we used the Affective Stroop task to examine the relationship in 82 adolescents between AUD and/or CUD symptom severity and the functional integrity of neural systems mediating emotional processing and executive attention. We found that AUD symptom severity was positively related to amygdala responsiveness to emotional stimuli and negatively related to responsiveness within regions implicated in executive attention and response control (i.e., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, precuneus) as a function of task performance. In contrast, CUD symptom severity was unrelated to amygdala responsiveness but positively related to responsiveness within regions including precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and inferior parietal lobule as a function of task performance. These data suggest differential impacts of alcohol and cannabis abuse on the adolescent brain. Alcohol and cannabis are the most widely abused substances by adolescents. AUDIT scores are related to amygdala hyperactivity to emotional stimuli. AUDIT scores are related to hypoactivity in executive attention neuro-circuitry. CUDIT scores are related to hyperactivity in executive attention neuro-circuitry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Aloi
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States; Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States.
| | - Karina S Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Kathleen I Crum
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Harma Meffert
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Stuart F White
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Patrick M Tyler
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Laura C Thornton
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Alita M Mobley
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Abraham D Killanin
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Kathryn O Adams
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Francesca Filbey
- Center for BrainHealth, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, TX, United States
| | - Kayla Pope
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States; Department of Psychiatry, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States; Department of Psychiatry, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
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Brislin SJ, Yancey JR, Perkins ER, Palumbo IM, Drislane LE, Salekin RT, Fanti KA, Kimonis ER, Frick PJ, Blair RJR, Patrick CJ. Callousness and affective face processing in adults: Behavioral and brain-potential indicators. Personal Disord 2018; 9:122-132. [PMID: 28095001 PMCID: PMC5511780 DOI: 10.1037/per0000235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
The investigation of callous-unemotional (CU) traits has been central to contemporary research on child behavior problems, and served as the impetus for inclusion of a specifier for conduct disorder in the latest edition of the official psychiatric diagnostic system. Here, we report results from 2 studies that evaluated the construct validity of callousness as assessed in adults, by testing for affiliated deficits in behavioral and neural processing of fearful faces, as have been shown in youthful samples. We hypothesized that scores on an established measure of callousness would predict reduced recognition accuracy and diminished electocortical reactivity for fearful faces in adult participants. In Study 1, 66 undergraduate participants performed an emotion recognition task in which they viewed affective faces of different types and indicated the emotion expressed by each. In Study 2, electrocortical data were collected from 254 adult twins during viewing of fearful and neutral face stimuli, and scored for event-related response components. Analyses of Study 1 data revealed that higher callousness was associated with decreased recognition accuracy for fearful faces specifically. In Study 2, callousness was associated with reduced amplitude of both N170 and P200 responses to fearful faces. Current findings demonstrate for the first time that callousness in adults is associated with both behavioral and physiological deficits in the processing of fearful faces. These findings support the validity of the CU construct with adults and highlight the possibility of a multidomain measurement framework for continued study of this important clinical construct. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Eva R Kimonis
- Department of Psychology, University of New South Wales
| | - Paul J Frick
- Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital
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Cecilione JL, Rappaport LM, Verhulst B, Carney DM, Blair RJR, Brotman MA, Leibenluft E, Pine DS, Roberson-Nay R, Hettema JM. Test-retest reliability of the facial expression labeling task. Psychol Assess 2017; 29:1537-1542. [PMID: 28230406 PMCID: PMC5568997 DOI: 10.1037/pas0000439] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Recognizing others' emotional expressions is vital for socioemotional development; impairments in this ability occur in several psychiatric disorders. Further study is needed to map the development of this ability and to evaluate its components as potential transdiagnostic endophenotypes. Before doing so, however, research is required to substantiate the test-retest reliability of scores of the face emotion identification tasks linked to developmental psychopathology. The current study estimated test-retest reliability of scores of one such task, the facial expression labeling task (FELT) among a sample of twin children (N = 157; ages 9-14). Participants completed the FELT at two visits two to five weeks apart. Participants discerned the emotion presented of faces depicting six emotions (i.e., happiness, anger, sadness, fear, surprise, and disgust) morphed with a neutral face to provide 10 levels of increasing emotional expressivity. The present study found strong test-retest reliability (Pearson r) of the FELT scores across all emotions. Results suggested that data from this task may be effectively analyzed using a latent growth curve model to estimate overall ability (i.e., intercept; r's = 0.76-0.85) and improvement as emotions become clearer (i.e., linear slope; r's = 0.69-0.83). Evidence of high test-retest reliability of this task's scores informs future developmental research and the potential identification of transdiagnostic endophenotypes for child psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer L Cecilione
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University
| | - Lance M Rappaport
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University
| | - Brad Verhulst
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University
| | - Dever M Carney
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University
| | - R J R Blair
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
| | - Melissa A Brotman
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
| | - Daniel S Pine
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health
| | - Roxann Roberson-Nay
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University
| | - John M Hettema
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University
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Thornton LC, Penner EA, Nolan ZT, Adalio CJ, Sinclair S, Meffert H, Hwang S, Blair RJR, White SF. The processing of animacy information is disrupted as a function of callous-unemotional traits in youth with disruptive behavior disorders. Neuroimage Clin 2017; 16:498-506. [PMID: 28971003 PMCID: PMC5609860 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.08.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2017] [Revised: 08/14/2017] [Accepted: 08/31/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Atypical amygdala responses to emotional stimuli have been consistently reported in youth with Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DBDs; Conduct Disorder/Oppositional Defiant Disorder). However, responding to animacy stimuli has not been systematically investigated. Yet, the amygdala is known to be responsive to animacy stimuli and impairment in responsiveness to animacy information may have implications for social cognitive development. Twenty-nine youth with DBDs and 20 typically developing youth, matched for IQ, age (Mage = 14.45, SD = 2.05) and gender, completed a dot probe task during fMRI. Stimuli consisted of negative/faces, negative/objects, neutral/faces and neutral/objects images. Youth with DBDs, relative to typically developing youth, showed: i) reduced amygdala and lateral temporal cortex responses to faces relative to objects. Moreover, within the group of youth with DBDs, increasing callous-unemotional traits were associated with lesser amygdala responses to faces relative to objects. These data suggest that youth with DBDs, particularly those with high levels of CU traits exhibit dysfunction in animacy processing in the amygdala. This dysfunction may underpin the asociality reported in these youth. Animacy processing within the amygdala is a critical component of social cognition. Youth with DBDs had reduced responses to faces compared to objects in amygdala. CU traits were associated with reduced amygdala responses to faces. Youth with DBDs, particularly those with CU exhibit problems in animacy processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura C Thornton
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | | | - Zachary T Nolan
- Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States
| | | | - Stephen Sinclair
- National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Harma Meffert
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
| | - Soonjo Hwang
- Univeristy of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, United States
| | - R James R Blair
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States.,National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD, United States
| | - Stuart F White
- Center for Neurobehavioral Research, Boys Town National Research Hospital, Boys Town, NE, United States
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Abstract
In this paper it is proposed that important components of moral development and moral judgment rely on two forms of emotional learning: stimulus-reinforcement and response-outcome learning. Data in support of this position will be primarily drawn from work with individuals with the developmental condition of psychopathy as well as fMRI studies with healthy individuals. Individuals with psychopathy show impairment on moral judgment tasks and a pronounced increased risk for instrumental antisocial behavior. It will be argued that these impairments are developmental consequences of impaired stimulus-aversive conditioning on the basis of distress cue reinforcers and response-outcome learning in individuals with this disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J R Blair
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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27
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White SF, Briggs-Gowan MJ, Voss JL, Petitclerc A, McCarthy K, R Blair RJ, Wakschlag LS. Can the fear recognition deficits associated with callous-unemotional traits be identified in early childhood? J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 2016; 38:672-84. [PMID: 27167866 DOI: 10.1080/13803395.2016.1149154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Callous-unemotional (CU) traits in the presence of conduct problems are associated with increased risk of severe antisocial behavior. Developmentally sensitive methods of assessing CU traits have recently been generated, but their construct validity in relation to neurocognitive underpinnings of CU has not been demonstrated. The current study sought to investigate whether the fear-specific emotion recognition deficits associated with CU traits in older individuals are developmentally expressed in young children as low concern for others and punishment insensitivity. METHOD A subsample of 337 preschoolers (mean age 4.8 years, SD = 0.8) who completed neurocognitive tasks was taken from a larger project of preschool psychopathology. Children completed an emotional recognition task in which they were asked to identify the emotional face from the neutral faces in an array. CU traits were assessed using the Low Concern (LC) and Punishment Insensitivity (PI) subscales of the Multidimensional Assessment Profile of Disruptive Behavior (MAP-DB), which were specifically designed to differentiate the normative misbehavior of early childhood from atypical patterns. RESULTS High LC, but not PI, scores were associated with a fear-specific deficit in emotion recognition. Girls were more accurate than boys in identifying emotional expressions but no significant interaction between LC or PI and sex was observed. CONCLUSIONS Fear recognition deficits associated with CU traits in older individuals were observed in preschoolers with developmentally defined patterns of low concern for others. Confirming that the link between CU-related impairments in empathy and distinct neurocognitive deficits is present in very young children suggests that developmentally specified measurement can detect the substrates of these severe behavioral patterns beginning much earlier than prior work. Exploring the development of CU traits and disruptive behavior disorders at very early ages may provide insights critical to early intervention and prevention of severe antisocial behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart F White
- a Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience , National Institute of Mental Health , Bethesda , MD , USA
| | | | - Joel L Voss
- c Department of Medical Social Sciences , Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University , Chicago , IL , USA
| | - Amelie Petitclerc
- c Department of Medical Social Sciences , Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University , Chicago , IL , USA
| | | | - R James R Blair
- a Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience , National Institute of Mental Health , Bethesda , MD , USA
| | - Lauren S Wakschlag
- c Department of Medical Social Sciences , Feinberg School of Medicine Northwestern University , Chicago , IL , USA.,d Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University , Chicago , IL , USA
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Hwang S, White SF, Nolan ZT, Craig Williams W, Sinclair S, Blair RJR. Executive attention control and emotional responding in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder--A functional MRI study. Neuroimage Clin 2015; 9:545-54. [PMID: 26640766 PMCID: PMC4632075 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2015.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2015] [Revised: 08/24/2015] [Accepted: 10/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Background There are suggestions that patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show impairment in executive attention control and emotion regulation. This study investigated emotion regulation as a function of the recruitment of executive attention in patients with ADHD. Methods Thirty-five healthy children/adolescents (mean age = 13.91) and twenty-six children/adolescents with ADHD (mean age = 14.53) participated in this fMRI study. They completed the affective Stroop paradigm viewing positive, neutral and negative images under varying cognitive loads. A 3-way ANOVA (diagnosis-by-condition-by-emotion) was conducted on the BOLD response data. Following this, 2 3-way ANOVAs (diagnosis-by-condition-by-emotion) were applied to context-dependent psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses generated from a dorsomedial frontal cortex and an amygdala seed (identified from the BOLD response ANOVA main effects of condition and emotion respectively). Results A diagnosis-by-condition interaction within dorsomedial frontal cortex revealed reduced recruitment of dorsomedial frontal cortex as a function of increased task demands in the children/adolescents with ADHD relative to healthy children/adolescents. The level of reduction in recruitment of dorsomedial frontal cortex was significantly correlated with symptom severity (total and hyperactivity) measured by Conner's Parent Report Scale in the children/adolescents with ADHD. In addition, analysis of gPPI data from a dorsomedial frontal cortex seed revealed significant diagnosis-by-condition interactions within lateral frontal cortex; connectivity between dorsomedial frontal cortex and lateral frontal cortex was reduced in the patients with ADHD relative to comparison youth during congruent and incongruent task trials relative to view trials. There were no interactions of group, or main effect of group, within the amygdala in the BOLD response ANOVA (though children/adolescents with ADHD showed increased responses to positive images within temporal cortical regions during task trials; identified by the diagnosis-by-condition-by-emotion interaction). However, analysis of gPPI data from an amygdala seed revealed decreased connectivity between amygdala and lentiform nucleus in the presence of emotional stimuli in children/adolescents with ADHD (diagnosis-by-emotion interaction). Conclusion The current study demonstrated disrupted recruitment of regions implicated in executive function and impaired connectivity within those regions in children/adolescents with ADHD. There were also indications of heightened representation of emotional stimuli in patients with ADHD. However, as the findings were specific for positive stimuli, the suggestion of a general failure in emotion regulation in ADHD was not supported. ADHD showed decreased dorsomedial frontal cortex activity with increased cognitive demand. Decreased dorsomedial frontal cortex activity was correlated with symptom severity of ADHD. Connectivity of dorsomedial frontal cortex–lateral frontal cortex was compromised in ADHD. ADHD showed increased activities in emotional responding areas to positive emotional stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soonjo Hwang
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Stuart F White
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Zachary T Nolan
- Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - W Craig Williams
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Stephen Sinclair
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - R J R Blair
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
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Blair RJR, White SF, Meffert H, Hwang S. Emotional learning and the development of differential moralities: implications from research on psychopathy. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2015; 1299:36-41. [PMID: 25684831 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.12169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, we will argue that (1) four classes of norm can be distinguished from a neuro-cognitive perspective; (2) learning the prohibitive power of these norms relies on relatively independent emotional systems; (3) individuals with psychopathy show selective impairment for one of these emotional learning systems and two classes of norm: care based and justice based; and (4) while emotional learning systems are necessary for appropriate moral development/reasoning, they are not sufficient for moral development/reasoning.
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Abstract
The term “conduct problems” refers to a pattern of repetitive rule-breaking behavior, aggression, and disregard for others. Such problems have received increased attention recently, owing to violent events perpetrated by youth and modifications in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) criteria for conduct disorder, a syndrome involving recurrent conduct problems in children and adolescents. Youth conduct problems are predictive of an increased risk of substance abuse, criminal behavior, and educational disruption; they also incur a considerable societal burden from interpersonal suffering and financial costs. This review summarizes current data on youth conduct problems and highlights promising avenues for research. Prior reviews have summarized either the clinical literature on outcome, treatment, and familial aggregation or the neurocognitive literature on mechanisms and pathophysiology.– The current review differs by more tightly integrating clinical and neurocognitive perspectives.
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Affiliation(s)
- R James R Blair
- From the National Institute of Mental Health Intramural Research Program, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
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Abstract
In this review an RDoC approach is applied to psychopathic traits. Two core neuro-cognitive systems relevant to the emergence of psychopathic traits are considered. These are the response to other individuals' emotional displays and reinforcement-based decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J R Blair
- Section of Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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Hwang S, White SF, Nolan ZT, Sinclair S, Blair RJR. Neurodevelopmental changes in the responsiveness of systems involved in top down attention and emotional responding. Neuropsychologia 2014; 62:277-85. [PMID: 25128588 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.08.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2013] [Revised: 07/03/2014] [Accepted: 08/01/2014] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we aimed to investigate age related changes in systems implicated in top down attention and the implications of this for amygdala responses to emotional distracters. Fifty-one healthy subjects including 18 children (aged 10-14), 15 adolescents (aged 14-18), and 18 young adults (aged 18-25) completed the affective Stroop paradigm while undergoing functional MRI. While achieving comparable behavioral performance, children, relative to adolescents and adults, showed increased activation in areas including anterior cingulate gyrus and precentral gyrus in task relative to view trials. In addition, children showed increased activation within the amygdala and fusiform gyrus in response to emotional stimuli. Notably, the group difference within the amygdala was particularly pronounced during task trials. Also children showed increased connectivity between amygdala and superior frontal gyrus and bilateral postcentral gyrii in response to negative task trials. These data are consistent with previous work indicating less consolidated functional integrity in regions implicated in top down attention in children relative to older participants and extend this work by indicating that this less consolidated functional integrity leads to reduced automatic emotion regulation as a function of top down attention. Given that reduced automatic emotion regulation as a function of top down attention is considered a risk factor for the development of anxiety disorders, these data may contribute to an understanding of the increased risk for the development of these disorders at this age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soonjo Hwang
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA.
| | - Stuart F White
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Zachary T Nolan
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Stephen Sinclair
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - R J R Blair
- Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD, USA
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Abstract
The disruptive behavior disorders include Conduct Disorder (CD), Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These disorders are highly comorbid with each other as well as with mood and anxiety disorders and personality disorders (particularly borderline personality disorder). The goal of this chapter is to consider these disorders from an RDoC(ish) approach. In other words, we will outline four functional processes and the behavioral implications of dysfunction within these processes. Moreover, we will briefly consider how dysfunction in one might increase the risk for the development of rather different behavioral problems that have been previously associated with rather different disorders. Our goal is to identify neurocognitive-based functional targets for treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J R Blair
- Department of Health and Human Services, Section on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA,
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Abstract
Psychopathy is a developmental disorder marked by emotional deficits and an increased risk for antisocial behavior. It is not equivalent to the diagnosis Antisocial Personality Disorder, which concentrates only on the increased risk for antisocial behavior and not a specific cause—ie, the reduced empathy and guilt that constitutes the emotional deficit. The current review considers data from adults with psychopathy with respect to the main cognitive accounts of the disorder that stress either a primary attention deficit or a primary emotion deficit. In addition, the current review considers data regarding the neurobiology of this disorder. Dysfunction within the amygdala's role in reinforcement learning and the role of ventromedial frontal cortex in the representation of reinforcement value is stressed. Data is also presented indicating potential difficulties within parts of temporal and posterior cingulate cortex. Suggestions are made with respect to why these deficits lead to the development of the disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- R James R Blair
- Section of Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
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White SF, Clanton R, Brislin SJ, Meffert H, Hwang S, Sinclair S, Blair RJR. Reward: empirical contribution. Temporal discounting and conduct disorder in adolescents. J Pers Disord 2014; 28:5-18. [PMID: 24344883 PMCID: PMC4491633 DOI: 10.1521/pedi.2014.28.1.5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The current study examined temporal discounting (the decrease in subjective reward value as a function of increasing delay) in youths with conduct disorder (CD) and the extent to which this was modulated by level of psychopathic traits. In the temporal discounting task, participants were asked to choose between immediate rewards of varying values and a larger reward, held at a constant value ($10), whose receipt was delayed by different time intervals across trials (e.g., 7 days, 360 days). The level of immediate reward necessary for selection over the larger, delayed reward is the measure of temporal discounting. Forty-six youths (21 with CD and 25 healthy youths) participated in this study. Compared with healthy youths, youths with CD chose significantly smaller amounts of immediate reward rather than the larger future rewards. This was the case even in youths with CD without comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. However, level of psychopathic traits did not modulate temporal discounting in this sample. These results are discussed in terms of neurobiological models of CD and psychopathic traits.
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Marsh AA, Finger EC, Fowler KA, Adalio CJ, Jurkowitz ITN, Schechter JC, Pine DS, Decety J, Blair RJR. Empathic responsiveness in amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex in youths with psychopathic traits. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2013; 54:900-10. [PMID: 23488588 PMCID: PMC3716835 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 143] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/03/2013] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Psychopathic traits are associated with increases in antisocial behaviors such as aggression and are characterized by reduced empathy for others' distress. This suggests that psychopathic traits may also impair empathic pain sensitivity. However, whether psychopathic traits affect responses to the pain of others versus the self has not been previously assessed. METHOD We used whole-brain functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural activation in 14 adolescents with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder and psychopathic traits, as well as 21 healthy controls matched on age, gender, and intelligence. Activation in structures associated with empathic pain perception was assessed as adolescents viewed photographs of pain-inducing injuries. Adolescents imagined either that the body in each photograph was their own or that it belonged to another person. Behavioral and neuroimaging data were analyzed using random-effects analysis of variance. RESULTS Youths with psychopathic traits showed reduced activity within regions associated with empathic pain as the depicted pain increased. These regions included rostral anterior cingulate cortex, ventral striatum (putamen), and amygdala. Reductions in amygdala activity particularly occurred when the injury was perceived as occurring to another. Empathic pain responses within both amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate cortex were negatively correlated with the severity of psychopathic traits as indexed by PCL:YV scores. CONCLUSIONS Youths with psychopathic traits show less responsiveness in regions implicated in the affective response to another's pain as the perceived intensity of this pain increases. Moreover, this reduced responsiveness appears to predict symptom severity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail A Marsh
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC 20057, USA.
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White SF, Brislin S, Sinclair S, Fowler KA, Pope K, Blair RJR. The relationship between large cavum septum pellucidum and antisocial behavior, callous-unemotional traits and psychopathy in adolescents. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2013; 54:575-81. [PMID: 22934662 PMCID: PMC3514613 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2012.02603.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The presence of a large cavum septum pellucidum (CSP) has been previously associated with antisocial behavior/psychopathic traits in an adult community sample. AIMS The current study investigated the relationship between a large CSP and symptom severity in disruptive behavior disorders (DBD; conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder). METHOD Structural MRI scans of youth with DBDs (N = 32) and healthy comparison youth (N = 27) were examined for the presence of a large CSP and if this was related to symptom severity. RESULTS Replicating previous results, a large CSP was associated with DBD diagnosis, proactive aggression, and level of psychopathic traits in youth. However, the presence of a large CSP was unrelated to aggression or psychopathic traits within the DBD sample. CONCLUSIONS Early brain mal-development may increase the risk of a DBD diagnosis, but does not mark a particularly severe form of DBD within patients receiving these diagnoses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart F White
- Unit on Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA.
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Blair KS, Otero M, Teng C, Jacobs M, Odenheimer S, Pine DS, Blair RJR. Dissociable roles of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) in value representation and optimistic bias. Neuroimage 2013; 78:103-10. [PMID: 23567883 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.03.063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2012] [Revised: 02/10/2013] [Accepted: 03/23/2013] [Indexed: 10/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Optimistic bias (OB) is seen when individuals underestimate their probability of experiencing negative life events and overestimate their probability of experiencing positive life events. A reduced OB has been linked with increased depression symptoms. However, given the relevance of this information to mood and anxiety disorders, little is currently known regarding the neurobiology of OB. In the current study, we examine the neural basis of OB in healthy individuals (n=33) during probability estimation of future positive and negative events occurring to themselves relative to other, comparable individuals. In line with previous work, subjects showed significant OB; they considered themselves significantly more likely to experience future positive and significantly less likely to experience future negative events relative to comparable others. Positive, relative to negative events, un-modulated by subjects' probability estimates, were associated with significantly greater activity within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). Moreover, responses within both regions to positive events negatively related to the healthy subjects' self reports of depression symptoms. However, there was no significant modulation of activity in either region by the subject's OB, objectified as the level to which they thought the event was more likely [positive events] or less likely [negative events] to occur to them relative to comparable others. In contrast, activity within the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) was positively modulated by OB for positive events and activity within the anterior insula and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) was negatively modulated by OB for negative events. However, there was no significant relationship between responsiveness within these regions and self reports of depression symptoms. The data are discussed with reference to current models of vmPFC, rACC and anterior insula functioning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karina S Blair
- National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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White SF, Pope K, Sinclair S, Fowler KA, Brislin SJ, Williams WC, Pine DS, Blair RJR. Disrupted expected value and prediction error signaling in youths with disruptive behavior disorders during a passive avoidance task. Am J Psychiatry 2013; 170:315-23. [PMID: 23450288 PMCID: PMC3941772 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.12060840] [Citation(s) in RCA: 103] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Youths with disruptive behavior disorders, including conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder, show major impairments in reinforcement-based decision making. However, the neural basis of these difficulties remains poorly understood. This partly reflects previous failures to differentiate responses during decision making and feedback processing and to take advantage of computational model-based functional MRI (fMRI). METHOD Participants were 38 community youths ages 10-18 (20 had disruptive behavior disorders, and 18 were healthy comparison youths). Model-based fMRI was used to assess the computational processes involved in decision making and feedback processing in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, insula, and caudate. RESULTS Youths with disruptive behavior disorders showed reduced use of expected value information within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex when choosing to respond and within the anterior insula when choosing not to respond. In addition, they showed reduced responsiveness to positive prediction errors and increased responsiveness to negative prediction errors within the caudate during feedback. CONCLUSIONS This study is the first to determine impairments in the use of expected value within the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and insula during choice and in prediction error-signaling within the caudate during feedback in youths with disruptive behavior disorders.
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White SF, Brislin SJ, Meffert H, Sinclair S, Blair RJR. Callous-unemotional traits modulate the neural response associated with punishing another individual during social exchange: a preliminary investigation. J Pers Disord 2013; 27:99-112. [PMID: 23342960 PMCID: PMC3941706 DOI: 10.1521/pedi.2013.27.1.99] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The current study examined whether Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits, a core component of psychopathy, modulate neural responses of participants engaged in a social exchange game. In this task, participants were offered an allocation of money and then given the chance to punish the offerer. Twenty youth participated and responses to both offers and the participant's punishment (or not) of these offers were examined. Increasingly unfair offers were associated with increased dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activity but this responsiveness was not modulated by CU traits. Increasing punishment of unfair offers was associated with increased dACC and anterior insula activity and this activity was modulated by CU traits. Higher CU trait participants showed a weaker association between activity and punishment level. These data suggest that CU traits are associated with appropriate expectations of other individual's normative behavior but weaker representations of such information when guiding behavior of the self.
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Blair RJR. Commentary: disregard for others: empathic dysfunction or emotional volatility? The relationship with future antisocial behavior - reflections on Rhee et al. (2013). J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2013. [PMID: 23194463 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- R J R Blair
- Unit of Affective Cognitive Neuroscience, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
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Thomas LA, Kim P, Bones BL, Hinton KE, Milch HS, Reynolds RC, Adleman NE, Marsh AA, Blair RJR, Pine DS, Leibenluft E. Elevated amygdala responses to emotional faces in youths with chronic irritability or bipolar disorder. Neuroimage Clin 2013; 2:637-645. [PMID: 23977455 PMCID: PMC3746996 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2013.04.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
A major controversy in child psychiatry is whether bipolar disorder (BD) presents in children as severe, non-episodic irritability (operationalized here as severe mood dysregulation, SMD), rather than with manic episodes as in adults. Both classic, episodic BD and SMD are severe mood disorders characterized by deficits in processing emotional stimuli. Neuroimaging techniques can be used to test whether the pathophysiology mediating these deficits are similar across the two phenotypes. Amygdala dysfunction during face emotion processing is well-documented in BD, but little is known about amygdala dysfunction in chronically irritable youth. We compared neural activation in SMD (n = 19), BD (n = 19), and healthy volunteer (HV; n = 15) youths during an implicit face-emotion processing task with angry, fearful and neutral expressions. In the right amygdala, both SMD and BD exhibited greater activity across all expressions than HV. However, SMD and BD differed from each other and HV in posterior cingulate cortex, posterior insula, and inferior parietal lobe. In these regions, only SMD showed deactivation in response to fearful expressions, whereas only BD showed deactivation in response to angry expressions. Thus, during implicit face emotion processing, youth with BD and those with SMD exhibit similar amygdala dysfunction but different abnormalities in regions involved in information monitoring and integration. Youths with severe mood dysregulation (SMD), bipolar disorder (BD), controls. Implicit face-emotion processing fMRI task with angry, fearful, neutral emotions. In R amygdala, SMD and BD had greater activity across all expressions vs controls. In whole brain analysis SMD had decreased, BD increased activity vs. other groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura A Thomas
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland ; National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
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White SF, Marsh AA, Fowler KA, Schechter JC, Adalio C, Pope K, Sinclair S, Pine DS, Blair RJR. Reduced amygdala response in youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits: decreased emotional response versus increased top-down attention to nonemotional features. Am J Psychiatry 2012; 169:750-8. [PMID: 22456823 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2012.11081270] [Citation(s) in RCA: 111] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Amygdala dysfunction has been reported to exist in youths and adults with psychopathic traits. However, there has been disagreement as to whether this dysfunction reflects a primary emotional deficit or is secondary to atypical attentional control. The authors examined the validity of the contrasting predictions. METHOD Participants were 15 children and adolescents (ages 10–17 years) with both disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits and 17 healthy comparison youths. Functional MRI was used to assess the response of the amygdala and regions implicated in top-down attentional control (the dorsomedial and lateral frontal cortices) to emotional expression under conditions of high and low attentional load. RESULTS Relative to youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits, healthy comparison subjects showed a significantly greater increase in the typical amygdala response to fearful expressions under low relative to high attentional load conditions. There was also a selective inverse relationship between the response to fearful expressions under low attentional load and the callous-unemotional component (but not the narcissism or impulsivity component) of psychopathic traits. In contrast, the two groups did not differ in the significant recruitment of the dorsomedial and lateral frontal cortices as a function of attentional load. CONCLUSIONS Youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits showed reduced amygdala responses to fearful expressions under low attentional load but no indications of increased recruitment of regions implicated in top-down attentional control. These findings suggest that the emotional deficit observed in youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits is primary and not secondary to increased top-down attention to nonemotional stimulus features.
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Abstract
The goal of this paper is to consider anger from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. Five main claims are made: first, reactive aggression is the ultimate behavioral expression of anger and thus we can begin to understand anger by understanding reactive aggression. Second, neural systems implicated in reactive aggression (amygdala, hypothalamus, and periaqueductal gray; the basic threat system) are critically implicated in anger. Factors such as exposure to extreme threat that increase the responsiveness of these systems, should be (and are in the context of posttraumatic stress disorder), associated with increased anger. Third, regions of frontal cortex implicated in regulating the basic threat system, when dysfunctional (e.g., in the context of lesions) should be associated with increased anger. Fourth, frustration occurs when an individual continues to do an action in the expectation of a reward but does not actually receive that reward, and is associated with anger. Individuals who show impairment in the ability to alter behavioral responding when actions no longer receive their expected rewards should be (and are in the context of psychopathy) associated with increased anger. Fifth, someone not doing what another person wants them to do (particularly if this thwarts the person's goal) is frustrating and consequently anger inducing. The response to such a frustrating social event relies on the neural architecture implicated in changing behavioral responses in nonsocial frustrating situations. WIREs Cogn Sci 2012, 3:65-74. doi: 10.1002/wcs.154 This article is categorized under: Psychology > Brain Function and Dysfunction.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J R Blair
- National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
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Blair KS, Geraci M, Korelitz K, Otero M, Towbin K, Ernst M, Leibenluft E, Blair RJR, Pine DS. The pathology of social phobia is independent of developmental changes in face processing. Am J Psychiatry 2011; 168:1202-9. [PMID: 21632650 PMCID: PMC3248999 DOI: 10.1176/appi.ajp.2011.10121740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE While social phobia in adolescence predicts the illness in adulthood, no study has directly compared the neural responses in social phobia in adults and adolescents. The authors examined neural responses to facial expressions in adults and adolescents with social phobia to determine whether the neural correlates of adult social phobia during face processing also manifest in adolescent social phobia. METHOD Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses were compared in 39 medication-free participants with social phobia (25 adults and 14 adolescents) and 39 healthy comparison subjects (23 adults and 16 adolescents) matched on age, IQ, and gender. During fMRI scans, participants saw angry, fearful, and neutral expression stimuli while making a gender judgment. RESULTS Significant diagnosis-by-emotion interactions were observed within the amygdala and the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, as has previously been hypothesized. In these regions, both the adolescent and adult social phobia patients showed significantly increased BOLD responses relative to their respective age-matched comparison subjects, and there was no evidence of age-related modulation of between-group differences. These enhanced responses occurred specifically when viewing angry (rostral anterior cingulate cortex) and fearful (amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate cortex) expressions but not when viewing neutral expressions. In addition, the severity of social phobia was significantly correlated with the enhanced rostral anterior cingulate cortex response in the adults. CONCLUSIONS The neural correlates of adult social phobia during face processing also manifest in adolescents. Neural correlates that are observed in adult social phobia may represent the persistence of profiles established earlier in life rather than adaptive responses to such earlier perturbations or maturational changes. These cross-sectional observations might encourage longitudinal fMRI studies of adolescent social phobia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karina S. Blair
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
,Correspondence concerning the article should be addressed to Karina S. Blair, Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, 15K North Drive, MSC 2670, Bethesda, Maryland 20892; ; phone (301) 451-5088
| | - Marilla Geraci
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Katherine Korelitz
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Marcela Otero
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Ken Towbin
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Monique Ernst
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Ellen Leibenluft
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - RJR Blair
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Daniel S. Pine
- Mood & Anxiety Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland
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Marsh AA, Crowe SL, Yu HH, Gorodetsky EK, Goldman D, Blair RJR. Serotonin transporter genotype (5-HTTLPR) predicts utilitarian moral judgments. PLoS One 2011; 6:e25148. [PMID: 21998637 PMCID: PMC3187753 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2011] [Accepted: 08/29/2011] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The psychological and neurobiological processes underlying moral judgment have been the focus of extensive recent research. Here we show that serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) genotype predicts responses to moral dilemmas featuring foreseen harm to an innocent. Methodology/Principal Findings Participants in this study judged the acceptability of actions that would unintentionally or intentionally harm an innocent victim in order to save others' lives. An analysis of variance revealed a genotype × scenario interaction, F(2, 63) = 4.52, p = .02. Results showed that, relative to long allele homozygotes (LL), carriers of the short (S) allele showed particular reluctance to endorse utilitarian actions resulting in foreseen harm to an innocent individual. LL genotype participants rated perpetrating unintentional harm as more acceptable (M = 4.98, SEM = 0.20) than did SL genotype participants (M = 4.65, SEM = 0.20) or SS genotype participants (M = 4.29, SEM = 0.30). No group differences in moral judgments were observed in response to scenarios featuring intentional harm. Conclusions/Significance The results indicate that inherited variants in a genetic polymorphism that influences serotonin neurotransmission influence utilitarian moral judgments as well. This finding is interpreted in light of evidence that the S allele is associated with elevated emotional responsiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail A Marsh
- Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America.
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Wakschlag LS, Henry DB, Blair RJR, Dukic V, Burns J, Pickett KE. Unpacking the association: Individual differences in the relation of prenatal exposure to cigarettes and disruptive behavior phenotypes. Neurotoxicol Teratol 2011; 33:145-54. [PMID: 21256429 DOI: 10.1016/j.ntt.2010.07.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2009] [Revised: 07/08/2010] [Accepted: 07/09/2010] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Prenatal exposure to cigarettes has been robustly associated with disruptive behavior in diverse samples and across developmental periods. In this paper we aim to elucidate exposure related behavioral phenotypes and developmental pathways by testing: (a) differential associations of exposure and four disruptive behavior dimensional phenotypes: Aggression, Noncompliance, Temper Loss and Low Concern for Others; and (b) moderation of these pathways including sex differences and moderation by parental responsive engagement. Participants were 211 teens and their parents from the East Boston Family Study (EBFS), an adolescent follow-up of a pregnancy cohort over-sampled for exposure. A best estimate serum cotinine corrected score was used to characterize exposure. In multivariate models controlling for parental antisocial behavior, family adversity and secondhand exposure, exposure uniquely predicted Aggression and Noncompliance. Paternal responsiveness moderated exposure effects on disruptive behavior. There were no sex differences in these patterns. Phenotypic findings suggest the possibility of specific neural mechanisms. In conjunction with prior research, protective effects of parental responsiveness occurring as late as adolescence point to the potential benefit of parenting-based prevention efforts to reduce risk to exposed offspring.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren S Wakschlag
- Department of Medical Social Sciences, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
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