Infant Brain and Behavioral Signatures of Later Emerging Risk for Psychopathology

描述(申请人提供)：婴儿的大脑和行为标志，后来出现的精神病理学的风险，对婴儿时期的大脑和行为发展轨迹知之甚少，这些轨迹预测和预测临床功能受损的模式 在学龄前几年观察到的。学龄前儿童中精神症状学的流行，加上各种疾病共有的共同初始病理生理事件的可能性，共同强调婴儿和蹒跚学步的时期是唯一适合识别非典型大脑和行为发展轨迹的时期，这些轨迹预见到后来出现的精神病理学。描述这一时期偏离标准发展模式的轨迹可能会阐明精神疾病的起因机制，这些机制随后可能成为战略性干预/预防的目标。这项拟议的研究将把人类连接组项目开发的最先进的神经成像技术与NIMH研究领域标准倡议的开发方法结合起来。将在3至15个月期间进行4次纵向脑成像(sMRI/DWI/fcMRI)和行为评估(选择与后来出现的精神病理学相关的并通过直接评估、家长报告和最先进的眼球跟踪程序获得)，在24个月龄时进行第5次评估。临床相关行为的维度特征将在30至36个月大的最终第6次评估中确定。这项拟议的研究的贡献预计将是对生命最初几年的纵向大脑发育的全面表征，以及对行为结构的纵向表征，这些行为结构被选为与后来新兴的精神病理学相关的结构。这一贡献将是重大的，因为获得的经验数据将锚定一个新的研究范式，探讨在临床损害功能模式出现之前的发展过程，加强未来侧重于精神疾病战略预防的努力。从发展的角度接近临床神经科学或生物精神病学的跨学科综合，代表着与旨在表征DSM定义的障碍的神经特征的努力的创新背离，DSM定义的障碍在早期病理生理事件发生数年后进行检查。更具体地说，将神经回路发育的轨迹与特别选择的与后来出现的精神病理学相关的行为结构映射(Elison等人，2013a；Elison等人，2013b)突出了RDoC倡议的一种新的发展方法。事实上，这些映射将在临床损害功能模式出现之前被表征，并将被用来预测后来出现的临床相关行为。表征后来出现的精神病理学的发育特征有可能改变精神和神经发育障碍的早期识别和早期干预/预防的格局。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Infant Brain and Behavioral Signatures of Later Emerging Risk for Psychopathology Little is known about the trajectories of brain and behavioral development during infancy that anticipate and predict clinically impairing patterns of functioning observed during the preschool years. The prevalence of psychiatric symptomatology in preschool-aged children, combined with the possibility of common initializing pathophysiological events shared across various disorders, converge to highlight the infant and toddler period as uniquely suited for identifying atypical trajectories of brain and behavioral development that anticipate later emerging psychopathology. Characterizing trajectories that deviate from normative patterns of development during this time period may elucidate causal mechanisms of mental illness, mechanisms that subsequently could be targeted for strategic intervention/prevention. The proposed research will combine state-of-the-art neuroimaging technologies developed by the Human Connectome Project with a developmental approach to the NIMH Research Domain Criteria initiative. Longitudinal brain imaging (sMRI/DWI/fcMRI) and behavioral assessment (selected for relevance to later emerging psychopathology and acquired via direct assessment, parent report, and state-of-the art eye tracking procedures) will be conducted on 4 occasions between 3 and 15 months with a 5th assessment at 24 months of age. Dimensional aspects of clinically relevant behaviors will be characterized during a final 6th assessment between 30 and 36 months of age. The contribution of the proposed research is expected to be a comprehensive characterization of longitudinal brain development in the first years of life, coupled with a longitudinal characterization of behavioral constructs selected for their relevance to later emerging psychopathology. This contribution will be significant because the empirical data acquired will anchor a new paradigm of inquiry into the developmental processes that temporally precede the emergence of clinically impairing patterns of functioning, augmenting future efforts focused on strategic prevention of mental illness. The interdisciplinary synthesis that approaches clinical neuroscience or biological psychiatry from a developmental perspective represents an innovative departure from efforts designed to characterize neural signatures of DSM defined disorders examined years after the incipient pathophysiological events. More specifically, mapping trajectories of neural circuit development to behavioral constructs specifically selected for their relevance to later emerging psychopathology (Elison et al., 2013a; Elison et al., 2013b) highlights a novel developmental approach to the RDoC initiative. Indeed, these mappings will be characterized prior to the manifestation of clinically impairing patterns of functioning, and will be used to predict later emerging clinically relevant behaviors. Characterizing developmental signatures of later emerging psychopathology has the potential to alter the landscape of early identification and early intervention/prevention of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders.