Neurodevelopment of Emotional Interference Resistance in Adolescence to Adulthood: A Multimodal Neuroimaging Approach

University Of Pittsburgh At Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA

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Abstract

Project Summary Childhood trajectories of high or increasing internalizing and externalizing symptoms appear to mutually re-enforce one each other and be associated with the emergence and exacerbation of pathology in early adolescence and early adulthood. They have been linked with alterations in neural networks underlying emotional interference resistance—the ability to sustain attention on goal-relevant information while resisting interference from irrelevant emotional stimuli. Although, these neural networks undergo maturational changes during adolescence, their development in relation to improvements in emotional interference resistance has yet to be well characterized. Examining neural activity to emotional distracters during working memory provides rich information about the temporal sequence of emotional interference resistance. Emotional distracters recruit an extended affective visual system (AVS) comprised of the occipital-temporal cortex, medial temporal lobe/amygdala, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex; and modulate early neural activity within the AVS, as evidenced by greater magnitude of event-related potentials (ERPs) (i.e., N1, P1, and LPP). The VLPFC, which connects with regions within the AVS either directly through the uncinate and inferior fronto-occipital or indirectly through the inferior longitudinal fasciculi, is thought to play a central role in resisting emotional interference. What remains unclear is how development of structural and functional connectivity within the AVS promotes emotional interference resistance and contributes to trajectories of psychopathology common to internalizing and externalizing disorders. We address these questions through the following Aims: 1) characterize the neurodevelopment of emotional interference resistance in adolescence through adulthood; 2) characterize the neurodevelopmental of the temporal dynamics of neural activity during processing of emotional distracters; 3) examine how deviation in neurodevelopment of emotional interference resistance confer vulnerability to the effects of stress on common and specific symptom trajectories; and (4) reveal relationships among developmental changes in multimodal indices and trajectories of psychopathology symptoms. We will recruit a sample of 210 10-25 year-olds (78% White, 13% Black, 4% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 3% Multiracial) in an accelerated longitudinal design, with 30 participants (50%M/F, 2/3 at high risk based on parental diagnosis of an internalizing and/or externalizing disorder and elevated current internalizing and/or externalizing symptoms) in each age range (10-11, 12-13, 14-15, 16-17, 18-19, 20-22, and 23-25) followed longitudinally every 9 months to provide five assessments of internalizing and/or externalizing symptoms, and every 18 months to provide three neural assessments. We will use multimodal neuroimaging to investigate the neurodevelopment of resisting emotional interference using an emotional delay working memory task. Findings will clarify neurodevelopment of emotional interference resistance and inform the targeted intervention and prevention strategies.