Psychology Commons^™

The Cumulative Impact Of Childhood Adversity On Bold Responses To Inhibitory Control During Early Adolescence In The Abcd Study Cohort, Elizabeth Ashley Stinson

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence is characterized by dynamic neurodevelopment, which poses opportunities for risk and resilience. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) pose additional risk to the developing brain, where ACEs have been associated with alterations in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) BOLD signaling in brain regions underlying inhibitory control. Potential resiliency factors, like positive family environment, may attenuate the risk associated with ACEs. Using baseline to 2-year data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the current study examined how ACEs relate to fMRI BOLD signaling during successful inhibition on the Stop Signal Task (SST) in regions underlying inhibitory control during early adolescence …

Neuroimaging Depression Risk In A Sample Of Never-Depressed Children, Matthew R. J. Vandermeer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Children of mothers with a history of depression are at significantly higher risk for developing depression themselves. Although numerous mechanisms explaining this relationship have been proposed (Goodman & Gotlib, 1999), relatively little is known about the neural substrates of never-depressed children’s depression risk. Of the few studies that have used neuroimaging techniques to characterize risk-based differences in children’s neural structure, function, and functional connectivity, most have used samples that include participants with a personal history of depression or older samples (i.e., past the typical age of onset for depressive disorders). These approaches limit what can be determined regarding whether findings …

Altered Network Organization And Screen Time Use In Childhood Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd), Elizabeth Jane Hawkey

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been associated with alterations in functional connectivity involving networks in the developing brain that support optimal cognitive control. However, a clear profile of altered connectivity has yet to emerge, and it remains unclear whether changes in behavioral patterns such as screen time (ST) contribute to ADHD symptomatology and altered connectivity in networks that support cognitive control. The current study examined connectivity between large-scale networks associated with cognitive control (CC), measures of executive function (EF) which index CC, and ST in children with ADHD. Methods: Our sample included 11,874 children (ages 9-11, 52% male) …

Cerebellum-Seeded Functional Connectivity Changes In Trait-Anxious Individuals Undergoing Attention Bias Modification Training, Katherine Elwell

All NMU Master's Theses

Anxiety and anxiety related disorders are increasing at a drastic rate in the past decade, with the NIMH reporting that 31.1% of U.S. adults will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. Anxiety is commonly characterized by increased attention bias to threat. Attention Bias Modification (ABM) is a new treatment used to reduce individual’s attention bias towards threat. The extent to which ABM leads to underlying neural changes is still unknown. The cerebellum is a neglected brain structure, with new research provides evidence that cerebellum’s functional connectivity and shared networks with threat processing regions has a direct …

Neural Correlates Underlying The Interactions Between Anxiety And Cannabis Use In Predicting Motor Response Inhibition, Richard Ward

Theses and Dissertations

The ability to effectively withhold an inappropriate response is a critical feature of cognitive control. Prior research indicates alterations in neural processes required for motor response inhibition in anxious individuals, including those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and those who engage in regular cannabis use. However, thus far most research has examined how anxiety-related symptoms and cannabis use influence response inhibition in isolation of one another. The current study examined the interactions between anxious symptomology and recent cannabis use in a sample that recently experienced a traumatic event using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the completion of a Stop-Signal …

Language Abilities As A Function Of Lateralization Of Language-Specific Brain Networks, Jacey Anderson

Honors Scholar Theses

The strength of hemispheric lateralization appears to be a good predictor of language abilities in children with developmental language impairments. Studies of healthy adults, in contrast, have generally failed to identify any association between degree of lateralization and language abilities, perhaps due to limited sensitivity to individual differences in standardized language assessments. This study used fMRI to measure the lateralization of functional task-engaged language networks in 25 healthy right-handed adults. Linear regressions examined lateralization indices (LI) of language activation in inferior temporal, superior temporal, and frontal brain networks, as a function of syntactic complexity (via story retelling), a grammaticality judgment …

Data-Driven Approach To Dynamic Resting State Functional Connectivity In Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Carissa Weis

Theses and Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a heterogenous psychological disorder that may result from exposure to a traumatic event. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), symptoms of PTSD have been associated with aberrations in brain networks that emerge in the absence of a given cognitive demand or task, called resting state networks. Most previous research in resting state networks and PTSD has focused on aberrations in the static functional connectivity among specific regions of interest (ROI) in the brain and within canonical networks constrained by a priori hypotheses. However, dynamic fMRI, an approach that examines changes in brain network characteristics over …

Neurodevelopmental Mechanisms Of Adverse Trauma Outcomes In Emerging Adulthood, Olena Kleshchova

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Exposure to traumatic stress and adversity during the formative years of development can have adverse effects on mental health, neuroendocrine stress system function, and the brain, that persist into adulthood. One candidate mechanism that might confer vulnerability to enduring adverse outcomes of early life trauma is disruption of normal brain maturation. As the brain matures, functional interactions among brain regions change until the functional brain architecture (i.e., the functional connectome) reaches a mature state in adulthood. Given that different neural circuits have distinct developmental trajectories and sensitive periods, traumatic stress at a given point in development might have …

Homotopic Coupling In Persons With Epilepsy Using Movie-Driven And Resting-State Fmri, Caroline M. Chadwick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

For the 30-40% of persons with epilepsy (PWE) with refractory epilepsy, seizure freedom following surgery is affected by the localization of the epileptogenic zone (EZ). However, functional abnormalities can exist at a distance from the EZ, which may contribute to variable outcomes after surgery. Considering epilepsy as a network disorder (Pittau & Vulliemoz, 2015), and evaluating functional coupling among homotopic brain areas, may help predict cognitive outcomes. Homotopic areas are well connected anatomically and undoubtedly work synchronously to generate cognition. We evaluated 22 persons with focal epilepsy and 24 neurologically healthy controls using fMRI at rest and while watching a …

Neural Substrates Of Active Avoidance And Its Impact On Fear Extinction, Elizabeth Parisi

Theses and Dissertations

Models of anxiety suggest that avoidance of a conditioned fear stimulus prevents new safety learning, thereby serving to maintain fear. However, there is little empirical data in humans on the impact of avoidance of conditioned fear stimuli on subsequent fear extinction. In the present study I investigated the effect of avoidance of threat on neural activity during avoidance/control and a subsequent extinction phase using ultra high-resolution (7T) fMRI. Results indicated that active avoidance was associated with increased activity in regions involved in reward prediction, but this did not differentiate active avoidance from an active control condition. Neural activation during the …

Cannabis-Using Youth Demonstrated Blunted Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex Activation, But Normal Functional Connectivity, During An Emotional Go/No-Go Task, Kristin Elizabeth Maple

Theses and Dissertations

Cannabis use has been associated with deficits in self-regulation, including inhibitory control. Cannabis users have previously exhibited both structural and functional deficits in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), a region involved in self-regulation of emotional response and inhibitory control. The present study aimed to examine whether abstinent cannabis users demonstrated abnormal functional activation and connectivity of the bilateral rACC during an emotional inhibitory processing task, and whether gender moderated these relationships. The study also aimed to examine whether bilateral rACC activation and connectivity in cannabis users was related to perceived stress. It was hypothesized that cannabis users would exhibit …

A Combined Fmri And Dti Examination Of Functional Language Lateralization And Arcuate Fasciculus Structure: Effects Of Degree Versus Direction Of Hand Preference Author Links Open Overlay Panel, Ruth E. Propper, Lauren J. O'Donnell, Stephen Whalen, Yanmei Tie, Isaiah Norton, Ralph O. Suarez, Lilla Zollei, Alireza Radmanesh, Alexandra Golby

Ruth Propper

The present study examined the relationship between hand preference degree and direction, functional language lateralization in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and structural measures of the arcuate fasciculus. Results revealed an effect of degree of hand preference on arcuate fasciculus structure, such that consistently-handed individuals, regardless of the direction of hand preference, demonstrated the most asymmetric arcuate fasciculus, with larger left versus right arcuate, as measured by DTI. Functional language lateralization in Wernicke’s area, measured via fMRI, was related to arcuate fasciculus volume in consistent-left-handers only, and only in people who were not right hemisphere lateralized for language; given the …

Risk Profiles For Adolescent Internalizing Problems, Kelsey Elizabeth Hudson

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Objective: Internalizing problems are commonly diagnosed during adolescence, and are associated with distress, impairment, and negative mental health outcomes in adulthood. Thus, there is a critical need to characterize adolescents who are at the highest risk for escalating to clinical levels of internalizing problems while extending current literature and incorporating both biological and environmental predictors. This study aimed to characterized risk profiles for fourteen-year-old adolescents who developed clinical levels of internalizing (High Internalizing [HI]) problems by age nineteen, using brain, genetic, personality, cognitive, life history, psychopathology, and demographic measures. The study also examined whether there were functional and structural brain …

A Functional Neuroimaging Study Of Self-Regulatory Control In Adults With Gambling And Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders, Nidhi Parashar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Objective: Recent findings suggest phenomenological similarities across gambling and obsessive-compulsive disorders. The key similarity between the disorders is the failure to inhibit or control a repetitive behavior (or urges to engage in a behavior) and intrusive thoughts. Our current understanding of the neural pathophysiological mechanisms linking gambling and obsessive-compulsive disorders is limited. Thus, the aim of the present study was to examine the functioning of frontostriatal brain regions that support self-regulatory control in adults with gambling and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Methods: The study compared functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen level dependent response in 19 adults with pathological gambling (PG), …

Hpa Axis Genetic Variation And Life Stress Influences On Functional Connectivity In Resting State Networks, Tara Ann Miskovich

Theses and Dissertations

Stressful or traumatic experiences are a key risk factor for developing psychopathology, primarily through the impact that chronic stress has on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning. The HPA axis regulates the stress response but can become dysregulated with chronic activation and impact brain functioning. In addition to environmental stressors, genetic variation in genes in the HPA axis appear to influence HPA axis functioning and is also related to disruption in brain functioning, particularly in the context of high life stress. The current study focused on examining potential mechanisms through which trauma and stress interacts with HPA axis genes to impact key …

Preschool Executive Function Predicts Childhood Resting State Functional Connectivity And Adhd And Depression, Elizabeth Hawkey

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Measures of executive function (EF), such as the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, distinguish children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) from control children, but less work has examined relationships to depression or brain network organization. This study examined whether early childhood EF predicted a new onset or worsening of ADHD and/or depression, and examined how early childhood EF related to functional connectivity of brain networks at school age. Methods: Participants were 247 children, enrolled at ages 3-6, from a prospective study of emotion development. The BRIEF Global Executive Composite (BRIEF-GEC) was used as the measure of EF in early …

Activation And Habituation Of The Cingulate Cortex During Emotion Processing In Healthy Controls, Borderline, And Schizotypal Personality Disorder, Emily Balevich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Disturbances in emotional functioning are central features of the clinical profiles of both borderline and schizotypal personality disorder (BPD and SPD, respectively). BPD is characterized by a high sensitivity to emotional stimuli and unusually strong and long-lasting reactions, indicative of impaired habituation to emotional stimuli (Linehan, 1993). Previous research suggests that SPD patients demonstrate limbic hyper-reactivity to unpleasant stimuli, at least initially, but intact habituation to repeated presentation of unpleasant stimuli (Hazlett et al., 2012). The cingulate cortex supports various aspects of emotion processing and regulation, and abnormalities of this region have been related to emotion dysfunction in SPD and …

The Semantic Memory Imaging In Late Life Pilot Study, Michael Adam Sugarman

Wayne State University Dissertations

Introduction: Several functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have analyzed the famous name discrimination task (FNDT), an uncontrolled semantic memory probe requiring discrimination between famous and unfamiliar individuals. Completion of this simple task recruits a semantic memory network that has shown utility in determining risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Specific semantic memory probes using biographical information associated with famous individuals may build on previous findings and yield superior information regarding risk for AD.

Method: Sixteen cognitively intact elders completed the FNDT and two novel tasks during fMRI: Categories (matching famous individuals to occupational categories) and Attributes (matching famous individuals to …

The Rewarding Nature Of Anger Rumination In Borderline Personality Disorder: An Fmri Investigation, Jessica R. Peters

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Anger rumination, or persistently dwelling on feelings of anger, is associated with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and related features, such as aggressive behavior and cognitive distortions. To develop more effective treatments, it is crucial to understand why individuals with BPD engage in anger rumination despite its negative outcomes. The activation of energy associated with anger, as well as feelings of justification and validation, may be experienced in the short-term as rewarding. This may prevent individuals with BPD from attempting to reduce their rumination.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral methods were utilized to examine this theory in a sample …

Mental Representations, Social Exclusion, And Neurobiological Processes In Borderline Personality Disorder: A Multi-Level Study, Jeffrey K. Erbe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is an ongoing public health crisis. Poor developmental quality of differentiation-relatedness of object representations and attachment insecurity have been clinically and empirically demonstrated as core patterns of intrapsychic and interpersonal dysfunction in this particular form of personality pathology. Differentiation-relatedness (D-R), which involves a complementary relationship between intrapsychic autonomy and interpersonal relatedness, has been shown to be a significant aspect of internal psychic experience that relates directly to external relationship patterns, including characteristic response to interpersonal interactions and has been a specific target for treatment of BPD. Specifically, individuals with BPD have shown lower developmental quality of …

Vascular Risk, Functional Connectivity, And Episodic Memory In Older Adults, Elizabeth Regina Tuminello Hartman

Dissertations

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and functional connectivity (FC) analyses are used to explore functional brain networks underlying a diverse array of abilities. Functional networks are composed of regions throughout the brain whose activity is closely linked to form a coherent network. One functional network, the "default mode network" (DMN), is thought to subserve self-referential thought and autobiographical memory. DMN regions include the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobe, hippocampus, and the primary "hub" of this network, the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). For reasons yet unknown, DMN FC declines in aging, which is associated with memory impairment. Vascular risk may …

A Combined Fmri And Dti Examination Of Functional Language Lateralization And Arcuate Fasciculus Structure: Effects Of Degree Versus Direction Of Hand Preference Author Links Open Overlay Panel, Ruth E. Propper, Lauren J. O'Donnell, Stephen Whalen, Yanmei Tie, Isaiah Norton, Ralph O. Suarez, Lilla Zollei, Alireza Radmanesh, Alexandra Golby

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The present study examined the relationship between hand preference degree and direction, functional language lateralization in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and structural measures of the arcuate fasciculus. Results revealed an effect of degree of hand preference on arcuate fasciculus structure, such that consistently-handed individuals, regardless of the direction of hand preference, demonstrated the most asymmetric arcuate fasciculus, with larger left versus right arcuate, as measured by DTI. Functional language lateralization in Wernicke’s area, measured via fMRI, was related to arcuate fasciculus volume in consistent-left-handers only, and only in people who were not right hemisphere lateralized for language; given the …

Neuropsychological Correlates And Underlying Cortical Mechanisms Of Working Memory In Moderate To Severe Traumatic Brain Injury, Jessica Ann Clark

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a relatively new tool that has been used to examine patterns of neural activation within those with traumatic brain injuries (TBI). A review of relevant literature is presented, including alterations in activity within the frontal and parietal regions that are thought to be compensatory in nature. In addition, possible explanations for discrepancies within this research are discussed. The current study expands upon previous work by incorporating a delayed-match-to-sample (DMS) task within an event-related paradigm and neuropsychological testing to compare 12 individuals with a history of TBI to 12 control participants with orthopedic injuries (OI). …

Preliminary Evidence For Medication Effects On Functional Abnormalities In The Amygdala And Anterior Cingulate In Bipolar Disorder, Hilary P. Blumberg, Nelson H. Donegan, Charles A. Sanislow, Susan Collins, Cheryl Lacadie, Pawel Skudlarski, Ralitza Gueorguieva, Robert K. Fulbright, Thomas H. Mcglashan, John C. Gore, John H. Krystal

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

RATIONALE: Abnormal amygdala and frontocortical responses to emotional stimuli are implicated in bipolar disorder (BD) and have been proposed as potential treatment targets.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate amygdala and frontocortical responses to emotional face stimuli in BD and the influences of mood-stabilizing medications on these responses.

METHODS: Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed while 17 BD participants (5 unmedicated) and 17 healthy comparison (HC) participants viewed faces with happy, sad, fearful, or neutral expressions.

RESULTS: The group by stimulus-condition interaction was significant (p<0.01) for amygdala activation, with the greatest effects in the happy face condition. Relative to HC, amygdala increases were greater in unmedicated BD, but lower in medicated BD. Rostral anterior cingulate (rAC) activation was decreased in unmedicated BD compared to HC; however, BD participants taking medication demonstrated rAC activation similar to HC participants.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the sample sizes were small, these preliminary results suggest that …

Amygdala Hyperreactivity In Borderline Personality Disorder: Implications For Emotional Dysregulation, Nelson H. Donegan, Charles A. Sanislow, Hilary P. Blumberg, Robert K. Fulbright, Cheryl Lacadie, Pawel Skudlarski, John C. Gore, Ingrid R. Olson, Thomas H. Mcglashan, Bruce E. Wexler

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

BACKGROUND: Disturbed interpersonal relations and emotional dysregulation are fundamental aspects of borderline personality disorder (BPD). The amygdala plays important roles in modulating vigilance and generating negative emotional states and is often abnormally reactive in disorders of mood and emotion. The aim of this study was to assess amygdala reactivity in BPD patients relative to normal control subjects. We hypothesized that amygdala hyperreactivity contributes to hypervigilance, emotional dysregulation, and disturbed interpersonal relations in BPD.

METHODS: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined neural responses to 20-sec blocks of neutral, happy, sad, and fearful facial expression (or a fixation point) in 15 …