Emotional Awareness: An integrative neural mechanism linking childhood trauma with psychopathology

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PROJECT SUMMARY Childhood trauma is common and increases risk for multiple forms of psychopathology emerging in adolescence. Enhanced threat detection, heightened emotional reactivity, altered physiological responses, and difficulties with emotion regulation have all been identified as emotion processes linking childhood trauma with psychopathology. However, existing knowledge on mechanisms linking childhood trauma and psychopathology—including altered perceptions, cognitions, and neural mechanisms—is poorly integrated and has yet to contribute to effective preclinical interventions. The proposed project tests the hypothesis that emotional awareness and the associated neural circuitry is an integrative mechanism linking childhood trauma with transdiagnostic psychopathology risk in adolescence. Emotional awareness is an aspect of self- knowledge, which reflects an individual’s subjective understanding of their emotional state. In the K99 phase study, the role of emotional awareness in the association between childhood trauma and psychopathology will be investigated in a sample of 80 adolescents aged 13-18 years, half with exposure to childhood trauma. Emotional awareness and related emotion processes will be assessed at multiple levels of analysis including self-report, behavioral tasks, and neural function. Multiple forms of psychopathology will be assessed and used to construct a general psychopathology (“p”) factor. Analyses will evaluate the relation between childhood trauma and low emotional awareness and whether low emotional awareness explains the link between childhood trauma and general psychopathology (Aim 1). The K99 study will also identify aspects of neural function during emotion labelling and interoception that correspond with behavioral measures of emotion differentiation and interoceptive accuracy (Aim 2). The R00 phase aims to expand on the K99 findings using a larger sample size that is more appropriate for individual differences analyses and a longitudinal design. This study will recruit 120 adolescents aged 13-18 to investigate how childhood trauma influences emotional awareness across adolescence and will include a behavioral and mental health follow-up assessment 18 months later. Analyses will investigate whether that association is mediated by enhanced threat detection, heightened emotional reactivity, and low interoceptive accuracy (Aim 3). Associations between CT, emotion differentiation, emotion regulation, and psychopathology in adolescents’ daily lives will be investigated using ecological momentary assessments (EMA) (Aim 4). Analyses will also evaluate whether neural mechanisms related to emotional awareness, identified in the K99 study link CT with psychopathology (Aim 5). The proposed research tests an integrative model of the affective mechanisms linking childhood trauma with psychopathology, with the potential to identify novel targets for early interventions. The project ties together the candidate’s diverse research experience and will provide him with the opportunity to build capacity and skills in key areas that will aid in his transition to research independence.