Cross-cultural neuroimaging of emotion in South Africa, Japan and US

描述（由申请人提供）：情感性障碍，如焦虑和抑郁，影响着四分之一的美国人（Kessler & Ustun, 2008），这是世界上最高的比率。美国每年花费超过420亿美元用于治疗这些疾病（Kessler & Ustun, 2008）。世界卫生组织2008年开展的跨国流行病学研究显示，不同文化群体的人口心理健康存在巨大差异，特别是在焦虑和抑郁的患病率方面，与非西方文化（如日本和南非）相比，西方文化（如美国）的情绪障碍发生率通常更高。在美国进行的跨种族流行病学研究发现，不同种族之间也存在类似的人口心理健康差异，与非裔美国人和亚裔美国人相比，白人美国人患情感障碍的比例通常更高。尽管流行病学证据表明不同文化和种族群体的人口心理健康存在差异，但社会和神经生物学机制在情感障碍病因的种族差异中所起的具体作用仍然未知。例如，目前还没有任何神经成像研究来比较健康或临床人群中非洲人和非非洲人的情绪反应。这在很大程度上是由于非洲缺乏研究非洲人情绪反应并将其与亚洲人和高加索人进行比较的研究基础设施。我们提出的研究旨在通过(1)通过创造刺激和验证跨地点实验范式来发展南非情感神经科学的研究能力；(2)使用神经成像、自主神经和行为技术来研究三个不同文化群体（非洲人、高加索美国人和日本人）的情绪反应，从而弥合基础科学和临床科学的转化差距。这些拟议的研究将通过为非洲科学家提供新的研究范式和培训机会，在非洲建立情感神经科学的研究能力。这些研究的结果有可能成为第一批从经验上证明情感障碍的种族差异与典型和非典型情绪的基本神经机制的社会文化差异之间存在联系的研究。这些研究的结果也有可能通过概述先前在少数群体中观察和报道的差异情绪反应的新生理机制来做出重大的理论贡献。拟议研究的结果可能为未来的拨款申请提供基础，以检查在社会，神经和行为层面分析情感障碍中造成种族差异的遗传和环境因素。通过了解文化价值观如何影响情感功能背后的神经机制，我们可以进一步了解如何在不同文化群体中预防和治疗情感障碍。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Affective disorders, such as anxiety and depression, affect one out of every four Americans (Kessler & Ustun, 2008), the highest rate in the world. Over $42 billion dollars are spent in the United States each year to treat them (Kessler & Ustun, 2008). Cross-national epidemiological studies conducted by the World Health Organization in 2008 revealed robust population mental health disparities across cultural groups, particularly in prevalence of anxiety and depression, with higher rates of mood disorders typically found in Western (e.g., US) compared to non-Western cultures (e.g., Japan and South Africa). Cross-ethnic epidemiological studies conducted within the United States have found similar population mental health disparities across ethnic groups, with higher rates of affective disorders typically found in Caucasian-Americans compared to African- Americans and Asian-Americans. Despite epidemiological evidence for population mental health disparities across cultural and ethnic groups, the specific role that social and neurobiological mechanisms play in racial differences in the etiology of affective disorders remains unknown. For instance, there do not yet exist any neuroimaging studies of emotion comparing African and non-African responses in either healthy or clinical populations. This is due, in large part, to the lack of research infrastructure in Afria for studying emotional responses in Africans and comparing them to Asians and Caucasians. Our proposed research aims to bridge translational gaps in basic and clinical science by (1) developing research capacity in South Africa in affective neuroscience by creating stimuli and validating cross-site experimental paradigms and (2) using neuroimaging, autonomic and behavioral techniques to study emotional response in three distinct cultural groups: Africans, Caucasian-Americans and Japanese. These proposed studies will build research capacity in affective neuroscience in Africa by providing novel research paradigms and training opportunities for scientists in Africa. Results from these studies have the potential to be among the first to empirically demonstrate a link between racial disparities in affective disorders and sociocultural differences in basic neural mechanisms underlying typical and atypical emotion. Results from these studies also have the potential to make a significant theoretical contribution by outlining novel physiological mechanisms underlying differential emotional response previously observed and reported among minority groups. Findings from the proposed studies may provide the foundation for future grant applications examining the genetic and environmental factors contributing to racial disparities in affective disorders at social, neural ad behavioral levels of analysis. By understanding how cultural values affect neural mechanisms underlying emotional functioning, we may gain further insight into how affective disorders can be both prevented and treated across cultural groups.