Cognitive and Brain Processes in Individuals with Childhood Interpersonal Trauma

描述(由申请人提供)：本项目的目标是了解儿童时期经历的人际创伤对成年早期的影响。特别是，该项目将检验一种假设，即由于童年人际关系创伤(CIT)，认知过程和支持这些过程的大脑系统会观察到长期的变化。该项目有两个具体目标。第一个具体目的是检验一种假设，即有CIT(T)病史的人与没有CIT(T-)病史的人相比，参与注意控制和工作记忆中信息选择的神经系统将受到损害。特别是，预测是，有童年人际创伤史的人忽略情绪和非情绪性质的分心信息的能力会更差，这将伴随着与自上而下注意控制相关的背侧前额叶皮质区域的活动减少。另一个预测是，有童年人际关系创伤史的人控制工作记忆内容的能力将会降低，特别是当这些信息必须被禁止或“清除”的时候。这些影响将伴随着与工作记忆内容控制相关的前额叶皮质背外侧区域的活动减少。第二个目的是调查这一假设，即这些神经控制机制的功能损害将随着创伤相关症状的严重程度而增加。特别是，据预测，侵入性思维程度的增加与这些认知功能和神经系统的更多妥协有关。有一个探索性的目的是检验这样一种假设，即与没有童年人际关系创伤史的人相比，有童年人际关系创伤史的人会显示出大脑解剖学上的变化，最明显的是在额叶前区和穹窿体部。这些假设将在一项研究中进行调查，在这项研究中，个人将参与两个1.25小时的会议。第一阶段的目的是获得有关个体创伤史的信息，同时也获得相关信息，如焦虑、担忧、抑郁和侵入性想法的程度。第二次会议涉及脑功能和解剖扫描。在这个过程中，个人将执行两项任务，一项注意力任务和一项工作记忆任务，同时使用功能磁共振成像(FMRI)评估他们的大脑活动。此外，还将获得高分辨率解剖扫描和扩散张量成像扫描，以便可以比较两组之间的大脑解剖结构，并与儿童人际创伤(T)组的症状学相关。拟议的研究将提供关于童年时期的具体经历(即创伤)如何影响认知和神经发育的信息。这些知识对于设计旨在对抗和改善创伤影响的早期干预和治疗至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the present project is to understand the effects in early adulthood of interpersonal trauma experienced during childhood. In particular, the project will examine the hypothesis that long-lasting changes are observed in cognitive processes and the brain systems that support such processes as a result of childhood interpersonal trauma (CIT). The project has two specific aims. The first specific aim is to examine the hypothesis that neural systems involved in attentional control and in the selection of information in working memory will be compromised in individuals with a history of CIT (T+) as compared to those without (T-). In particular, the prediction is that individuals with a history of childhood interpersonal trauma will have a poorer ability to ignore distracting information, both of an emotional and non-emotional nature, and that this will be accompanied with reduced activity in regions of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that are associated with top- down attentional control. An additional prediction is that individuals with a history of childhood interpersonal trauma will have a reduced ability to control the contents of working memory, especially when such information must be inhibited or "cleared" out. These effects will be accompanied by reduced activity in regions of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex associated with control over the contents of working memory. The second aim is to investigate the hypothesis that the compromise of functioning of these neural control mechanisms will increase with severity of symptomatology related to trauma. In particular, an increase in the degree of intrusive thoughts is predicted to be associated with more compromise of these cognitive functions and neural systems. There is one exploratory aim, which is to examine the hypothesis that individuals with a history of childhood interpersonal trauma as compared to those without will show alterations in brain anatomy, most notably in prefrontal regions and the corpus callosum. These hypotheses will be investigated in one study in which individuals will participate in two 1.25 hour sessions. The first session is designed to obtain information about the trauma history of the individual while also obtaining related information such as their degree of anxiety, worry, depression and intrusive thoughts. The second session involves functional and anatomical brain scanning. In this session individuals will perform two tasks, an attention task and a working memory task while their brain activity is assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In addition, a high- resolution anatomical scan and a diffusion tensor imaging scan will be obtained so that brain anatomy can be compared between the two groups and also related to symptomatology within the childhood interpersonal trauma (T+) group. The proposed research will provide information on how specific experiences (i.e., trauma) during the childhood period impact both cognitive and neural development. Such knowledge is critical for designing early intervention and treatments aimed at countering and ameliorating the effects of trauma.