Emotional Processing Task Research Articles

Preliminary Evidence That CD38 Moderates the Association of Neuroticism on Amygdala-Subgenual Cingulate Connectivity.

CD38 genetic variation has been associated with autism spectrum disorders and social anxiety disorder, which may result from CD38’s regulation of oxytocin secretion. Converging evidence has found that the rs3796863 A-allele contributes to increased social sensitivity compared to the CC genotype. The current study examined the moderating role of CD38 genetic variants (rs3796863 and rs6449182) that have been associated with enhanced (or reduced) social sensitivity on neural activation related to neuroticism, which is commonly elevated in individuals with social anxiety and depression. Adults (n = 72) with varying levels of social anxiety and depression provided biological samples for DNA extraction, completed a measure of neuroticism, and participated in a standardized emotion processing task (affect matching) while undergoing fMRI. A significant interaction effect was found for rs3796863 x neuroticism that predicted right amygdala-subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) functional connectivity. Simple slopes analyses showed a positive association between neuroticism and right amygdala-sgACC connectivity among rs3796863 A-allele carriers. Findings suggest that the more socially sensitive rs3796863 A-allele may partially explain the relationship between a known risk factor (i.e. neuroticism) and promising biomarker (i.e. amygdala-sgACC connectivity) in the development and maintenance of social anxiety and depression.

Reproducibility of amygdala activation in facial emotion processing at 7T

Despite its importance as the prime method for non-invasive assessment of human brain function, functional MRI (fMRI) was repeatedly challenged with regards to the validity of the fMRI-derived brain activation maps. Amygdala fMRI was particularly targeted, as the amygdala’s anatomical position in the ventral brain combined with strong magnetic field inhomogeneities and proximity to large vessels pose considerable obstacles for robust activation mapping.In this high-resolution study performed at ultra-high field (7T) fMRI, we aimed at (1) investigating systematic replicability of amygdala group-level activation in response to an established emotion processing task by varying task instruction and acquisition parameters and (2) testing for intra- and intersession reliability.At group-level, our results show statistically significant activation in bilateral amygdala and fusiform gyrus for each of the runs acquired. In addition, while fusiform gyrus activations are consistent across runs and sessions, amygdala activation levels show habituation effects across runs. This amygdala habituation effect is replicated in a session repeated two weeks later. Varying task instruction between matching emotions and matching persons does not change amygdala activation strength. Also, comparing two acquisition protocols with repetition times of either 700 ​ms or 1400 ​ms did not result in statistically significant differences of activation levels.Regarding within-subject reliability of amygdala activation, despite considerable variance in individual habituation patterns, we report fair to good inter-session reliability for the first run and excellent reliability for averages over runs.We conclude that high-resolution fMRI at 7T allows for robust mapping of amygdala activation in a broad range of variations. Our results of amygdala 7T fMRI are suitable to inform methodology and may encourage future studies to continue using emotion discrimination paradigms in clinical and non-clinical applications.

Identification of Common Neural Circuit Disruptions in Emotional Processing Across Psychiatric Disorders.

Disrupted emotional processing is a common feature of many psychiatric disorders. The authors investigated functional disruptions in neural circuitry underlying emotional processing across a range of tasks and across psychiatric disorders through a transdiagnostic quantitative meta-analysis of published neuroimaging data. A PubMed search was conducted for whole-brain functional neuroimaging findings published through May 2018 that compared activation during emotional processing tasks in patients with psychiatric disorders (including schizophrenia, bipolar or unipolar depression, anxiety, and substance use) to matched healthy control participants. Activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses were conducted on peak voxel coordinates to identify spatial convergence. The 298 experiments submitted to meta-analysis included 5,427 patients and 5,491 control participants. ALE across diagnoses and patterns of patient hyper- and hyporeactivity demonstrated abnormal activation in the amygdala, the hippocampal/parahippocampal gyri, the dorsomedial/pulvinar nuclei of the thalamus, and the fusiform gyri, as well as the medial and lateral dorsal and ventral prefrontal regions. ALE across disorders but considering directionality demonstrated patient hyperactivation in the amygdala and the hippocampal/parahippocampal gyri. Hypoactivation was found in the medial and lateral prefrontal regions, most pronounced during processing of unpleasant stimuli. More refined disorder-specific analyses suggested that these overall patterns were shared to varying degrees, with notable differences in patterns of hyper- and hypoactivation. These findings demonstrate a pattern of neurocircuit disruption across major psychiatric disorders in regions and networks key to adaptive emotional reactivity and regulation. More specifically, disruption corresponded prominently to the "salience" network, the ventral striatal/ventromedial prefrontal "reward" network, and the lateral orbitofrontal "nonreward" network. Consistent with the Research Domain Criteria initiative, these findings suggest that psychiatric illness may be productively formulated as dysfunction in transdiagnostic neurobehavioral phenotypes such as neurocircuit activation.

Amygdala response to emotional faces in adolescents with persistent post-concussion symptoms.

Approximately 30% of adolescents with concussion develop persistent post-concussion symptoms (PPCS) that include emotional symptoms. Elevated amygdalae reactivity to emotional faces has been reported in a variety of psychopathologies characterized by emotional symptoms overlapping with those in PPCS. We tested the hypothesis that amygdalae reactivity to emotional faces in adolescents with PPCS+ is elevated compared to concussed adolescents without PPCS and healthy controls. Concussed adolescents (ages 14-18) with (PPCS+; n=23) and without PPCS (PPCS-; n=13) participated in visits at least 4 weeks post-injury. Adolescents without prior concussion served as controls (HC; n=15). All participants completed a detailed clinical battery and a common emotional face processing task that involved matching of emotional faces or shapes. Compared to HC and PPCS-, adolescents with PPCS+ had elevated depression symptoms, anhedonia, general psychological symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. Contrary to our hypothesis, PPCS+ had lower amygdalae activity to the emotional faces versus shapes condition relative to HC and a trend for lower activity relative to PPCS-. There was a non-significant inverse association between anhedonia amygdalae activity in adolescents with PPCS. Results suggest that adolescents with PPCS have altered amygdalae activity during the processing of emotional face stimuli.

Takotsubo syndrome: How the broken heart deals with negative emotions

Patients suffering from Takotsubo syndrome have a higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders compared to those with acute myocardial infarction and might thus show impaired regulation and processing of emotions. In this cross-sectional study, neural activity during an emotional picture processing task was examined in 26 Takotsubo patients (on average 27 months after the Takotsubo event) and 22 healthy age- and gender-matched control subjects undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Imaging data were analyzed with two complementary approaches: First, univariate analysis was used to detect brain regions showing condition-specific differences in mean neural activity between groups. Second, multivariate pattern analysis was applied to decode the experimental conditions from individual activity patterns. In the univariate analysis approach, patients showed lower bilateral superior parietal activity during the processing of negative expected pictures compared to the control subjects. The multivariate pattern analysis revealed group differences in decoding negative versus neutral pictures from a widespread network consisting of frontal, parietal, occipital, and cerebellar brain regions. Additionally, differences in decoding the expectation of a negative versus positive upcoming picture were observed in the visual cortex. The lower involvement of brain regions observed in Takotsubo patients suggests an impairment in emotion regulation, which might be of etiological importance in this brain-heart disease.

The impact of familial risk and early life adversity on emotion and reward processing networks in youth at-risk for bipolar disorder.

A recently developed risk calculator for bipolar disorder (BD) accounts for clinical and parental psychopathology. Yet, it is understood that both familial predisposition and early life adversity contribute to the development of BD. How the interplay between these two factors influence emotion and reward processing networks in youth at risk for BD remains unclear. In this exploratory analysis, offspring of BD parents performed emotion and reward processing tasks while undergoing a fMRI scan. Risk calculator score was used to assess risk for developing BD in the next 5 years. Environmental risk was tabulated using the Stressful Life Events Schedule (SLES). Emotion and reward processing networks were investigated for genetic and/or environment interactions. Interaction effects were found between risk calculator scores, negative SLES score and activity in right amygdala and bilateral fusiform gyri during the emotion processing task, as well as activity in the fronto-, striatal, and parietal regions during the reward processing task. Our findings are preliminary; however, they support the unique and interactive contributions of both familial and environmental risk factors on emotion and reward processing within OBP. They also identify potential neural targets to guide development of interventions for youth at greatest risk for psychiatric disorders.

Biotypes of functional brain engagement during emotion processing differentiate heterogeneity in internalizing symptoms and interpersonal violence histories among adolescent girls

Youth exposed to early life interpersonal violence (IPV) demonstrate heterogeneous clinical symptoms. Studies based on univariate methods suggest that neurocircuitry related to emotion processing explains heterogeneity in internalizing symptoms. Here, we use a multivariate, data-driven method of identifying distinct functional brain activation profiles (i.e., “biotypes”) and test whether these biotypes differentiate internalizing symptoms among IPV-exposed youth. 114 adolescent girls (n = 38 with no IPV exposure or psychopathology; n = 76 with IPV exposure and heterogeneous internalizing symptoms), aged 11–17, completed an emotion processing task during fMRI. To identify distinct biotypes of brain engagement profiles, data-driven clustering analysis was applied to patterns of voxel activation, constrained within a mask of distributed regions implicated in emotion processing. Resulting biotypes (BT1-3) were compared on measures of IPV exposure and internalizing symptoms, as well as symptom reduction during Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) among a subset of participants (n = 21). Cluster analyses identified three biotypes, differentiated by engagement of medial prefrontal, anterior insula, hippocampus, parietal, and ventral visual cortex during emotion processing. BT1 exhibited low levels of IPV exposure and internalizing symptoms. BT2 exhibited elevated levels of IPV, except sexual assault, and demonstrated moderate severity across internalizing symptom domains. BT3 exhibited elevated severity across all IPV and internalizing symptom domains. Greater symptom reduction during TF-CBT was associated with increased pre-to post-treatment changes in similarity with BT1. These results demonstrate distinct profiles of emotion processing neurocircuitry that differentiate heterogeneity in internalizing symptoms in IPV-exposed adolescent girls.

Novel genome-wide associations for anhedonia, genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, and polygenic association with brain structure

Anhedonia is a core symptom of several psychiatric disorders but its biological underpinnings are poorly understood. We performed a genome-wide association study of state anhedonia in 375,275 UK Biobank participants and assessed for genetic correlation between anhedonia and neuropsychiatric conditions (major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and Parkinson’s Disease). We then used a polygenic risk score approach to test for association between genetic loading for anhedonia and both brain structure and brain function. This included: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessments of total grey matter volume, white matter volume, cerebrospinal fluid volume, and 15 cortical/subcortical regions of interest; diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of white matter tract integrity; and functional MRI activity during an emotion processing task. We identified 11 novel loci associated at genome-wide significance with anhedonia, with a SNP heritability estimate (h2SNP) of 5.6%. Strong positive genetic correlations were found between anhedonia and major depressive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; but not with obsessive compulsive disorder or Parkinson’s Disease. Polygenic risk for anhedonia was associated with poorer brain white matter integrity, smaller total grey matter volume, and smaller volumes of brain regions linked to reward and pleasure processing, including orbito-frontal cortex. In summary, the identification of novel anhedonia-associated loci substantially expands our current understanding of the biological basis of state anhedonia and genetic correlations with several psychiatric disorders confirm the utility of this phenotype as a transdiagnostic marker of vulnerability to mental illness. We also provide the first evidence that genetic risk for state anhedonia influences brain structure, including in regions associated with reward and pleasure processing.

Brain Functional Basis of Subjective Well-being During Negative Facial Emotion Processing Task-Based fMRI

Subjective well-being (SWB) is the eternal pursuit of all mankind. Individual differences in SWB may reflect the way of emotional processing. Neuroimaging studies have partly examined the neural mechanism of the individual differences in SWB using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). However, few studies have investigated the relationship between the individual differences in SWB and brain functional connectivity during facial emotion processing task. Here, we applied negative facial emotion processing task-based fMRI to explore the brain functional basis of the individual differences in SWB. Results showed that SWB is positively correlated with the activation of right posterior cingulate cortex, left interior temporal gyrus and left angular gyrus for the comparison of negative stimulus and neutral stimulus, revealing that happy individuals may be more proactive to use attention transfer and behavioral inhibition strategies to decrease negative experiences during negative emotional processing. In addition, high SWB is associated with strong functional connectivity between high-level cognitive networks (e.g., frontal-parietal network) and low-level perceptual networks (e.g., sensorimotor network), and weak functional connectivity within default mode network and within low-level perceptual networks, indicating that the self-reflection, emotional regulation and cognitive control during negative facial emotion processing underlies the individual differences in SWB. These findings provide a novel insight to characterize the brain functional basis of the individual differences in SWB.

Direct replication of task-dependent neural activation patterns during sadness introspection in two independent adolescent samples.

Functional neuroimaging results need to replicate to inform sound models of human social cognition and its neural correlates. Introspection, the capacity to reflect on one's thoughts and feelings, is one process required for normative social cognition and emotional functioning. Engaging in introspection draws on a network of brain regions including medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), middle temporal gyri (MTG), and temporoparietal junction (TPJ). Maturation of these regions during adolescence mirrors the behavioral advances seen in adolescent social cognition, but the neural correlates of introspection in adolescence need to replicate to confirm their generalizability and role as a possible mechanism. The current study investigated whether reflecting upon one's own feelings of sadness would activate and replicate similar brain regions in two independent samples of adolescents. Participants included 156 adolescents (50% female) from the California Families Project and 119 adolescent girls from the Pittsburgh Girls Study of Emotion. All participants completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan while completing the same facial emotion‐processing task at age 16–17 years. Both samples showed similar whole‐brain activation patterns when engaged in sadness introspection and when judging a nonemotional facial feature. Whole‐brain activation was unrelated to ERQ scores in both samples. Neural responsivity to task manipulations replicated in regions recruited for socio‐emotional (mPFC, PCC, MTG, TPJ) and attention (dorsolateral PFC, precentral gyri, superior occipital gyrus, superior parietal lobule) processing. These findings demonstrate robust replication of neural engagement during sadness introspection in two independent adolescent samples.

Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus Selectively Modulates Emotion Recognition of Facial Stimuli in Parkinson's Patients.

Background: Diminished emotion recognition is a known symptom in Parkinson (PD) patients and subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) has been shown to further deteriorate the processing of especially negative emotions. While emotion recognition generally refers to both, implicit and explicit processing, demonstrations of DBS-influences on implicit processing are sparse. In the present study, we assessed the impact of STN-DBS on explicit and implicit processing for emotional stimuli. Methods: Under STN-DBS ON and OFF, fourteen PD patients performed an implicit as well as an explicit emotional processing task. To assess implicit emotional processing, patients were tested with a lexical decision task (LTD) combined with an affective priming paradigm, which provides emotional content through the facial eye region. To assess explicit emotional processing, patients additionally explicitly rated the emotional status of eyes and words used in the implicit task. Results: DBS affected explicit emotional processing more than implicit processing with a more pronounced effect on error rates than on reaction speed. STN-DBS generally worsened implicit and explicit processing for disgust stimulus material but improved explicit processing of fear stimuli. Conclusions: This is the first study demonstrating influences of STN-DBS on explicit and implicit emotion processing in PD patients. While STN stimulation impeded the processing of disgust stimuli, it improved explicit discrimination of fear stimuli.

The effects of sex and residual cannabis use on emotion processing: An event-related potential study.

Cannabis use has been shown to affect processing of emotional facial expressions as measured by the P1 and P3 event-related potential (ERP) components. These components have been shown to be related to emotion processing in particular attention to emotion. Previous research also indicates that there are sex differences in how cannabis effects males and females as well as how they process emotion. This study examined the relationship between the effects of residual cannabis use and sex differences in 144 participants (F = 80) in a facial expression emotion processing task. Both the P1 and P3 ERP components were compared in male and female participants in noncannabis user, casual cannabis user, and heavy cannabis user groupings. The task involved implicitly, explicitly, and empathically identifying emotional expressions (angry, happy, neutral, and fearful) in male and females faces. There were differences between males and females in both the P1 and P3 ERP in relation to cannabis use. Males had a larger P1 than females with cannabis use and a smaller P3. Differences in the P1 were observed in both positive and negative emotion and between tasks in relation to cannabis use patterns. Differences in the P3 were seen in heavy male users for empathy happy and casual male users implicit angry when compared to females. These differences highlight the important of considering sex differences in regard to the effects of cannabis, in particular in emotion processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Altered Prefrontal Theta and Gamma Activity during an Emotional Face Processing Task in Parkinson Disease.

Patients with Parkinson disease (PD) often experience nonmotor symptoms including cognitive deficits, depression, and anxiety. Cognitive and affective processes are thought to be mediated by prefrontal cortico-basal ganglia circuitry. However, the topography and neurophysiology of prefrontal cortical activity during complex tasks are not well characterized. We used high-resolution electrocorticography in pFC of patients with PD and essential tremor, during implantation of deep brain stimulator leads in the awake state, to understand disease-specific changes in prefrontal activity during an emotional face processing task. We found that patients with PD had less task-related theta-alpha power and greater task-related gamma power in the dorsolateral pFC, inferior frontal cortex, and lateral OFC. These findings support a model of prefrontal neurophysiological changes in the dopamine-depleted state, in which focal areas of hyperactivity in prefrontal cortical regions may compensate for impaired long-range interactions mediated by low-frequency rhythms. These distinct neurophysiological changes suggest that nonmotor circuits undergo characteristic changes in PD.

Deficient Amygdala Habituation to Threatening Stimuli in Borderline Personality Disorder Relates to Adverse Childhood Experiences

BackgroundHeightened amygdala response to threatening cues has been repeatedly observed in borderline personality disorder (BPD). A previous report linked hyperactivation to deficient amygdala habituation to repeated stimuli, but the biological underpinnings are incompletely understood. MethodsWe examined a sample of 120 patients with BPD and 115 healthy control subjects with a well-established functional magnetic resonance imaging emotional face processing task to replicate the previously reported amygdala habituation deficit in BPD and probed this neural phenotype for associations with symptom severity and early social risk exposure. ResultsOur results confirm a significant reduction in amygdala habituation to repeated negative stimuli in BPD (pFWE = .015, peak-level familywise error [FWE] corrected for region of interest). Post hoc comparison and regression analysis did not suggest a role for BPD clinical state (pFWE > .56) or symptom severity (pFWE > .45) for this phenotype. Furthermore, deficient amygdala habituation was significantly related to increased exposure to adverse childhood experiences (pFWE = .013, region of interest corrected). ConclusionsOur data replicate a prior report on deficient amygdala habituation in BPD and link this neural phenotype to early adversity, a well-established social environmental risk factor for emotion dysregulation and psychiatric illness.

A randomised controlled trial assessing the use of citalopram, sertraline, fluoxetine and mirtazapine in preventing relapse in primary care patients who are taking long-term maintenance antidepressants (ANTLER: ANTidepressants to prevent reLapse in dEpRession): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BackgroundAntidepressants are used both for treating acute episodes and for prophylaxis to prevent future episodes of depression, also called maintenance treatment. This article describes the protocol for a randomised controlled trial (ANTLER: ANTidepressants to prevent reLapse in dEpRession) to investigate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness in UK primary care of continuing on long-term maintenance antidepressants compared with a placebo in preventing relapse of depression in those who have taken antidepressants for more than 9 months and who are currently well enough to consider stopping maintenance treatment.Methods/designThe ANTLER trial is an individually randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in which participants are randomised to remain on active medication or to take an identical placebo after a tapering period of 2 months. Eligible participants are those who: are between the ages of 18 and 74 years; have had at least two episodes of depression; and have been taking antidepressants for 9 months or more and are currently taking citalopram 20 mg, sertraline 100 mg, fluoxetine 20 mg or mirtazapine 30 mg but are well enough to consider stopping their medication. The participants will be followed up at 6, 12, 26, 39 and 52 weeks.The primary outcome will be the time in weeks to the beginning of the first episode of depression after randomisation. This will be measured using a retrospective version of the Clinical Interview Schedule—Revised administered at 12, 26, 39 and 52 weeks.Secondary outcomes will include depressive and anxiety symptoms, adverse effects, withdrawal symptoms, emotional processing tasks, quality of life and the resources and costs used. We will also perform a cost-effectiveness analysis based on results of the trial.DiscussionThe ANTLER trial findings will inform primary care prescribing practice by providing a valid and generalisable estimate of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of long-term maintenance treatment with antidepressants in UK primary care.Trial registrationControlled Trials ISRCTN Registry, ISRCTN15969819. Registered on 21 September 2015.

What do error patterns in processing facial expressions, social interaction scenes and vocal prosody tell us about the way social cognition works in children with 22q11.2DS?

Impairments in social cognition have been frequently described in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11.2DS) and are thought to be a hallmark of difficulties in social interactions. The present study addresses aspects that are critical for everyday social cognitive functioning but have received little attention so far. Sixteen children with 22q11.2DS and 22 controls completed 1 task of facial expression recognition, 1 task of attribution of facial expressions to faceless characters involved in visually presented social interactions, and 1 task of attribution of facial expressions to characters involved in aurally presented dialogues. All three tasks have in common to involve processing of emotions. All participants also completed two tasks of attention and two tasks of visual spatial perception, and their parents completed some scales regarding behavioural problems of their children. Patients performed worse than controls in all three tasks of emotion processing, and even worse in the second and third tasks. However, they performed above chance level in all three tasks, and the results were independent of IQ, age and gender. The analysis of error patterns suggests that patients tend to coarsely categorize situations as either attractive or repulsive and also that they have difficulties in differentiating emotions that are associated with threats. An isolated association between the tasks of emotion and behaviour was found, showing that the more frequently patients with 22q11.2DS perceive happiness where there is not, the less they exhibit aggressive behaviour.

Interaction between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis genetic variation and maternal behavior in the prediction of amygdala connectivity in children

High levels of negative, and low levels of positive parenting behaviors can increase the risk of internalizing symptoms in children, but the mechanisms underlying this association are still unclear. One possibility is that parenting behaviors affect the neural correlates of emotion processing in children. Further, genetic variants relevant to the function of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis are thought to moderate the effect of early experiences on the brain circuits underlying emotion processing, particularly those involving the amygdala. However, no studies have investigated the interactive effect of parenting behaviors and HPA axis-related genes on amygdala activity and connectivity during emotion processing, and in turn internalizing symptoms in children. Participants comprised 80 children (46 females, mean age = 10.0 years) from the community. Observational measures of maternal behavior were collected during mother-child interactions. Children underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an implicit emotion-processing task, and mothers and children completed measures of child internalizing symptoms. Genetic risk was calculated using an HPA genetic risk score. HPA genetic risk score was indirectly associated with greater child self-reported depressive symptoms via increased amygdala-precuneus connectivity during the emotion-processing task, and interacted with negative maternal parenting behavior to predict increased connectivity between amygdala and superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex and parietal cortex. HPA-related genetic variation appears to moderate the effect of negative maternal parenting behavior on the neural underpinnings of emotion processing in children, and may confer risk for depressive symptoms via modulation of amygdala connectivity.

Neural correlates of emotion processing predict resilience in youth at familial risk for mood disorders.

Aberrant face emotion processing has been demonstrated in youth with and at a familial risk for bipolar and major depressive disorders. However, the neurobiological factors related to emotion processing that underlie resilience from youth-onset mood disorders are not well understood. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data during an implicit emotion processing task were collected at baseline from a sample of 50 youth, ages 8-17, who were healthy but also familially at high risk for either bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder, and 24 healthy controls with no family history of psychopathology (HCL). Participants were reevaluated 3 years later and classified into three groups for analysis: high-risk youth who converted to a psychiatric diagnosis (CVT; N = 23), high-risk youth who were resilient from developing any psychopathology (RES; N = 27), and HCL youth (N = 24) who remained healthy at follow-up. For happy > calm faces, the CVT and RES groups had significantly lower activation in the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL), while the RES group had lower activation in the right supramarginal gyrus. For fear > calm faces, the RES group had lower activation in the right precuneus and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) compared to the CVT group. Connectivity analyses revealed the RES group exhibited higher left IPL connectivity with visual cortical regions for happy > calm faces, and higher IFG connectivity with frontal, temporal, and limbic regions for fear > calm faces. These connectivities were correlated with improvements in prosocial behaviors and global functioning. Our findings suggest that differential activation and connectivity in the IPL, IFG, and precuneus in response to emotional stimuli may represent distinct resilience and risk markers for youth-onset mood disorders.

F123. Comparison of fMRI Emotional Processing Tasks Used for Detecting Effects of Ketamine and Predicting Response in Depression

F123. Comparison of fMRI Emotional Processing Tasks Used for Detecting Effects of Ketamine and Predicting Response in Depression

The Influence of Maternal Parenting Style on the Neural Correlates of Emotion Processing in Children

The importance of parenting in influencing mental health outcomes, particularly depression, during childhood and adolescence is well known. However, the mechanisms are unclear. Emotion processing impairments in children are believed to be influenced by negative parenting behaviors and fundamental to depression. As such, investigating the association between parenting behavior and the neural underpinnings of emotion processing in children could provide fundamental clues as to the link between parenting and depression. Eighty-six children (49 girls, mean age 10.1 years), as part of a longitudinal study, participated. Observational measures of maternal behavior were collected during 2 mother-child interactions. Children underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an implicit emotion-processing task, and measures of child internalizing symptoms were collected. Maternal negative behavior exhibited during an event-planning interaction was associated with decreased activation in the lingual gyrus in girls, whereas maternal negative behavior during a problem-solving interaction was associated with increased amygdala activation in the entire sample during processing of angry and fearful faces. Maternal communicative behavior during the 2 mother-child interactions was associated with increased activity in the bilateral middle orbitofrontal cortex in the entire sample. Negative behavior during the problem-solving interaction was associated with connectivity between the amygdala and superior parietal lobe. Brain activity/connectivity was not related to internalizing symptoms. Results suggest that, in children, maternal behavior could be associated with activity in brain regions involved in emotion processing. However, more research is needed to elucidate the link among parenting, emotion processing, and depressive symptoms in young people.