Adolescence, Puberty, and Emotion Regulation
Summary
The purpose of this study is to use brain imaging technology to compare how the brains of adolescents and adults are activated during tasks that involve emotional responses.
Evidence suggests that adolescents and adults experience activation in similar brain regions when they engage in tasks that involve the processing of emotional stimuli. However, the degree of task-associated activation may differ between adolescents and adults. This study will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain activation patterns in adolescents and adults. This study will also be used to develop emotion-evoking fMRI tasks to determine whether there are puberty and age-linked components of brain development.
Description
The goal of this project is to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the degree to which brain regions of adolescents and adults with and without steroid-related endocrine disorders are engaged by tasks involving processing of emotionally salient stimuli. In healthy subjects, based on developmental continuities in the relevant psychological processes, we anticipate considerable similarity across age groups in the topography of brain regions engaged by relevant tasks. However, we hypothesize that developmental differences in cortico-limbic circuits of adolescents and adults will be reflected in patterns of fMRI activation. Specifically, we hypothesize in both adults and adolescents that attention and memory tasks involving the processing of emotionally salient stimuli will engage the amygdala, cingulate gyrus, and association cortex of medial/inferior prefrontal cortex and temporal regions. Nevertheless, height of task-associated activation is hypothesized to differ between adolescents and adults within these regions. Moreover, prior studies distinguish puberty vs. age-related aspects of cognitive development: some aspects of attention or memory development relate to changes in chronological age whereas other aspects, particularly those involving emotional processes, relate to pubertal status. Therefore, we expect eventually to use emotion-evoking fMRI tasks to test hypotheses on the presence of complementary, distinguishable puberty vs. age-related components of brain development. In patients with endocrine disorders, we expect to identify abnormal brain function related to defects in steroidogenesis, including in utero hyperandrogenism and hypocortisolism seen in Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH), congenital male hyperandrogenism seen in familial male precocious puberty (FMPP), and hypercortisolism seen as Cushing's Syndrome (CS).
To meet these initial goals, we developed and tested a number of attention/emotion tasks in healthy adults and healthy adolescents, tested systematically a few of these tasks in the fMRI, including a face-emotion processing task, an affective picture- processing task, a threat bias task, a dot-probe task, a reward-related task, and tasks probing social processing. We are now entering the 2nd phase of the protocol, in which we are focusing on endocrine disorders, CAH, FMPP and CS. We hypothesize that both face-emotion processing task, an affective picture- processing task will engage the amygdala, cingulate gyrus, and association cortices of the medial/inferior prefrontal and temporal regions differently as a function of time of occurrence, severity, and type of endocrine abnormalities.
Study Design
N/A
Conditions
Mood Disorder
Location
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike
Bethesda
Maryland
United States
20892
Status
Recruiting
Source
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center (CC)
Results (where available)
Links
- Source: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00016731
- Information obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov on July 15, 2010
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Depressive Disorder
An affective disorder manifested by either a dysphoric mood or loss of interest or pleasure in usual activities. The mood disturbance is prominent and relatively persistent.
Cyclothymic Disorder
An affective disorder characterized by periods of depression and hypomania. These may be separated by periods of normal mood.
Bipolar Disorder
A major affective disorder marked by severe mood swings (manic or major depressive episodes) and a tendency to remission and recurrence.
Dysthymic Disorder
Chronically depressed mood that occurs for most of the day more days than not for at least 2 years. The required minimum duration in children to make this diagnosis is 1 year. During periods of depressed mood, at least 2 of the following additional symptoms are present: poor appetite or overeating, insomnia or hypersomnia, low energy or fatigue, low self esteem, poor concentration or difficulty making decisions, and feelings of hopelessness. (DSM-IV)
Mood Disorders
Those disorders that have a disturbance in mood as their predominant feature.
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