3-082 - RDoC Negative Valence Systems: Neural correlates of the Loss and Sustained Threat Constructs in Youth

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

A key goal of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative is to “develop new ways of classifying disorders based on dimensions of observable behaviors and brain functions”. The talks in this symposium focus on constructs within the Negative Valence Systems domain and show how specific neural markers may help us better understand the RDoC constructs of Loss and Sustained Threat in youth. The first talk (Proudfit) presents prospective data suggesting that the error-related negativity (ERN) event-related potential component may be useful biomarker of anxiety risk in children. The second talk (Burkhouse) focuses on children’s neural reactivity (late positive potential; LPP) to facial displays of emotion, suggesting that children with elevated depressive symptoms (particularly anhedonia) exhibit a blunted LPP response specifically to sad, but not happy or fearful, faces. The third talk (Auerbach) examines neural (fMRI) correlates of the constructs of Loss and Responses to Reward in at-risk adolescents, showing distinct patterns of neural activation associated with both. Finally, the fourth talk (Gibb) focuses on electrophysiological (ERP) and behavioral (eye tracking) measures of attentional biases, showing unique patterns of bias associated with symptoms of depression (low positive affect) and anxiety (physiological arousal) in children. In combination, these studies provide an excellent overview of how the RDoC initiative is being implemented in studies of youth, and how this approach can help us develop a more fine-grained understanding of the mechanisms underlying psychopathology risk.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Chair

• Brandon E Gibb, Binghamton University (SUNY)

Individual Presentations

• The error-related negativity (ERN) and developmental trajectories of risk for anxiety - Presenting Author: Greg Hajcak Proudfit, Stony Brook University; Alexandria Meyer, State University of New York, Stony Brook; Autumn Kujawa, Stony Brook University; Dana Torpey-Newman, Stony Brook University; Daniel Klein

• Children’s Depressive Symptoms and Neural Reactivity to Emotional Stimuli - Presenting Author: Katie Lynn Burkhouse, State University of New York at Binghamton; Max Owens, Binghamton University (SUNY); Brandon E Gibb, Binghamton University (SUNY)

• Examining the Positive and Negative Valence Systems in Adolescents of Affectively-Ill Mothers - Presenting Author: Randy Patrick Auerbach, Harvard University; Angela Pisoni, Harvard Medical School - McLean Hospital; Colin H. Stanton, Harvard Medical School - McLean Hospital; Poornima Kumar, Harvard Medical School - McLean Hospital; Diego A. Pizzagalli, Harvard Medical School - McLean Hospital

• Attentional bias to affective stimuli in children: Evidence from eye-tracking and event-related potentials - Presenting Author: Brandon E Gibb, Binghamton University (SUNY); Max Owens, Binghamton University (SUNY); Greg Hajcak Proudfit, Stony Brook University