Interparental Conflict And Functional Neural Networks In Infancy

描述（由申请人提供）：父母间冲突是一种常见的早期环境压力源，对情绪发展和精神病理学风险具有潜在的长期后果。目前的研究结果表明，父母之间的冲突与婴儿期情绪调节的行为和生理指标有关（Crockenberg，Leerkes，& Lekka，2007;摩尔，2010）。此外，与婴儿期冲突有关的生物系统的差异已被确定为学龄儿童暴露于冲突的风险的调节因素（El-Sheikh等人，2009年）。然而，研究人员还没有解释婴儿期接触冲突如何“深入皮肤”影响关键神经系统的发育。在拟议的研究中，我们将利用神经成像技术，静息状态功能连接磁共振成像，检查高和低冲突家庭的婴儿之间的功能神经网络的差异。生物应激反应系统的皮质和边缘（皮质-边缘）水平以及一组已知在休息状态期间更活跃的功能性连接区域，默认网络（Raichle等人，2001），将构成本研究的重点，因为有证据表明这些网络的发展与早期逆境和精神病理学风险有关。这项工作将建立在申请人正在进行的研究的两组6至12个月奥尔兹筛选高和低的父母间冲突。在这项研究中，fMRI扫描是在自然睡眠中对婴儿进行的。拟议的调查的目的是检查是否，在高冲突的家庭中，参与情绪反应的皮质边缘网络区域的婴儿在功能上连接到区域重要的监管过程。我们还将研究先前显示在早产儿中较少建立的默认网络区域之间的功能连接性（Smyser等人，2010年）将不太强的婴儿从高冲突的家庭。目前的研究代表了一个步骤，以检查常见的早期环境压力因素对神经网络的潜在影响，这些神经网络与精神健康障碍有关。最终，这种工作可能有助于确定预防和干预的目标，并为在生物水平上减少风险的方案评估提供基础。拟议的奖学金培训涵盖环境风险背景下的应激神经生物学，具有挑战性的人群的功能磁共振成像方法，以及rs-fcMRI分析。培训还侧重于在翻译研究中发挥核心作用的协作过程。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Interparental conflict is a common early environmental stressor with potential long-term consequences for emotional development and risk for psychopathology. Current research findings suggest that interparental conflict is associated with behavioral and physiological indices of emotion regulation during infancy (Crockenberg, Leerkes, & Lekka, 2007; Moore, 2010). Further, differences in biological systems associated with conflict during infancy have been identified as moderators of risk for school-aged children exposed to conflict (El-Sheikh et al., 2009). However, researchers have not yet explicated how exposure to conflict during infancy may get "under the skin" to affect development of key neural systems. In the proposed study, we will utilize a neuroimaging technique, resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging, to examine differences in functional neural networks between infants from high and low conflict families. The cortical and limbic (cortico-limbic) level of the biological stress response system and a set of functionally connected regions known to be more activated during rest states, the default network (Raichle et al., 2001), will constitute the focus of this study due to evidence linking the development of these networks both to early adversity and to risk for psychopathology. This work will build on the applicant's ongoing study of two groups of 6- to 12-month- olds screened for high and low interparental conflict. Within this study, fMRI scans are conducted with infants during natural sleep. The purpose of the proposed investigation is to examine whether, among infants from high conflict families, regions of the cortico-limbic network involved in emotional reactivity are less functionally connected to regions important for regulatory processes. We will also investigate whether functional connectivity between regions of the default network previously shown to be less established in preterm infants (Smyser et al., 2010) will be less strong in infants from high conflict families. The current study represents a step towards examining common early environmental stressors in terms of potential consequences for neural networks that have been implicated in mental health disorders. Eventually, such work may facilitate the identification of targets for prevention and intervention and provide a basis for program evaluation in terms of reducing risk at a biological level. The proposed fellowship training covers stress neurobiology in the context of environmental risk, fMRI methods with challenging populations, and rs-fcMRI analyses. Training also focuses on the collaborative process that plays a central role in translational research.