Neural activation and connectivity in offspring of depressed mothers during monetary and social reward tasks.

Multiple previous studies show associations between history of and familial risk for depression and reward function. These previous studies have predominantly focused on neural activation during monetary tasks. Fewer studies of have examined functional connectivity and social reward tasks, particularly in offspring of mothers with depression. This study examined brain function in older children (aged 9-14 years) through both regional activation and functional connectivity during monetary (n = 103) and social reward (n = 115) tasks. Overall, our study failed to find significant differences between offspring of mothers with and without depression on monetary (65 offspring of mothers without and 38 offspring of mother with depression) and social reward (73 offspring of mothers without and 42 offspring of mother with depression) tasks on task activation and functional connectivity. We discuss possibilities for developmental timing of finding differences between offspring of mothers with and without depression on monetary and social reward tasks.

Characterizing heterogeneity in early adolescent reward networks and individualized associations with behavioral and clinical outcomes.

Associations between connectivity networks and behavioral outcomes such as depression are typically examined by comparing average networks between known groups. However, neural heterogeneity within groups may limit the ability to make inferences at the individual level as qualitatively distinct processes across individuals may be obscured in group averages. This study characterizes the heterogeneity of effective connectivity reward networks among 103 early adolescents and examines associations between individualized features and multiple behavioral and clinical outcomes. To characterize network heterogeneity, we used extended unified structural equation modeling to identify effective connectivity networks for each individual and an aggregate network. We found that an aggregate reward network was a poor representation of individuals, with most individual-level networks sharing less than 50% of the group-level network paths. We then used Group Iterative Multiple Model Estimation to identify a group-level network, subgroups of individuals with similar networks, and individual-level networks. We identified three subgroups that appear to reflect differences in network maturity, but this solution had modest validity. Finally, we found numerous associations between individual-specific connectivity features and behavioral reward functioning and risk for substance use disorders. We suggest that accounting for heterogeneity is necessary to use connectivity networks for inferences precise to the individual.

Specificity of associations between parental psychopathology and offspring brain structure.

Multiple forms of parental psychopathology have been associated with differences in subcortical brain volume. However, few studies have considered the role of comorbidity. Here, we examine if alterations in child subcortical brain structure are specific to parental depression, anxiety, mania, or alcohol/substance use parental psychopathology, common across these disorders, or altered by a history of multiple disorders. We examined 6581 children aged 9 to 10 years old from the ABCD study with no history of mental disorders. We found several significant interactions such that the effects of a parental history of depression, anxiety, and substance use problems on amygdala and striatal volumes were moderated by comorbid parental history of another disorder. Interactions tended to suggest smaller volumes in the presence of a comorbid disorder. However, effect sizes were small, and no associations remained significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Results suggest that associations between familial risk for psychopathology and offspring brain structure in 9-10-year-olds are modest, and relationships that do exist tend to implicate the amygdala and striatal regions and are moderated by a comorbid parental psychopathology history. Several methodological factors, including controlling for intracranial volume and other forms of parental psychopathology and excluding child psychopathology, likely contribute to inconsistencies in the literature.

Evaluating the item-level factor structure of anhedonia.

BACKGROUND: Anhedonia has long been theorized to be a multidimensional construct, focusing on domains of reward stimuli and temporal relationship to reward. However, little empirical work has directly examined whether there is support for this assertion. METHODS: The study used data from young adults from four independent samples (n = 2098). Participants completed multiple measures of anhedonia. RESULTS: We used rigorous conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on items from six commonly used anhedonia measures to examine dimensions underlying anhedonia. Results suggested a four-factor solution with factors reflecting social reward, social disinterest, status/achievement, and physical/natural reward. The identified factors reflected broad content domains of pleasure, but not specific reward processes. The four factors were modestly associated with one another, suggesting a weak common underlying anhedonia trait that manifests across multiple dimensions. Factor scores were associated with personality measures, reward-related indices, and depression symptoms, supporting the validity of the factors. LIMITATIONS: Participants were all young adults and we assessed anhedonia only at the level of self-report. CONCLUSION: Anhedonia is a multidimensional construct. However, the dimensions of anhedonia only distinguish domains of, but not temporal processes of anhedonia. Future work should continue to refine the structures underlying the construct of anhedonia through iterative theory- and data-driven research and examine associations between anhedonia and clinical outcomes.

Identifying profiles of brain structure and associations with current and future psychopathology in youth.

Brain structure is often studied as a marker of youth psychopathology by examining associations between volume or thickness of individual regions and specific diagnoses. However, these univariate approaches do not address whether the effect of a particular region may depend on the structure of other regions. Here, we identified subgroups of individuals with distinct profiles of brain structure and examined how these profiles were associated with concurrent and future youth psychopathology. We used latent profile analysis to identify distinct neuroanatomical profiles of subcortical region volume and orbitofrontal cortical thickness in the ABCD study (N = 9376, mean age = 9.91, SD = 0.62). We identified a five-profile solution consisting of a reduced subcortical volume profile, a reduced orbitofrontal thickness profile, a reduced limbic and elevated striatal volume profile, an elevated orbitofrontal thickness and reduced striatal volume profile, and an elevated orbitofrontal thickness and subcortical volume profile. While controlling for age, sex, and intracranial volume, profiles exhibited differences in concurrent psychopathology measured dimensionally and categorically and in psychopathology at 1-year follow-up measured dimensionally. Results show that profiles of brain structure have incremental validity for associations with youth psychopathology beyond intracranial volume.

Examining the Neurobiology of Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Children and Adolescents: The Role of Reward Responsivity.

Although prior work has shown heightened response to negative outcomes and reduced response to positive outcomes in youth with a history of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), little is known about the neural processes underlying these responses. Thus, this study examined associations between NSSI engagement and functional activation in specific regions of interest (ROIs) and whole-brain connectivity between striatal, frontal, and limbic region seeds during monetary and social reward tasks. To test for specificity of the influence of NSSI, analyses were conducted with and without depressive symptoms as a covariate. We found that NSSI was associated with decreased activation following monetary gains in all ROIs, even after controlling for depressive symptoms. Exploratory connectivity analyses found that NSSI was associated with differential connectivity between regions including the DS, vmPFC, insula, and parietal operculum cortex when controlling for depressive symptoms. Disrupted connectivity between these regions could suggest altered inhibitory control of emotions and pain processing in individuals with NSSI. Findings suggest dysfunctional reward processes in youth with NSSI, even very early in the course of the behavior.

Improving Cognitive Workload in Radiation Therapists: A Pilot EEG Neurofeedback Study.

Radiation therapy therapists (RTTs) face challenging daily tasks that leave them prone to high attrition and burnout and subsequent deficits in performance. Here, we employed an accelerated alpha-theta neurofeedback (NF) protocol that is implementable in a busy medical workplace to test if 12 RTTs could learn the protocol and exhibit behavior and brain performance-related benefits. Following the 3-week protocol, participants showed a decrease in subjective cognitive workload and a decrease in response time during a performance task, as well as a decrease in desynchrony of the alpha electroencephalogram (EEG) band. Additionally, novel microstate analysis for neurofeedback showed a significant decrease in global field power (GFP) following neurofeedback. These results suggest that the RTTs successfully learned the protocol and improved in perceived cognitive workload following 3 weeks of neurofeedback. In sum, this study presents promising behavioral improvements as well as brain performance-related evidence of neurophysiological changes following neurofeedback, supporting the feasibility of implementing neurofeedback in a busy workplace and encouraging the further study of neurofeedback as a tool to mitigate burnout.

Exploring the relationship between geomagnetic activity and human heart rate variability.

PURPOSE: Both geomagnetic and solar activity fluctuate over time and have been proposed to affect human physiology. Heart rate variability (HRV) has substantial health implications regarding the ability to adapt to stressors and has been shown to be altered in many cardiovascular and neurological disorders. Intriguingly, previous work found significant, strong correlations between HRV and geomagnetic/solar activity. The purpose of this study to replicate these findings. We simultaneously measured HRV during a 30-day period. METHODS: We recruited 20 healthy participants and measured their HRV for a 30-day period. We also collected geomagnetic and solar activity during this period for investigating their relationship with the HRV data. RESULTS: In agreement with previous work, we found several significant correlations between short-term HRV and geophysical time-series. However, after correction for autocorrelation, which is inherent in time-series, the only significant results were an increase in very low frequency during higher local geomagnetic activity and a geomagnetic anticipatory decrease in heart rate a day before the higher global geomagnetic activity. Both correlations were very low. The loss of most significant effects after this correction suggests that previous findings may be a result of autocorrelation. A further note of caution is required since our and the previous studies in the field do not correct for multiple comparisons given the exploratory analysis strategy. CONCLUSION: We thus conclude that the effects of geomagnetic and solar activity are (if present) most likely of very small effect size and we question the validity of the previous studies given the methodological concerns we have uncovered with our work.