Attentional Biases for Affective Cues as a Mechanism of Risk in Children of Depressed Mothers

项目总结/摘要 抑郁症是世界上导致残疾的主要原因，尤其是在后代中， 患抑郁症的母亲理论家提出，儿童处理社会情感信息的方式 可能是抑郁症代际传递的重要风险机制。有 越来越多的证据表明，儿童对面部情绪表现的偏见-特别是注意力 避免悲伤的面孔-可能是在生命早期发展的一种关键的风险机制。虽然已经 尽管研究结果喜忧参半，但越来越多的研究表明， 在孩子的一生中有重度抑郁症（MDD）病史的人表现出对悲伤面孔的注意力回避， 这已经被提出作为早期出现的情绪调节策略。相反，有明确的证据表明， 处于危险和抑郁中的青少年和成年人表现出很难将注意力从悲伤的面孔上分离出来。它 因此，注意力偏差的形式和功能似乎在高危儿童的发展过程中发生了变化。 青年在某种程度上，这是正确的，它不仅对代际理论具有重要意义， 抑郁症风险的传播，而且预防和早期干预的努力，旨在减少这种风险。 该项目的主要目的1是澄清后代注意偏向的性质和轨迹 患有抑郁症的母亲我们将对有和没有MDD病史的母亲进行为期2年的多波研究 及其子女（基线评估时7-14岁）。在每次评估中，我们将使用创新的， 结合眼动追踪和注意力直接神经标记的注意偏向的多方法测量 分配在基于计算机的任务和实际的母子互动。这将使我们能够绘制 7至16岁之间注意力偏差的变化轨迹，以检验他们转移的假设。 从注意力回避模式到儿童时期难以将注意力从悲伤的面孔上转移开的模式 进入青春期。主要目的2是研究这些注意力偏差对青少年的风险的影响， 抑郁症以及这种情况是否会在整个发展过程中发生变化。最后，由于年龄相关的注意力变化 偏差可以代表在此期间发生的其他发展变化的代理，次要目的 是检验注意偏差的变化在多大程度上是由青春期发展的指标预测的 （水平、定时、克里思）以及认知过程的变化（即，反刍）和人际压力， 在向青春期过渡的过程中发生，并且与注意力偏差有关。在每个 在这些目标中，我们还将探讨潜在的双向关系，这可能表明风险的恶性循环。 最后，对于每一个目标，我们将评估产妇和儿童抑郁症与其他形式的抑郁症的特异性。 精神病理学该项目不仅有助于澄清代际风险的关键机制， 抑郁症的传播，但也强调如何干预旨在针对这一风险因素可能需要， 从发展角度进行调整，以避免加剧而不是减轻风险。

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Depression is the leading cause of disability in the world and risk for the disorder is especially high in offspring of mothers with depression. Theorists have proposed that the way children process social-emotional information may serve as an important mechanism of risk for the intergenerational transmission of depression. There is growing evidence that children’s biased attention to facial displays of emotion – specifically, attentional avoidance of sad faces – may represent a key mechanism of risk that develops early in life. Although there have been some mixed findings, there is growing evidence across a number of studies that children of mothers with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during the child’s life exhibit attentional avoidance of sad faces, which has been proposed as an early emerging emotion regulation strategy. In contrast, there is clear evidence that at-risk and depressed adolescents and adults exhibit difficulty disengaging attention from sad faces. It appears, therefore, that the form and perhaps function of attentional bias shifts across development in at-risk youth. To the extent that this is true, it has significant implications not only for theories of the intergenerational transmission of depression risk but also for prevention and early intervention efforts designed to reduce this risk. Primary Aim 1 of the proposed project is to the clarify the nature and trajectories of attentional biases in offspring of mothers with MDD. We will complete a 2-year, multi-wave study of mothers with and without a history of MDD and their children (aged 7-14 years old at the baseline assessment). At each assessment, we will use innovative, multi-method measures of attentional biases incorporating eye-tracking and direct neural markers of attentional allocation during computer-based tasks and actual mother-offspring interactions. This will allow us to chart trajectories of change in attentional biases between the ages of 7 and 16 to test the hypothesis that they shift from a pattern of attentional avoidance to pattern of difficulty disengaging attention from sad faces as children age into adolescence. Primary Aim 2 is to examine the impact of these attentional biases on youths’ risk for depression and whether this changes across development. Finally, because age-related changes in attentional biases could represent a proxy for other developmental changes that occur during this period, a Secondary Aim is to examine the extent to which changes in attentional bias are predicted by indices of pubertal development (level, timing, tempo) as well as changes in cognitive processes (i.e., rumination) and interpersonal stress that are known to occur during the transition to adolescence and that have been linked to attentional biases. In each of these aims, we will also explore potential bidirectional relations, which could indicate vicious cycles of risk. Finally, for each aim, we will evaluate specificity to maternal and child depression versus other forms of psychopathology. This project will help to not only clarify a key mechanism of risk for the intergenerational transmission of depression, but also highlight how interventions designed to target this risk factor may need to be developmentally tuned to avoid exacerbating rather than mitigating risk.