Affective neuroscience of loneliness: Impacts on health and wellbeing

项目概要/摘要。孤独对美国人来说是一种再熟悉不过的感觉，据估计， 美国人口报告称，他们感到社交孤立，并因新冠肺炎疫情而保持社交距离 威胁到孤独感的急剧增加。与关系质量和社交频率相关但不同 孤独不仅仅是一种不愉快的主观体验：它与焦虑有关， 抑郁症，炎症，心脏病，死亡率的增加与吸烟相当。孤独是 理论上导致特定的生化级联反应和情感中断（包括对 威胁和中断的情绪调节），在短期内适应，当经历缺乏社会 接触，但长期适应不良。因为异常的情绪反应会损害功能， 增加对精神病理学和与压力有关的疾病的脆弱性，至关重要的是要了解 心理、情感和神经过程与孤独和相关的负面健康有关 和幸福的结果。这项研究利用了现有的多模态情感神经科学数据， 与身体健康的生物标志物和自我报告的福祉从大型，多项目，公开共享， 一项纵向的美国中年研究（MIDUS）旨在确定：当孤独破坏情感神经时， 处理;什么结构和功能神经影像学差异与孤独有关;以及如何 这些神经差异对健康和福祉产生负面影响。具体而言，拟议的研究旨在： 1)使用情绪反应的脑电图（EEG）测量来调查神经元 对情绪刺激的反应与孤独感不同; 2）使用多模态磁共振成像（MRI）， 了解大脑中的解剖学和功能差异与孤独有关; 3） 研究孤独相关的神经变化如何介导已知的孤独相关的负面健康 横向和纵向的结果。拟议的三年研究和培训计划将在 在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校，家里的MIDUS项目和位置，所有的神经科学和 在赞助商Stacey Schaefer博士、共同赞助商Richard博士 Davidson和合作者MRI生物统计学家Jeanette Mumford博士，并包括以下方面的详细培训： 多模态神经影像数据;关键情感神经科学理论;高级数据分析;关键数据 分析软件;领导一个独立的研究实验室所需的额外技能，包括赠款写作， 指导和负责任的研究行为。总体而言，拟议的研究金将： 对孤独的神经科学理解;澄清大脑与孤独相关健康之间的联系 结果;提出新的干预途径，以减少孤独的影响;并提供安娜博士 芬利在情感神经科学，健康和幸福方面接受了出色的博士后培训。

Project Summary/Abstract. Loneliness is an all too familiar feeling for Americans, as an estimated 25-50% of the US population report feeling socially isolated, and social distancing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic threaten to sharply increase loneliness. Related to but distinct from relationship quality and frequency of social contact, loneliness is more than just an unpleasant subjective experience: it is associated with anxiety, depression, inflammation, heart disease, and an increase in mortality comparable to smoking. Loneliness is theorized to result in a specific biochemical cascade and affective disruptions (including increased sensitivity to threat and disrupted emotion regulation) that are adaptive in the short-term when experiencing lack of social contact, but maladaptive in the long-term. Because abnormal emotional responses can impair functioning and increase vulnerability to psychopathology and stress-related disorders, it is crucial to understand the psychological, affective, and neural processes that are linked with loneliness and associated negative health and wellbeing outcomes. The proposed research utilizes existing multimodal affective neuroscience data linked with biomarker of physical health and self-reports of wellbeing from the large, multi-project, publicly shared, longitudinal Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study to determine: when loneliness disrupts affective neural processing; what structural and functional neuroimaging differences are associated with loneliness; and how these neural differences negatively impact health and wellbeing. Specifically, the proposed research aims to: 1) use electroencephalographic (EEG) measures of emotional responding to investigate when the neural response to emotional stimuli differs with loneliness; 2) use multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to understand what anatomical and functional differences in the brain are associated with loneliness; and 3) investigate how loneliness related neural changes mediate known loneliness-associated negative health outcomes cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The proposed 3-year research and training plan will take place at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, home to the MIDUS project and location where all neuroscience and health data to be analyzed was collected, supervised by sponsor Dr. Stacey Schaefer, co-sponsor Dr. Richard Davidson, and collaborator MRI biostatistician Dr. Jeanette Mumford, and includes detailed training in: multimodal neuroimaging data; crucial affective neuroscience theories; advanced data analytics; key data analysis software; additional skills needed to lead an independent research lab including grant-writing, mentorship, and responsible conduct of research. Overall, the proposed fellowship will: expand the neuroscientific understanding of loneliness; clarify the links between the brain and loneliness-associated health outcomes; suggest novel avenues for intervention to reduce the impacts of loneliness; and provide Dr. Anna Finley with exceptional postdoctoral training in affective neuroscience, health, and wellbeing.