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Poster #121 - The Parent-Child Conflict Discussion Task: An Ecologically Valid fMRI Paradigm for Studying Dyadic Interactions

Thu, March 21, 2:15 to 3:30pm, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Developmental processes often occur within complex social contexts. Children and adolescents learn important skills, such as emotion regulation, through interactions with their parents, siblings, and peers. Many studies have examined these interactive processes through self-report, behavioral, and observational data, but the use of neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been limited by practical restraints on the types of tasks that can be utilized. Because participants must necessarily be lying in a scanner remaining as still as possible, ecologically valid tasks have been difficult to design and implement. Little is known, therefore, about the neurobiological underpinnings of how social interactions influence child and adolescent development. Recent advances in technology and data processing, however, are expanding the types of experimental designs that can utilize neuroimaging.
In order to study interdependencies between parent and adolescent brain activation during an interactive discussion, 42 parent-adolescent dyads underwent fMRI hyperscanning as part of the Dyadic Inter-Brain Signaling (DIBS) Project. During hyperscanning, both members of the dyad are scanned simultaneously, allowing the examination of interactive neural processes. MR-compatible active noise cancellation microphones and headphones were used to enable participants to talk to each other during the scanning. Participants completed 3 scanning runs, each lasting 4 minutes and 56 seconds. During each run, participants were shown a topic to discuss based on ratings they made prior to the scan about conflicts they frequently have with each other (for example, “Chores”). Participants were asked to first describe the conflict for two minutes, then work together to derive a solution for the conflict for another two minutes (Figure 1). Acquired fMRI data were corrected for speech-related motion fMRI artifacts utilizing a procedure described by Xu et al. (2014). The audio from each dyad was recorded and later transcribed and coded for specific types of positive and negative statements (for example, “put downs” and “validation/praise”). The parent-adolescent interactions while in the fMRI scanner are qualitatively similar to what has been observed using this task outside of the scanner, with an average of 23 coded statements throughout the scan (n=24 dyads coded thus far). The timing of coded statements will be used in task-based fMRI analyses as regressors of interest. We will also examine the synchrony of brain activation between the members of each dyad and how this may relate to behavioral variables such as parenting, emotion regulation, and mental health.
We have demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing neuroimaging in order to study complex interactional processes that influence child and adolescent development. While fMRI free-speech paradigms have rarely been used in the past due to motion artifacts, we have adapted an automated ‘de-noising’ procedure to significantly reduce these artifacts. Our understanding of neurobiological development and its effects on important health and social outcomes may be greatly increased through the continued advancement of ecologically valid neuroimaging paradigms.

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