Characterizing the Neurobiology of Pathological Dissociation: Mechanisms of Face Perception and Self Referential Processing

这项指导职业发展奖的候选人拥有认知心理学博士学位和 神经科学，在压力、情绪和正念的认知/神经机制方面接受过广泛的培训。 这项提议旨在通过提供培训和培训来促进候选人的独立之路 临床评估中的指导，以及两种新的方法：眼球跟踪和众包在线“BIG 同时也完善了应聘者的神经成像技能。这项培训对于实现 候选人的长期目标是独立从事转化性临床研究，研究 创伤后神经精神后遗症的预测因素和相关因素，包括病理性分离。 病理性分离症状在精神病人群中很常见，使人虚弱，而且在这两方面都是昂贵的。 在个人和社会层面；然而，它们的生物学机制在很大程度上是未知的。 从现象学上讲，分离包括一系列症状，并以转换诊断的方式发生。 有分离症状的精神创伤患者通常有共生的精神疾病，高 自杀率，并且是不成比例的治疗使用者。我们提出了一种新的测量方法 分离是通过认知和神经过程与一个人的身体自我(例如，脸)和 心理上的自我(例如，个性特征)。这项提案的一个主要目标是建立一个新的跨诊断， 通过量化这些自我相关的行为和生物关联来客观衡量离群性。 基础研究已经记录了高水平和低水平大脑激活的不同模式。 分离症状的程度。然而，这些研究在范围上受到限制：1)交叉诊断 机制还没有被探索，2)他们主要集中在一个单一的范例上，3)他们有针对性 脱离身体和环境的分离症状(去人格化/去人格化)， 不包括记录在案的广泛的分离症状。为了解决这些限制，我们建议 研究面孔知觉、自我面孔加工和个性的行为和生物学相关性 报告分离症状的跨诊断样本中基于特征的自我加工 神经成像、眼球跟踪和在线大数据收集技术。圆满完成这些目标 将提供急需的数据集，以进一步支持解离的生物学理论，并将提供 潜在的神经回路成为治疗的靶点。 这项研究和培训将在麦克莱恩医院进行，麦克莱恩医院是哈佛医学院附属精神病院 医院。麦克莱恩在精神疾病的治疗和研究以及培训几代人方面处于世界领先地位 临床医生和科学家。它在神经科学和精神病学方面拥有最大的研究项目 美国私立精神病院。该设施和大波士顿地区提供了一套惊人的 资源，以最大限度地发挥这一职业发展奖所提供的培训和科学潜力。

The candidate for this Mentored Career Development Award has a PhD in cognitive psychology and neuroscience with extensive training in the cognitive/neural mechanisms of stress, emotion, and mindfulness. This proposal is designed to facilitate the candidate's pathway to independence by providing training and mentorship in clinical assessment, and two new methodologies: eye-tracking and crowd-sourced online “big data,” while also refining the candidate's neuroimaging skills. This training is essential to achieving the candidate's long-term goal of an independent career in translational clinical research investigating the predictors and correlates of posttraumatic neuropsychiatric sequelae, including pathological dissociation. Pathological dissociative symptoms in psychiatric populations are common, debilitating, and costly at both the personal and societal level; however, their biological mechanisms are largely unknown. Phenomenologically, dissociation encompasses a range of symptoms and occurs transdiagnostically. Traumatized individuals with dissociative symptoms typically have co-occurring psychiatric conditions, high rates of suicidality, and are disproportionate treatment utilizers. We propose that a novel way to measure dissociation is through the cognitive and neural processes associated with one's physical self (e.g., face) and psychological self (e.g., personality traits). A major goal of this proposal is to establish a new transdiagnostic, objective measure of dissociation by quantifying these self-related behavioral and biological correlates. Foundational research has documented differential patterns of brain activation in those with high vs. low levels of dissociative symptoms. These studies, however, have been limited in scope: 1) cross-diagnostic mechanisms have not been explored, 2) they have largely focused on a single paradigm, 3) they have targeted dissociative symptoms of detachment from the body and environment (depersonalization/derealization), which do not cover the wide range of documented dissociative symptoms. To address these limitations, we propose to examine the behavioral and biological correlates of face perception, self-face processing, and personality trait-based self processing in a transdiagnostic sample of individuals who report dissociative symptoms using neuroimaging, eye-tracking, and online big data collection techniques. Successful completion of these Aims will provide a much-needed dataset to further underpin biological theories of dissociation and will inform potential neural circuits to target for treatment. This research and training will occur at McLean Hospital, a Harvard Medical School-affiliated psychiatric hospital. McLean is a world leader in the treatment and research of mental illness, and in training generations of clinicians and scientists. It maintains the largest program of research in neuroscience and psychiatry of any private psychiatric hospital in the US. This facility and the greater Boston area offer a phenomenal set of resources to maximize the training and scientific potential afforded by this Career Development Award.