Poster Session

Name: Alaa Abouelela Abdou Abdalla, MD, MSc
University: University of Minnesota
Department: Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Program or Lab: RADLab
Mentor or PI: Dr. Kathryn R. Cullen

Poster Title: “Alexithymia and Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Among Adolescents: A Three-year Longitudinal Study”

POSTER PDF

Abstract:

Background: Adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal thoughts/behaviors (STBs) are growing mental health issues, which have been found relevant to problems with feeling emotions (i.e. alexithymia). Utilizing longitudinal data from The Brain Imaging Development of Girls’ Emotion and Self, this study explores dynamic changes in the relationship between alexithymia and Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors (SITBs) and the potential mediating role of impulsivity, particularly considering negative urgency.

Methods: 164 adolescents, assigned female at birth, aged 12 to 16 (Mean = 14.97∓1.20), with a history of self-injurious behaviors, underwent assessments at three time points (T1, T2, and T3): the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS), Urgency-Premeditation-Perseverance-Sensation Seeking-Positive Urgency (UPPS-P), Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview (SITBI), and Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation (BSSI). Correlations were applied to explore the relationship between the changes in time in total TAS scores and NSSI and BSSI scores. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) assessed negative urgency’s mediating role in T2 between alexithymia in T1 and NSSI and BSSI in T3.

Results: Adolescents showed declining TAS scores over time, positively correlated with NSSI last-year episodes, as well as BSSI from T1 to T2. These correlations were non-significant from T2 to T3. SEM revealed that negative urgency at T2 significantly mediated the relationship between alexithymia at T1 and BSSI at T3 (β= 0.152, p = 0.001 and β = 0.057, p = 0.001).

Conclusion: This study underscores dynamic changes in the alexithymia-SITBs relationship, emphasizing the mediating role of negative urgency. Interventions targeting adaptive emotion-
regulating strategies could help adolescents with recovery from self-harm.

Name: Chase Antonacci, MPhil
University: Stanford University
Department: Department of Psychology
Lab: Stanford Neurodevelopment, Affect, and Psychopathology Laboratory
Mentor or PI: Ian Gotlib, PhD

Poster Title: “Frontolimibic Resting-State Connectivity Mediates the Association Between Early Life Stress and Adolescent Psychopathology”

POSTER PDF

Early environments exert a profound and lasting effect on children’s development and well-being. Youth growing up in adverse conditions are often subject to diverse forms stress including poverty, neglect, air pollution, and maltreatment. This multicollinearity in early exposure has made it challenging to disentangle relations between specific stressors and outcomes. In the current study, 186 youth (Mage=11.33, 59%F) completed assessments of stress exposure, parenting, neighborhood pollution, and resting state fMRI at baseline. Two years later, families completed self-report measures indexing psychopathology and behavioral difficulties. We conducted separate exploratory factor analyses on measures of stress exposure in childhood and psychopathology in adolescence. We then examined associations among obtained latent factors and conducted an exploratory mediation analysis of frontolimbic functional connectivity. Factor analyses yielded three distinct domains of stress exposure: ‘Parenting,’ ‘Neighborhood Deprivation,’ and ‘Household Threat/Unpredictability,’ along with a single latent factor of ‘Psychopathology’ at follow-up. Regression analyses indicated that Parenting (b=.20, p=.003) and Household Threat/Unpredictability (b=.18, p=.007), but not Neighborhood Deprivation (b=-.003, p=.647), predicted Psychopathology in adolescence. Mediation analyses yielded a significant indirect effect for the association between Household Threat/Unpredictability and Psychopathology through functional connectivity between the right hippocampus and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (b=.03, p=.036). Sensitivity analyses indicated this effect was unique to Household Threat/Unpredictability, underscoring the potentially domain-specific nature of early stressors in shaping brain development and behavioral outcomes. Our results suggest broad dimensionality in the relation between stress exposure and
psychopathology, warranting further investigation of such dimensions, es ecially with respect to individual differences and implications for intervention targets.

Name: Kendall Coden, MS
University: University of Michigan
Department: Neuroscience Graduate Program
Mentor or PI: Drs. Karen Parker and Joseph Garner

Poster Title: “Proteomic Insights into the Developmental Pathophysiology of Stereotypy”

POSTER PDF

Stereotypies (abnormal, repetitive, and seemingly goal-less behaviors) are a key feature of several neurodevelopmental disorders. We previously established that spontaneous stereotypy in animals resembles human stereotypy, including evidence of both homologous cortico-striatal dysfunction and presence of knowledge-action dissociation—a deeply distressing affective state. Despite well documented risk factors contributing to stereotypies in individual species, a common developmental pathophysiology remains elusive. There is compelling evidence that REDOX imbalance is a causal developmental pathophysiology of compulsive behaviors. Compulsive behaviors are related to, yet distinct, from stereotypies—compulsive behaviors are repetitive, goal- directed behaviors. However, to our knowledge, the relationship between REDOX balance and stereotypy has not been examined. We first tested whether glutathione (GSH), the gold-standard biomarker of oxidative stress, predicted severity of stereotypy in N=19 mice (all on a C57BL/6 background), as it does in our other mouse models of compulsive behaviors (e.g. Trichotillomania; Ulcerative Dermatitis). We next used a novel proteomics approach to identify a more specific and sensitive biomarker profile. We found expression of 9 proteins to correlate with plasma GSH, and expression of 15 proteins to correlate with severity of stereotypy. Supporting a role for REDOX imbalance in the developmental pathophysiology of stereotypy, the identified proteins were tightly associated with REDOX physiology, dopamine physiology, and stereotypy-presenting neurodevelopmental disorders. A subset of proteins were also associated with disorders characterized by compulsive behaviors. These data suggest REDOX imbalance may be a shared
developmental pathophysiology across abnorma nd highlight promising novel targets for early detection and intervention.

Name: Maya Evans, BA
University: University of Iowa
Department: Psychiatry
Program or Lab: Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience Mentor or PI: Hanna Stevens, MD, PhD

Poster Title: “The effects of prenatal stress on distinct dorsal striatal cell types and autism spectrum disorder-relevant behaviors in mice”

POSTER PDF

Many people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show abnormalities of the dorsal striatum on the levels of morphometry, connectivity, and molecular biology. Several of these changes have been associated with symptoms in ASD, especially in the domain of restrictive, repetitive behavior. These striatal changes arise early and are dynamic over development. One early developmental risk factor for ASD is prenatal stress (PS), or maternal stress during pregnancy. In this project, we studied the effects of PS on striatal neurobiology and striatal-dependent behaviors using a mouse model. We performed single-cell RNA sequencing on dorsal striatum from adult male PS offspring, revealing transcriptomic changes in multiple cell types compared to controls. Pathway enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes showed themes including upregulation of glutamatergic synaptic transmission and downregulation of ribosomal biogenesis. Additionally, differentially expressed genes had significant overlap with ASD- associated genes. Behavioral testing was performed on male and female adult mice. PS had no effect on overall activity or anxiety-like behavior in an open field test. However, PS mice showed increased motor learning on Rotarod (p=0.019) and faster timing in an interval timing task (p=0.029). Neural recordings from the dorsomedial striatum during the interval timing task revealed a greater percentage of neurons displaying timing-related ramping activity, as well as a greater increase in neuronal firing rate over the interval in PS mice. Overall, PS led to ASD- relevant changes in striatal transcription and striatal-dependent behaviors. Our results implicate glutamatergic synapses and ribosomes as potential mechanistic targets in the development of novel interventions.

Name: Princess Felix, BS
University: University of Michigan
Department: Rackham Graduate School; Neuroscience Graduate Program Program or Lab: Flagel Lab
Mentor or PI: Dr. Shelly Flagel

Poster Title: “The Effect of Glucocorticoid Receptor Knockdown in a Corticostriatal Pathway on Cue-Motivated Behaviors”

POSTER PDF

Abstract:

Glucocorticoid receptors in a “top-down” cortico-striatal pathway play a role in the inhibitory control of cue-motivated behaviors

Princess Felix, Alexandra Turfe, Stephen E. Chang, Jaydin Adams, Elena Cooper, James P. Herman, Shelly B. Flagel

The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) is best known for its role in stress responsivity and emotionality but is also known to play a role in reward processing. GRs been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple psychiatric disorders, including impulse control and substance use disorders, and associated with an increased risk of suicidality. As deficits in inhibitory control is a common characteristic shared across psychiatric disorders, we postulate that GR within a “top- down” cortico-striatal pathway play a critical role in this regard. Here we used GR-CRISPR transgenic rats to selectively knock-down GR in glutamatergic afferents projecting from the prelimbic cortex (PrL) to the nucleus accumbens core (NAcC). We assessed the effect of this manipulation on the propensity to attribute incentive salience to a reward-associated cue using a Pavlovian conditioned approach paradigm. Prior studies have revealed that rats with a greater propensity to attribute incentive salience to reward-cues (i.e., sign-trackers) show increased impulsive action, have attentional deficits, and are more likely to exhibit cue-induced reinstatement of drug-seeking behavior relative to rats that primarily attribute predictive value to reward-cues (i.e., goal-trackers). We found that GR knockdown within the PrL-NAcC pathway results in an increased propensity to sign-track regardless of sex. These findings suggest that GR function in a top-down corticostriatal circuit plays a role in incentive motivation and the
ability of cues to attain control over and elicit maladaptive behavior.

Name: Shannon Grogans, M.S.
University: University of Maryland, College Park
Department: Department of Psychology
Program: Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program
Lab: Affective and Translational Neuroscience Laboratory
Mentor or PI: Alexander J. Shackman, Ph.D.

Poster Title: “The neural systems and real-world mood dynamics underlying dispositional risk for internalizing illness”

POSTER PDF

Background: Internalizing disorders impose a staggering burden on public health. Existing interventions are inconsistently effective, underscoring the need to understand the mechanisms that confer risk. Neuroticism/negative emotionality (N/NE) is a well-established risk factor for future anxiety and depression diagnoses. Yet, the neural systems and real-world psychological processes underlying these prospective-longitudinal trajectories remain unclear.

Method: We addressed these questions using a novel combination of data—including threat-anticipation and emotional-face fMRI paradigms and repeated waves of smartphone experience-sampling and internalizing symptom assessments—acquired from an ethnoracially diverse, risk-enriched sample of emerging adults followed for 2.5 years (n=217-220; ps<.05).

Results: Robust GLM analyses demonstrated that elevated baseline N/NE was associated with longitudinal increases in internalizing symptoms. Variation in the N/NE phenotype was uniquely associated with heightened bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) reactivity to uncertain-threat anticipation, and unrelated to BST/amygdala reactivity to certain-threat anticipation or negative faces. HLM analyses demonstrated that N/NE was associated with elevated levels of tonic (stressor-independent) and reactive (stressor-dependent) negative affect, whereas BST reactivity to uncertain-threat was selectively associated with heightened stressor reactivity.

Discussion: These observations provide a first glimpse at the processes that link a prominent dispositional risk factor to the emergence of internalizing illness. They suggest that elevated levels of the risk-conferring N/NE phenotype reflect exaggerated BST threat-reactivity, which manifests as potentiated reactivity to everyday stressors and challenges. These observations provide a neurobiologically grounded framework for conceptualizing internalizing illness and prioritizing mechanistic work focused on the BST. A relatively large, well-characterized sample enhances confidence in the robustness of these findings.

Name: Brandon King, PhD
University: University of California, Davis
Department: Center for Mind and Brain
Program or Lab: Saron Lab
Mentor or PI: Clifford Saron

Poster Title: “Validating a Diversity-informed Database of Emotional Images for Affective and Clinical Science”

POSTER PDF

Compassion and personal distress are distinct emotional experiences that arise from observing suffering in others or from witnessing vicarious harm. However, few standardized research tools exist to elicit and differentiate these important domains of affective experience. In addition, the relative lack of diverse representations of people, cultures, and situational contexts in established stimulus sets can limit their generalizability across populations and groups. To address this gap, we have curated and normed a novel stimulus set of 1,440 emotionally evocative images of suffering, threat, and interpersonal conflict. The Thematic Affective Picture Set (TAPS) depicts a thematically and socially diverse set of content, including themes of human, animal, and environmental suffering, direct danger, interpersonal violence, perpetrators of harm, as well as pleasant and neutral scenes. Example themes of suffering include people experiencing homelessness, poverty, grief, displacement, illness, conflict or war, starvation, and loneliness. I will present normative data showing that themes of suffering, threat, and harm can be discriminated in affective space based on individual differences in empathy and approach–withdrawal tendencies. Among 237 university participants, higher trait empathy predicted greater feelings of avoidance and negativity towards threat, but more approach motivation and negativity towards suffering. I will also describe attributes of the image set that make it advantageous for experimental imaging, to behavioral measures of emotional memory.

Name: Jiani Li, B.S.
University: University of Southern California Department: Psychology
Program or Lab: Cognition and Affect Regulation Lab, Ph.D. in Clinical Science Mentor or PI: Dr. Jonathan Stange

Poster Title: “Ambulatory Physiological State Dynamics Predict Proximal Behavioral Markers of Depression in Everyday Life”

POSTER PDF

Human physiology reflects the body’s capacity for self-regulation that is crucial for flexible adaptation to changing environmental demands. Leveraging wearable sensors and machine learning, we aimed to uncover latent physiological states in ambulatory recordings of cardiac, respiratory and activity signals that predict momentary affective outcomes relevant to depression, with implications for informing just-in-time adaptive interventions. 51 participants with remitted major depressive disorder (rMDD) and 42 healthy volunteers (HVs) completed seven-day ecological momentary assessments of affect, affect regulation and impulsivity while their heart rate variability, respiration, and movement were passively monitored. Using Hidden Markov Models for state decoding, we found that transitions into stressed physiological states identified proximal increases in behavioral markers of psychopathology, including negative affect, maladaptive emotion regulation (ER), and momentary impulsivity. Furthermore, compared to HVs, individuals with rMDD showed lower positive affect when dwelling in relaxed states, and more maladaptive ER after transitioning into and out of stressed states.
Relative to HVs, individuals with rMDD reported higher negative affect and less adaptive ER after dwelling in active and average states while more adaptive ER after visiting relaxed states. Findings underscore the utility of passive physiological phenotyping for tracking momentary affective processes that could be hard to actively sample but may be crucial to informing optimal moments for intervention. Moreover, group differences in the relationships between physiological state dynamics and psychological outcomes suggest potential alterations in physiology-affect coupling related to depression history, which could reveal novel physiological mechanisms of and treatment targets for depression.

Name: Sara Beth Mitchell, BA
University: University of Iowa
Department: Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Psychiatry
Program or Lab: Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Mentor or PI: Dr. Rainbo Hultman, PhD, and Dr. Hanna Stevens, MD, PhD

Poster Title: “Stress, vulnerability, and the maternal experience: Electrical network and behavioral assessments of the maternal mouse brain”

POSTER PDF

Abstract: 
Coordinated brain changes accompany the transition to motherhood. These neural adaptations benefit the young through enriched parental care abilities. However, they may not be entirely adaptive, leaving the maternal brain open to the potential development of psychiatric disorders. Maternal early life experiences, such as exposure to early life stress (ELS), are known to increase the risk of negative phenotypes in adulthood through lasting developmental brain changes heightening vulnerability. The aim of this investigation is to elucidate changes of electrical dynamics in the maternal brain relating to previously identified stress and vulnerability- associated electrical brain networks. This study also examines correlations of network activity with observed maternal care behavior and assesses alterations according to ELS history. A combination model of ELS was used to increase vulnerability in CD1 mice, a highly maternal strain. Female mice were surgically implanted with multi-site in vivo recording electrodes prior to breeding for the continued observation of brain-wide electrical dynamics. Recordings of network activity were captured in the home-cage at multiple time points from pre-gestation through weaning to capture the full course of maternal brain change. In line with previous studies of stress vulnerability networks and in consideration of parental network literature, electrodes targeted the following regions: prelimbic and infralimbic cortices, nucleus accumbens, basolateral, medial, and central amygdala, ventral hippocampus, ventral tegmental area.
Maternal behaviors were recorded at parturition and during assessment time points for evaluation alongside electrical dynamics. Initial findings suggest intriguing overlaps between
neural circuit correlates of maternal brain adaptations and changes with early adversity.

Name: Amar Ojha, BA
University: University of Pittsburgh Department: Neuroscience
Program or Lab: Cognitive-Affective Neuroscience and Development Lab Mentor or PI: Dr. Cecile Ladouceur

Poster Title: “Anhedonia is Associated with Altered Striatal Neurophysiology and Function in Adolescents Varying in Levels of Depression”

POSTER PDF

Abstract:
Background: Anhedonia—the reduced capacity for pleasure—is a common and debilitating feature of adolescent depression related to altered reward circuitry, but the role of striatal neurophysiology remains unclear. We examined whether regional homogeneity (ReHo), an index of regional synchronization, was associated with anhedonia beyond other depressive symptoms, and to what extent this relationship was moderated by striatal dopaminergic neurophysiology, assessed using the normalized T2* signal to index tissue iron.

Methods: 75 adolescents participated in the study, of whom 56 scored ≥ 40 on the Children’s Depression Rating Scale-Revised (CDRS-R) and 19 reported no current/past self/parent psychiatric diagnosis. Anhedonia was assessed using the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasure Scale (SHAPS) and other depressive symptoms using the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ). We used a voxel-wise moderated mediation approach controlling for age, sex, and symptoms of depression besides anhedonia.

Results: Reduced ReHo was associated with higher levels of anhedonia in adolescents with higher striatal tissue iron in the right caudate, and with lower levels of anhedonia in adolescents with lower levels of tissue iron. Further, reduced striatal tissue iron in the left putamen was associated with higher levels of anhedonia.

Conclusions: Both lower striatal ReHo and striatal tissue iron were associated with anhedonia beyond other depressive symptoms; however, these effects were specific to the dorsal striatum and the direction of this relationship was contingent upon levels of striatal tissue iron. Future research is needed to determine the effectiveness of dopamine-targeted pharmacotherapy for adolescents with anhedonia and particularly those with altered dopaminergic functioning.

Name: Grace Schamber, senior undergraduate and first year graduate student
University: Marquette University
Department: Biomedical Sciences
Program or Lab: Gilmartin Lab
Mentor or PI: Dr. Marieke Gilmartin

Poster Title: “Prefrontal Cortical Output to the Mediodorsal Thalamus Encodes Trace Fear Conditioning”

POSTER PDF

Abstract: Anticipation of threat from available cues during trace fear conditioning processes require activity from the prelimbic cortex (PL). Neurons within this region show sustained firing to shock- predictive cues, and when these neurons are disrupted, learning is impaired. This suggests a role for the prelimbic cortex in working memory, especially in the acquisition of fear. What is unknown is how this threat signal is distributed to downstream emotional learning systems to support fear memory.
Here we investigate the role of the mediodorsal thalamus (MD) in trace fear conditioning. The MD is strongly connected to the PL and emotional systems like the amygdala and brainstem arousal systems, positioning it as a potential node important for integrating information for working emotional memory. In this study, an intersectional viral approach was used to express GCaMP6f or ArchT in PL cells projecting to the MD. Fiber photometric imaging of PL-MD revealed activation of this pathway during threat-predictive cues in trace conditioned rats and potentiated CS-evoked activity at test compared with pre-training CS-alone trials. Additional experiments were performed to test the functional significance of PL-MD activity by optogenetically silencing the pathway during training and to characterize the encoding profiles of MD neurons using in vivo electrophysiology. The outcome of this work will begin to reveal the role of this thalamic nucleus in the acquisition and expression of episodic
fear memories.

Name: Ashton Barber, BA
University: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Psychiatry
Program or Lab: Neuroscience Training Program
Mentor or PI: Ned Kalin

Poster Title: Acute Effects of Psilocybin on Anxiety-related Behaviors in Non-human Primates

POSTER PDF

Psilocybin is a 5HT2A receptor agonist that has rapid-acting antidepressant effects in humans. Recently, the effectiveness of psilocybin to treat other psychiatric illnesses including anxiety disorders has been explored. The mechanisms behind its therapeutic effects remain unknown and are currently of considerable interest. Most of the preclinical studies performed with psilocybin have used rodents, but relatively few studies have been published using non-human primates, which are critical to bridge the translational research gap between rodents and humans.

We sought to establish the acute behavioral effects of two doses of psilocybin (0.3 and 1.0 mg/kg IM) in 5 (2M, 3F) rhesus macaques. After injection, animals were alone in the test cage for ~3 hours of behavioral observation except at the 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 minute marks where a human intruder stared at them for 3 minutes. We found that psilocybin significantly decreased locomotion and increased freezing in a dose-dependent manner. There were also significant interactions between dose and condition (stare vs alone) on several behaviors. For example, when animals were treated with psilocybin, they exhibited increased hypervigilance in the stare conditions. However, vehicle-treated animals did not exhibit much hypervigilance in either condition. These data indicate an acute psilocybin-induced increase in anxiety-related behaviors, which is consistent with behavior reported in rodents and humans. Going forward, we plan to select a dose of psilocybin to test its effects on anxiety-related behaviors 24 hours later to match the timeline of when therapeutic effects are observed.

Name: Meghan Bennett, M.S.
University: Marquette University
Department: Clinical Psychology
Program or Lab: Translational Affective Neuroscience
Mentor or PI: Jacklynn Fitzgerald, PhD

Poster Title: Anxiety and Trauma Relate Differentially to Physiological Arousal to Conditioned Fear and Inhibition Cues

POSTER PDF

Background: Anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder are theorized to share pathophysiology of aberrant fear responding. However, it remains unclear if these two disorders are similar in ability to discriminate fear from safety.

Methods: Undergraduates (N = 80) completed a fear, reward, and neutral conditioning task: colored geometric shapes (conditioned stimuli; CS) were paired with an unconditioned stimulus (US), either a white noise burst (Fear) or $0.25 (Reward) or no outcome (Neutral). On critical trials, Neutral cues were co-presented with Fear or Reward for inhibition trials (Fear+Neutral; Reward+Neutral). Forty trials were administered with jittered durations: CS cues were presented for 3-5 seconds. Continuous electrodermal activity was recorded on the non-dominant hand (high-pass filtered) using a >0.03 µS cut-off for skin conductance response (SCR) detection. Visual inspection rejected artifacts, retaining N = 48 for analysis. Participants completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) to quantify anxiety and the Life Events Checklist (LEC) to quantify trauma load. Pearson’s correlations tested the relationship between averaged SCRs, anxiety, and trauma.

Results: BAI was associated with greater SCR to Fear cues, controlling for trauma load (r(35)= 0.42, p = 0.009); LEC was unrelated (p = 0.259). Conversely, LEC was associated with greater SCR to Fear+Neutral trials (r(27) = 0.38, p=0.042) and to Reward+Neutral trials (r(25) = 0.39, p=0.045), results held controlling for anxiety; anxiety was unrelated (p’s > 0.07).

Conclusions: Findings support prior work suggesting that anxiety is related specifically to greater fear responding, while experiencing trauma may be related to poorer discrimination of fear from safety.

Name: Olivia Christian, BS Biology
University: University of Iowa
Department: Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
Program or Lab: Iowa Diversifying Research and Mentorship Program, Hultman Lab
Mentor or PI: Dr. Rainbo Hultman

Poster Title: “Exploring the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Social Touch Perception and Isolation on Stress Resiliency”

POSTER PDF

Background: Stress experienced from social isolation contributes to the onset of mood and behavioral disorders. Current literature suggests that the experience of stress during social isolation is linked to a lack of social touch. This is reflected in a mouse model where ablation of social touch Mrgprb4-lineage neurons blunts the response to normally rewarding stimuli. We hypothesize that reducing social touch stimulation through genetic manipulation and isolation, results in altered behavior and brain networks.
Methods: Behavioral and LFP data were collected from mice with Mrgprb4-lineage neurons ablated (n=7) and wild-type controls (n=10), at baseline and after exposure to stress. LFPs were analyzed by quantifying previously identified stress vulnerability networks, also known as “electome factors.” Networks between genotypes were compared.
Results: Mrgprb4-lineage neuron ablated mice displayed an altered behavioral phenotype in the sucrose splash test (p = 0.0259) and forced swim test (p = 0.0086) following stress. A Stress vulnerability network (EF1) was able to differentiate between ablated and wild-type mice immediately following an acute sucrose splash (average of individual animals’ AUCs = 0.7691, σ=0.1756; AUC of both averaged groups = 0.9519). EF1 is significantly lower following sucrose splash (p < 0.0001).
Discussion: Blockage of the perception of social touch results in differences in behavior and altered stress vulnerability network activity (EF1). These data suggest brain-network level mechanisms underlying a pro-resilience effect of social touch in the face of stress. Future directions aim to investigate if social isolation evokes the same behavioral and electrical network phenotypes as genetic manipulation.

Name: Kaley E. Davis, M.S.
University: Marquette University
Department: Psychology
Program or Lab: Clinical Psychology PhD program; Translational Affective Neuroscience Lab
Mentor or PI: Jacklynn Fitzgerald, PhD

Poster Title: Biases in Accurate Emotion Identification of Gender and Race In-Group Compared to Out-Group Ambiguous Emotional Faces

POSTER PDF

Background Accurately perceiving emotions of others critically informs social behavior, and evidence suggests recognition biases towards in-group compared to out-group members. This project investigated the effects of own-race and own-gender biases on emotion identification of ambiguous emotional faces.
Methods: N=45 healthy participants completed the Graded Emotional Face Task (GEFT), presenting racially and gender diverse emotional (i.e., fearful, happy) faces morphed with a neutral expression depicting degrees of emotional intensity (i.e., 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 100%). Following each stimuli presentation, participants selected the perceived emotion. Stimuli were characterized as race, gender, or race-and-gender in-group (if target and participant characteristics matched) or out-group (if these did not match). Emotion identification accuracy was coded as a binary value (1 = correct, 0 = incorrect) for each stimuli.
Results: Paired samples t-tests assessed differences in accuracy across graded emotional intensities between in-group and out-group stimuli (across race, gender, race and gender). Participants demonstrated lower accuracy for other gender 80% Fearful faces (p = .037) and greater accuracy for other gender (p =.014), other race (p = .041), and other gender-and-race 60% Happy faces (p = .002). No significant differences in accuracy at other graded levels (p’s > .05).
Conclusion: Individuals were more accurate at identifying moderate intensity happy faces of out-group members (i.e., race and gender) and more accurate at identifying own-gender higher intensity fearful faces (80%). Correct identification of positive emotions in outgroup members may guide approach behaviors; conversely, we may be more motivated to correctly identify fear in ingroup members.

Name: Taylor J. Keding, Ph.D.
University: Yale, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Psychology (Yale), Psychiatry (UW)
Program or Lab: BRAVE Research Center
Mentor or PI: Ryan J. Herringa, M.D., Ph.D.

Poster Title: “Family Conflict Adversity Moderates the Relationship Between Large-Scale Brain Network Connectivity in Childhood and Psychiatric Symptom Trajectories into Adolescence”

POSTER PDF

Abstract:

Early-life adversity (ELA) increases psychiatric risk; however, the mechanisms that underlie heterogeneity in symptom development are not well understood. Neuroimaging studies suggest that ELA is related to dysfunction in three brain networks – the salience (SN), frontoparietal (FPN), and default mode (DMN) networks. Few studies to-date have examined how network function interacts with ELA to predict psychiatric risk prospectively. This study utilizes a sample of N = 7492 youth from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Functional connectivity (FC) estimates were generated for the DMN, FPN, and SN from resting-state MRI in ABCD wave one. Composite scores of ELA across three waves and internalizing/externalizing symptoms across five waves of ABCD were calculated. The intercept, slope, and quadratic terms of individually-fit symptom trajectories were estimated. Multi-task elastic net regression was used to jointly predict trajectory estimates using FC by ELA composite interactions. Internalizing trajectories were best predicted by a within-DMN FC by family conflict interaction (intercept b=0.244, CI=[0.192,0.294]; slope b=0.031, CI=[0.008,0.057]; quadratic b=-0.015, CI=[-0.020,-0.009]). Youth with high and low family conflict show a positive and no association, respectively, between within-DMN FC and internalizing symptoms. Externalizing trajectories were best predicted by a within-FPN FC by family conflict interaction (intercept b=0.423, CI=[0.047,0.847]; slope b=0.071, CI=[0.009,0.143]; quadratic b=-0.030, CI=[-0.060,-0.005]). Youth with high and low family conflict show a positive and negative association, respectively, between within-FPN FC and externalizing symptoms. These results suggest that low family conflict environments may represent a protective factor against increased within-network FC during childhood translating to increased psychiatric symptoms into adolescence.

Name: Tammi R.A. Kral, Ph.D.
University: UW–Madison
Department: Center for Healthy Minds (CHM)
Program or Lab: CHM
Mentor or PI: Davidson

Poster Title: Amygdala activation pattern persistence, mood, and salience network functional connectivity

POSTER PDF

We derived a new measure of amygdala persistence from extant data to conceptually replicate and extend prior research linking persistence of amygdala activation patterns to emotion and well-being (Puccetti et al, 2021), and to test whether mindfulness meditation practice was associated with less persistence. Amygdala persistence was defined as the representational similarity of the pattern of amygdala activation to negative pictures and the subsequently presented neutral face pictures. We hypothesized that less amygdala persistence may act as a marker for better emotion regulation, as evidenced by associations with higher self-reported positive mood, well-being, and non-reactivity. Further, we hypothesized that higher amygdala persistence would be associated with lower resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) between nodes of the salience network and brain regions involved in cognitive control. We used linear regression to test the association between the representational similarity measure and each outcome, separately. We also conducted whole brain, seed-based rsFC analysis with representational similarity as a covariate to reveal brain networks associated with amygdala persistence. The maximum sample size was n= 158 for cross-sectional analysis, which included 31 participants with prior meditation experience. This analysis plan was pre-registered (https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/836JC). Amygdala persistence was associated with significantly lower positive affect, and long-term meditation practice was associated with lower amygdala persistence. Finally, higher amygdala persistence was associated with lower rsFC between insula, ventromedial prefrontal cortex and precuneus. Representational similarity of amygdala response to negative stimuli may reflect emotion persistence, and may be altered by cognitive training such as mindfulness meditation practice.

Name: Mingtong Liu, PhD
University: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Institute on Aging
Program or Lab: MIDUS Neuroscience
Mentor or PI: Stacey M. Schaefer

Poster Title: The association between amyloid and tau protein burden and representational similarity in the amygdala’s reactivity to negative and neutral stimuli in individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s disease

POSTER PDF 

Older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s disease may show differences in emotional reactivity before they exhibit cognitive decline (Fredericks et al., 2018). Amyloid and tau work together to drive healthy neurons into the diseased state. We examined the associations between amyloid and tau protein burden and representational similarity in the amygdala’s reactivity to negative and neutral stimuli in individuals at risk for Alzheimer’s disease (n = 81, 69% Female, 6% BIPOC). During the fMRI scans, participants viewed 60 negative, neutral, and positive images from IAPS for 4 s. Every affective image is followed by a 500 ms presentation of a neutral face 2 s after image offset. Amyloid and tau burden were measured using the positron emission tomography. Our results showed that greater tau burden in the entorhinal cortex is significantly related to less neural similarity in right amygdala to negative and neutral stimuli. Individual differences of tau burden in the entorhinal cortex but not amyloid burden significantly predict neural similarity in right amygdala to negative and neutral stimuli when controlling for covariates, such as age, gender and race. Neural similarity in both left and right amygdala to negative and neutral stimuli is greater in the T− group, compared to the T+ group. Overall, these findings provide evidence for the association between tau burden and fMRI indices of emotional reactivity in individuals at risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Name: Jordan Luna, BS
University: University of Iowa
Department: Psychological and Brain Sciences
Program or Lab: Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab
Mentor or PI: Dorit Kliemann

Poster Title: “Levels of autistic and social anxiety symptoms do not predict atypical approach/avoidance behavior in response to emotional facial expressions in a typical population”

POSTER PDF

Abstract: 

Faces convey important social information through emotional expressions. Whether someone is smiling or frowning may render others more or less likely to either approach or avoid them, respectively. Several psychiatric disorders, including autism and social anxiety, show difficulty interpreting emotions from faces. Here, we tested whether levels of psychiatric symptoms in a typical population predicted approach-avoidance behavior to emotional facial expressions. Using an online version of the Approach Avoidance Task [1] we measured reaction times when participants (n = 48 (32 female), mean(SD) age = 36(7)) were instructed to approach or avoid happy and angry facial expressions [2]. First, we replicated a previously reported compatibility bias: participants were faster to approach positive and avoid negative expressions, and slower to approach negative and avoid positive expressions (F= 23.5, p < 0.001). Second, we investigated whether the compatibility bias varied with levels of autistic (Autism Quotient (AQ) [3]) and social anxiety (Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) [4]) symptoms. We observed relatively high levels of psychiatric symptoms, but did not find an effect on the compatibility bias (AQ: p = 0.6, LSAS: p = 0.1), even when exploratory comparing groups with low and high psychiatric symptom levels, or when using different bias definition strategies. Our results suggest that levels of autistic and social anxiety symptoms in a typical population did not affect approach avoidance-behavior in response to positive and negative emotional facial expressions. Future work may benefit from more ecologically valid social stimuli (e.g., dynamic videos) and from also including diagnostic samples.

Name: Ajay Kumar Nair, PhD
University: UW-Madison
Department: Institute on Aging
Program or Lab: MIDUS Neuroscience
Mentor or PI:  Stacey M. Schaefer

Poster Title: “Perceived discrimination and diffusion MRI measures of brain health”

POSTER PDF

Abstract: 

Background: Discrimination is the unfair treatment experienced by individuals based on a devalued individual attribute or group identity (Potter et al., 2020). Discrimination is associated with adverse outcomes including poorer mental and physical health (Leger et al., 2022) and higher odds of all-cause mortality (Obaoye et al., 2022). Experiences of some forms of major discrimination have been associated with lower hippocampal volumes (Zahodne et al., 2023). The association between perceived discrimination and brain microstructure remains unclear.

Methods: Here, we examined the moderating effect of perceived major lifetime discrimination (Williams et al., 1997) on the relationship between age and multi-shell diffusion MRI metrics of brain health in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) cohort (n = 147, mean age = 65 years, range 48-95). Diffusion kurtosis imaging was used to derive diffusion tensor and white matter tract integrity (WMTI) metrics. Additional microstructural indices were derived using the neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) model. Permutation analyses of linear models were run in white matter and in the bilateral hippocampi, adjusting for sex, education, and race.

Results: Greater lifetime discrimination accelerated age-associated changes in white matter microstructure metrics, including increased mean and radial diffusivities, extra-axonal perpendicular diffusivity, and increased cerebrospinal fluid fraction. These converging findings using complementary diffusion metrics suggest that discrimination can be considered as a risk factor for accelerated brain aging.

Conclusion: Discrimination experiences are associated with diffusion measures indicative of accelerated brain aging adding more evidence to the insidious impacts of inequity.

Name: Courtney Olson, MS
University: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Department of Psychiatry
Program or Lab: Kalin Lab
Mentor or PI: Ned Kalin

Poster Title: “Fear conditioning in preadolescent children with and without anxiety disorders”

POSTER PDF

Abstract: 

Introduction: A prominent feature of anxiety disorders (ADs) is exaggerated fear of threats and aberrant threat learning. This may be expressed as higher physiological and subjective responses to threat and safety cues in AD individuals. We compared physiological and subjective responses to a fear conditioning paradigm between youth with and without ADs to examine potential differential conditioning effects.
Methods: Data were collected from 126 preadolescents (age 8-12), n=71 that met DSM-5 criteria for separation, social and/or generalized AD, and n=55 healthy controls, across four sites (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vanderbilt University, National Institute of Mental Health, and University of Nebraska). Participants completed a fear conditioning paradigm that included preconditioning, conditioning, and extinction phases. Images of two women with neutral expressions were used as the CS+ and CS-, and the UCS was a 1-second scream presented with the CS+ woman displaying a fearful expression. Skin conductance response (SCR) was collected continuously, and self-reported fear was collected before preconditioning, after conditioning, and after extinction.
Results: SCR to the CS+ and CS- was similar between groups in each phase (ps>.05). Groups reported similar self-reported fear across stimuli during preconditioning (p>.05), whereas the anxiety group reported higher levels of fear across stimuli during conditioning and extinction (ps<.05).
Conclusions: Results demonstrate that ADs are not associated with higher physiological responses to threat or safety cues. Conversely, AD youth reported higher fear levels to threat and safety cues after fear learning and extinction. Taken together, results suggest that youth with and without ADs respond similarly physiologically to threats, but different subjectively.

Name: Sarah M. Olshan, BS
University: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Department: Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
Program or Lab: Control and Network Connectivity Team Lab
Mentor or PI: Sepideh Sadaghiani

Poster Title: How the Brain Resolves Ambiguity in Emotion Perception

POSTER PDF 

Interpreting emotional information from the faces of others guides social behavior. This information is often ambiguous, requiring reliance on internal brain states. Thus, the intrinsic brain processes involved in resolving emotional ambiguity have important implications for everyday interactions, especially in the context of conditions like depression and autism. Prior work has examined neural correlates of face valence judgments at threshold. However, it remains unknown how task-evoked responses differ across different perceptual outcomes on identical trials of emotionally ambiguous face stimuli.
Thirty participants (Female=21, Mage=21.71) completed an emotional face judgment task on repeated exposure to an emotionally ambiguous face that could be judged as sad or neutral. The image was individually chosen for each subject prior to the experiment using a threshold detection procedure on eleven different levels of sad-to-neutral morphing. General linear models were constructed to assess how task-evoked responses differed between the two percepts.
Single-subject level contrasts revealed that higher-order control regions may be especially important in resolving emotional ambiguity. Preliminary group-level results did not reveal any significant differences between the two conditions.
Repeating these analyses in a larger sample will clarify whether a larger effect size is needed given subtle differences between perceptual outcomes. Alternatively, the absence of task-evoked differences at the group-level could reflect different decision-making strategies that e.g. give weight to different types of stimuli features across individuals. Future work will investigate how pre-stimulus brain states and transdiagnostic factors may be related to the tendency to perceive an identical face
stimulus as sad compared to neutral.”

“Wisconsin Symposium on Emotion Poster Application Application Deadline: April 12, 2024
Please send this completed application form to healthemotions@wisc.edu Additionally, please be sure to register for the symposium.
For additional information, please visit https://healthemotions.org/poster-session/”

Name: Jonathan Y. Peters, B.S 
University: The University of Iowa
Department: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Program or Lab: Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab
Mentor or PI: Dorit Kliemann, Ph.D

Poster Title: “Validation of a dynamic facial emotion stimulus set and English version of the “Face Puzzle” explicit emotion recognition” task”

POSTER PDF

Abstract: 

Facial emotion recognition tasks often include only few basic emotions and use static images [1]. The Face Puzzle task [2] addressed these limitations by including also complex emotions portrayed in more ecologically valid dynamic face videos. The task has shown sensitivity to subtle social impairments and training effects in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) [3], however, it was validated in German with narrow ethnical diversity, thus limiting its applicability. Here, we present four preregistered studies aiming to validate a more diverse stimulus set and an English version of the Face Puzzle explicit task (FPe). In study 1, participants (n = 40) rated arousal, valence, and believability of expressions. In study 2, participants (n = 76) then labeled the selected 25 stimuli (11 positive, 14 negative), resulting in moderate task reliability. In studies 3 and 4, we next assessed the task’s external and construct validity in laboratory settings with 47 (31 female) healthy adults and 18 (9 female) adults with ASD. We found only moderate relations between performance on the FPe task and other social cognitive measures in the typical sample, however, we found reduced FPe performance (lower accuracy, longer reaction times) and stronger relation to other measures in the ASD sample. In summary, we provide a new validated English version of the Face Puzzle explicit task with sensitivity to atypical facial emotion recognition in ASD. Future studies would benefit from larger sample sizes including other psychopathologies (schizophrenia, anxiety) and different ecologically valid measures to assess external validity.

Name: Hadley Rahrig, Ph.D.
University: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Psychology
Program or Lab: Center for Healthy Minds
Mentor or PI: Christy Wilson-Mendenhall & Richie Davidson

Poster Title: Neurocircuitry, meditation, and mind-wandering: Distinct fMRI connectivity approaches contribute to biological understandings of conscious thought

POSTER PDF

Through the integration of two functional neuroimaging studies, we examined how meditative practices facilitate changes in neurocircuitry with implications for ongoing conscious thought. In study 1 (N = 100), we examined the effects of first-time exposure to mindfulness meditation on large-scale brain networks in vivo. Results suggested that relative to progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness meditation was associated with less functional cohesion of default mode networks and greater functional cohesion of frontoparietal control and salience networks. In study 2 (N = 140), we applied graph-theory and ecological momentary assessment to explore associations between affect dynamics, attention, and resting state connectivity as a function of MBSR versus an active control intervention. There was no relationship between emotion instability and attention instability at baseline; however, a significant, positive relationship emerged in participants who completed MBSR training, (F = .16, p = .007). While emotion stability was highest in those with low baseline modularity (F = -1.32, p = .008), the effect of modularity on emotion instability was less pronounced in the MBSR group compared to the active control intervention, (F = -.422, p = .042), suggesting that those with lower baseline modularity benefitted more from MBSR than from the active control intervention.

Name: Jax Skye, PhD
University: University of Iowa
Department: Psychiatry & Psychological and Brain Sciences
Program or Lab: Laboratory for Ecological Inference and Social Cognitive Neuroscience
Mentor or PI: James Traer, PhD and Dorit Kliemann, PhD

Poster Title: Affective prosody influences low-level acoustic feature perception

POSTER PDF 

Abstract: 

Impairments in expressing and understanding affective prosody, nonverbal aspects of speech that convey emotional information, are associated with several psychiatric conditions. How speaker emotion might impact the perception of subtle differences in low-level acoustic features (like loudness and pitch) remains unclear. We investigated participants’ (n = 40 (12 male), mean age = 18 years (18-24)) ability to perceive pitch and loudness manipulations in recordings of semantically neutral sentences spoken in affective prosody (angry, happy, neutral). Accuracy in perception of acoustical feature variation differed across emotion categories for both loudness (F(1,74) = 4.3, p < .017, partial η2 = 0.1) and pitch (F(1,74) = 8.2, p < .001, partial η2 = 0.18). Participants were more accurate in recognizing variations to loudness in angry and neutral (both p = .033) compared to happy recordings. Sensitivity to pitch was higher for neutral recordings compared to emotional conditions (angry p = .002; happy p <
.001). Exploratory analyses suggested associations between pitch sensitivity and socially relevant psychopathology traits in the typical sample. Participants with higher levels of social anxiety and autistic social symptoms showed higher accuracy. In summary, our findings suggest that speaker emotion impacts one’s ability to recognize the low-level acoustical structure of speech. Additionally, perceptual accuracy may be related to variations in social functioning with relevance for psychopathology. Future studies, currently underway, will investigate specificity to acoustic features independent of affective prosody, individual differences in large s, relevance for psychiatric diagnosis, and underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

Names: Abbie Symanietz, BS & Mary Burke, BS
University: University of St. Thomas (MN)
Department: Psychology Department (Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience)
Program or Lab: Center for College Sleep
Mentor or PI: Roxanne Prichard, Ph.D

Poster Title: “Predictors of Flourishing Among College Students with and without Diagnosed Depression and Anxiety”

POSTER PDF

Abstract: 

Purpose: To identify predictors of psychological wellbeing in college students both diagnosed and not diagnosed with depression and/or anxiety.

Method: Data from the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment from Fall 2019-Fall 2020 were analyzed. Using factor analysis and multiple regression with best subsets BIC values in SPSS and R, we identified significant explanatory variables for psychological wellbeing. We created separate models for students who were either diagnosed (n = 14,950) or not diagnosed (n = 37,102) with depression and/or anxiety. Standard beta values were then used to compare the relative strengths of each variable in each group.

Results: The leading predictive factors of psychological wellbeing in college students both with and without a depression and/or anxiety diagnosis were academic and financial stressors, dissatisfaction with interpersonal relationships, and sleep health (total sleep time, insomnia symptoms, excessive sleepiness). Alcohol overall, there were few differences in predictors of psychological well-being between those with psychopathology and those without a diagnosis.

Conclusion: To increase psychological well-being and management of anxiety and depression there should be a focus on increasing academic and financial support, improving interpersonal relationships, and supporting sleep health through screening and treatment. Further research should be conducted on interventions that target these measures.

Name: Autumn Teal
University: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Psychology
Program or Lab: Preventing Interpersonal Violence and Overcoming Trauma (PIVOT) Lab
Mentor or PI: Dr. Kate Walsh

Poster Title: Do Self-Conscious Emotions Moderate the Relationship Between Impulsivity and PTSD Among Trauma-Exposed College Students?

POSTER PDF 

Lifetime exposure to interpersonal violence can lead to adverse mental health outcomes, such as PTSD, which can be influenced by individual traits like impulsivity, guilt, and shame. While previous research has suggested a negative association between impulsivity and guilt proneness, the interplay of these factors in influencing PTSD symptoms remains unclear. This study investigated the moderating effects of trait guilt and trait shame on the relationship between impulsivity facets (sensation seeking, negative urgency, positive urgency, lack of premeditation, and lack of perseverance) and PTSD symptoms. Data were collected from 196 college students with a history of interpersonal trauma. Moderated regression analyses revealed trait guilt positively moderated the relationship between lack of perseverance and PTSD symptom severity, b = .41, SE = .20; t = 2.08, p = .038, 95% confidence interval [.021, .812]. Conversely, trait guilt was found to buffer PTSD symptom severity when related to positive urgency, b = -.18, SE = 07, t = -2.42, p = .016, [-.329, -.033]. Neither trait guilt nor shame showed moderating effects on other impulsivity facets (sensation seeking, negative urgency, lack of premeditation) and PTSD symptoms. These findings underscore the complex link between guilt and impulsivity in PTSD and suggest that interventions targeting guilt and perseverance may be beneficial for individuals with PTSD. The study’s conclusions may not generalize to college student samples with more racial and gender diversity. Future research should extend these inquiries to more diverse samples and examine the longitudinal impact of trait guilt, shame, and impulsivity on PTSD.

Names: Ariana Williams, B.A. & Stephanie B. Ward, MS
University: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Department: Psychology
Program or Lab: PIVOT Lab
PI: Kate Walsh, PhD
Graduate Student Mentor: Stephanie B. Ward, M.S.

Poster Title: Does Anxiety Moderate the Effect of Peer Drinking Norms on Past-Month Alcohol-Induced Blackouts? An Observational Study Among College Students

POSTER PDF 

Abstract:
Social anxiety and drinking for social reasons have been positively associated with alcohol consumption among college students.^1-2 Prior work also suggests that emotion dysregulation, peer norms, and drinking for anxiety-coping can lead to alcohol-related problems.³  Still, it remains unclear how these factors relate to alcohol-induced blackouts (AIBs). Given the high comorbidity of social and generalized anxiety, the current study extends previous research by investigating whether generalized anxiety moderates the association between peer drinking norms and AIBs. We hypothesized that generalized anxiety symptoms and peer drinking norms would interact such that students with more anxiety would be more susceptible to higher peer drinking norms, resulting in more frequent past-month AIBs. We further hypothesized that the interaction between generalized anxiety and peer drinking norms would explain unique variance in AIBs when controlling for emotion dysregulation and other alcohol-related problems. Overdispersed data prompted two quasi-Poisson regressions. Contrary to Hypothesis 1, the results of our first model indicated that the interaction between generalized anxiety and peer drinking norms was significant but negative (β = -0.006, SE = 0.003, z = -2.207, p = .027), which suggests higher peer drinking norms increased blackout frequency and that this effect was less pronounced in students with greater anxiety. In line with our second hypothesis, the interaction remained significant after adjusting for covariates (β = -0.031, SE = 0.012,  z = -2.628, p = .009), which further suggests generalized anxiety symptoms buffer the influence of peer drinking norms on AIBs. Implications for intervention and future research are discussed.

Name: Mingzheng Wu, Ph.D
University: Northwestern University
Department: Department of Neurobiology & Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics
Program or Lab: Kozorovitskiy & Rogers
Mentor or PI: Yevgenia Kozorovitskiy & John A. Rogers

Poster Title: “Dopamine pathways mediating affective state transitions after sleep loss”

POSTER PDF

Abstract:

The pathophysiology of affective disorders—particularly circuit-level mechanisms underlying bidirectional, periodic affective state transitions—remains poorly understood. In patients, disruptions of sleep and circadian rhythm can trigger transitions to manic episodes, whereas depressive states are reversed. Here, we introduce a hybrid automated sleep deprivation platform to induce transitions of affective states in mice. Acute sleep loss causes mixed behavioral states, featuring hyperactivity, elevated social and sexual behaviors, and diminished depressive-like behaviors, where transitions depend on dopamine (DA). Using DA sensor photometry and projection-targeted chemogenetics, we reveal that elevated DA release in specific brain regions mediates distinct behavioral changes in affective state transitions. Acute sleep loss induces DA-dependent enhancement in dendritic spine density and uncaging-evoked dendritic spinogenesis in the medial prefrontal cortex, whereas optically mediated disassembly of enhanced plasticity reverses the antidepressant effects of sleep deprivation on learned helplessness. These findings demonstrate that brainwide dopaminergic pathways control sleep-loss-induced polymodal affective state transitions.

Name: Yiyi Zhu, PhD
University: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Department: Institute on Aging
Program or Lab: MIDUS Affective Neuroscience Project
Mentor or PI: Dr. Stacey M. Schaefer

Poster Title: Aging and Emotion: The Mediating Role of Amygdala Connectivity

POSTER PDF 

Abstract:
The amygdala is an essential brain region for emotional processes, and it is notably affected by aging. In this study, we focused on the effect of aging on resting amygdala functional connectivity (AMYG-FC), which represents the coordinated activity between the amygdala and other brain regions during rest. Next, we examined the relationship between age-related changes in AMYG-FC and emotion, as measured by facial electromyography (EMG) corrugator reactivity to negative emotional stimuli. Utilizing resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data from 111 participants of the Midlife in the U.S. (MIDUS) study’s 3rd follow-up, we tested AMYG-FC across 328 brain regions of interest (ROIs), with sex, education level, and head motion as covariates. Our findings revealed an age-related decline in AMYG-FC to 29 different ROIs and an increase to 3 ROIs (FDR corrected, p < .05). A positive correlation was found between the age-related average decrease in AMYG-FC from the 29 regions and the corrugator reactivity to negative stimuli. Mediation analysis suggested an indirect pathway – the age-related reduction in AMYGFC contributes to a stronger corrugator reactivity to negative stimuli. This decrease in AMYG-FC might reflect both neurological changes due to aging and a diminished ability to regulate negative emotional reactivity. Future research is vital to unravel the long-term progression of AMYG-FC and to understand its influence on emotional processes, reactivity and regulation in aging individuals.

Name: Melisa Carrasco, MD, PhD
Department: Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology
University: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

Poster Title: Does Early Life Stress Exacerbate Cognitive Outcomes Following Perinatal Brain Injuries? A Protocol for an Observational, Prospective, Single Center Study of Cognitive and EF development

Noah Trapp, B.S., ¹ Peyton Bender,² Ashley Chen,² Andrea Mendez,² & Melisa Carrasco, M.D., Ph.D.

POSTER PDF

Abstract: 

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive disability and executive dysfunction are common following perinatal brain injuries (PBIs). The natural history of executive functioning (EF) following PBIs has not been established. We here present the protocol for an observational, prospective, single center natural history feasibility study of cognitive and EF development in children with PBIs, including hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy, as well as premature-related white matter injury and intraventricular hemorrhage. Preliminary data on the role of injury burden and environmental/parental stress on emerging infant attentional abilities will be presented.

METHODS: Participants (with and without PBI) will be recruited to this study. Infant-Parent dyads will complete study visits at 6, 12 and 24 months of age. The Capute Scales and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development will be administered during study visits and participants will complete a battery of assessments involving various aspects of executive function. Parents will complete questionnaires gaging environmental and family stress. Spectral power will be extracted from resting EEG recorded over frontal regions of the scalp when infants are 6, 12, and 24 months of age; multilevel modeling will be utilized to assess change over time between risk groups.

RESULTS: Data collection is ongoing. The feasibility phase of this study has been designed to investigate whether it is possible to recruit and retain PBI participants for this longitudinal study. Feasibility issues include development of a recruitment strategy that is sensitive to the needs and medical limitations in the PBI population, PBI study visit participation, PBI retention in the study, as well as acquisition of quality behavioral and EEG data from participants with PBIs will be evaluated. The results of the study will inform the development of a larger trial in the future.

CONCLUSIONS: The establishment of early biomarkers for identification of PBI patients at higher risk for cognitive disability will help streamline resources for patients with greater cognitive deficits. Potential theoretical implications of the role of perinatal pathology on the development of EF will be considered.