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Biology subjects

Paul, S. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Paul, S. E..

2 recordsLinked to original sources
bioRxiv2025

Patterns of brain-wide associations reflect socioeconomics

Previous brain-wide association studies (BWAS) cross-sectionally linked a specific behavioral trait, most commonly IQ or psychopathology, to variation in brain function or structure. Here, we expanded the focus of BWAS from effect sizes to interpretability and generalizability by mapping 649 variables to brain function and structure. We compared the resultant BWAS maps to other types of brain data to annotate the BWAS patterns. Socioeconomic status (SES) -- not IQ or psychopathology -- showed the strongest associations with both resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and cortical thickness in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study. A principal exposome brain pattern, anchored to sensory and motor cortex, captured 34% of the variance across all BWAS maps. This exposome pattern was strongly correlated with the SES and IQ BWAS maps and non-BWAS maps of sleep (EEG), norepinephrine (PET), and stimulants (drug trial), but not cognitive activation maps (task fMRI). Adjusting for SES, reduced brain-IQ associations by 40%. Brain with IQ associations did not generalize, as they could no longer be detected in subsamples drawn from only higher SES backgrounds, while brain with SES associations remained strong in higher-IQ-only subsamples. These findings reveal SES as the principal axis of population-level brain variation, possibly stemming from the sleep deprivation and heightened stress associated with lower SES, since socioeconomics can only indirectly affect the brain.

neuroscience↗
bioRxiv2025

Longitudinal Trajectories of Cognition and Neural Metrics as Predictors of Persistent Distressing Psychotic-Like Experiences Across Middle Childhood and Early Adolescence

ObjectivesPsychotic-like experiences (PLEs) may arise from genetic and environmental risk leading to worsening cognitive and neural metrics over time, which in turn lead to worsening PLEs. Persistence and distress are factors that distinguish more clinically significant PLEs. Analyses used three waves of unique longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study data (ages 9-13) to test whether changes in cognition and structural neural metrics attenuate associations between genetic and environmental risk with persistent distressing PLEs. MethodsMultigroup univariate latent growth models examined three waves of cognitive metrics and global structural neural metrics separately for three PLE groups: persistent distressing PLEs (n=356), transient distressing PLEs (n=408), and low-level PLEs (n=7901). Models then examined whether changes in cognitive and structural neural metrics over time attenuated associations between genetic liability (i.e., schizophrenia polygenic risk scores/family history) or environmental risk scores (e.g., poverty) and PLE groups. ResultsPersistent distressing PLEs showed greater decreases (i.e., more negative slopes) of cognition and neural metrics over time compared to those in low-level PLE groups. Associations between environmental risk and persistent distressing PLEs were attenuated when accounting for lowered scores over time on cognitive (e.g., picture vocabulary) and to a lesser extent neural (e.g., cortical thickness, volume) metrics. ConclusionsAnalyses provide novel evidence for extant theories that worsening cognition and global structural metrics may partially account for associations between environmental risk with persistent distressing PLEs.

neuroscience↗