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

这个指导职业发展奖的候选人拥有认知心理学博士学位， 神经科学与广泛的培训的认知/神经机制的压力，情绪和正念。 这项建议旨在通过提供培训和 临床评估的指导，以及两种新的方法：眼动追踪和群众来源的在线“大 数据”，同时也提高了候选人的神经成像技能。这种培训对于实现 候选人的长期目标是独立从事转化临床研究， 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。 病理分离症状在精神病人群中是常见的，使人衰弱，并且在这两个方面都是昂贵的。 在个人和社会层面，它们的生物学机制在很大程度上是未知的。 从现象学上讲，解离包括一系列症状，并以转诊断的方式发生。 具有分离症状的创伤个体通常有共同发生的精神疾病，高 自杀率，是不成比例的治疗利用者。我们提出了一种新的方法来衡量 解离是通过与一个人的身体自我相关联的认知和神经过程（例如，面）和 心理自我（例如，人格特质）。该提案的一个主要目标是建立一种新的跨诊断， 通过量化这些自我相关的行为和生物学相关因素来客观测量解离。 基础研究已经记录了高与低的大脑激活模式的差异 分离症状的程度然而，这些研究的范围有限：1）交叉诊断 机制尚未探索，2）他们主要集中在一个单一的范式，3）他们有针对性 与身体和环境分离的分离症状（人格解体/现实解体）， 并不能涵盖广泛的分离症状为了解决这些问题，我们建议 研究面孔知觉、自我面孔处理和人格的行为和生物学相关性 在报告分离症状的个体的跨诊断样本中基于特质的自我加工 神经成像、眼球追踪和在线大数据收集技术。成功实现这些目标 将提供一个急需的数据集，以进一步支持解离的生物学理论，并将告知 潜在的神经回路进行治疗 这项研究和培训将发生在姆克林医院，一个哈佛医学院附属精神病 医院姆克林是世界领先的治疗和研究精神疾病，并在培训一代 临床医生和科学家。它在神经科学和精神病学方面保持着最大的研究项目 美国的一家精神病医院。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个职业发展奖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.