Biology subjects

Romer, A. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Romer, A. L..

2 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2017

A Connectome Wide Functional Signature of Broad Risk for Mental Illness

BackgroundHigh rates of comorbidity, shared risk, and overlapping therapeutic mechanisms have led psychopathology research towards transdiagnostic dimensional investigations of clustered symptoms. One influential framework accounts for these transdiagnostic phenomena through a single general factor, sometimes referred to as the p factor, associated with risk for all common forms of mental illness.\n\nMethodsHere we build on past research identifying unique structural neural correlates of the p factor by conducting a data-driven analysis of connectome wide intrinsic functional connectivity (n = 605).\n\nResultsWe demonstrate that higher p factor scores and associated risk for common mental illness maps onto hyper-connectivity between visual association cortex and both frontoparietal and default mode networks.\n\nConclusionsThese results provide initial evidence that the transdiagnostic risk for common forms of mental illness is associated with patterns of inefficient connectome wide intrinsic connectivity between visual association cortex and networks supporting executive control and self-referential processes, networks which are often impaired across categorical disorders.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2017

Paradoxical Associations Between Higher Familial Warmth, Lower Stress, And Increased Amygdala Reactivity To Interpersonal Threat

Studies of early life extremes such as trauma, abuse, and neglect highlight the critical importance of quality caregiving in the development of brain circuits supporting emotional behavior and mental health. The impact of normative variability in caregiving on such biobehavioral processes, however, is poorly understood. Here, we provide initial evidence that even subtle variability in normative caregiving shapes threat-related brain function and, potentially, associated psychopathology in adolescence. Specifically, we report that greater familial affective responsiveness is associated with heightened amygdala reactivity to interpersonal threat, particularly in adolescents having experienced relatively low recent stress. These findings extend the literature on the effects of caregiving extremes on brain function to subtle, normative variability, but suggest that presumably protective factors may be associated with increased risk-related amygdala reactivity. We consider these paradoxical associations with regard to studies of basic associative threat learning and further consider their relevance for understanding potential effects of caregiving on psychological development.

neuroscience↗