General, not emotion-specific, inhibitory control deficits and neural alterations in adolescent NSSI

• In Event: Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: PS 14 Topic - Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is often associated with elevated impulsivity. Given the role of negative urgency (i.e., the tendency to engage in impulsive behavior under conditions of negative affect) in NSSI etiology, negative mood may be necessary to elicit impulsive behavior in laboratory tasks. Self- and parent-report measures suggest that individuals who self-injure evidence greater negativity and impaired behavioral control and planning abilities. A small but growing body of neuroimaging studies of NSSI and suicidal thoughts and behaviors indicates possible weaknesses in impulse regulation as well as emotion processing. For instance, structural and functional neuroimaging data indicate NSSI and suicidality are associated with alterations in the ventral prefrontal cortex (PFC), dorsal PFC, anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala and insula. However, findings from behavioral measures of impulsivity are mixed, possibly due to differences in age and NSSI severity across previous studies. Further work is needed to clarify whether teens who self-injure demonstrate impaired inhibitory control generally, only in the context of negative emotion, or not at all on laboratory measures. Concurrent neuroimaging measurements may provide insight into potential compensatory brain systems recruited by individuals who engage in NSSI. In the current study, 50 adolescent (M = 15 years) females with a history of NSSI behaviors and 21 comparison adolescents reported on their negative urgency (UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale), psychopathology (Kiddie Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version; Child Behavior Checklist), and NSSI behaviors (Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview). Participants also performed a Go/No-Go task in which task-relevant stimuli (letters) were presented at the center of large task-irrelevant images depicting negative or neutral scenes, while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Psychopathology, negative urgency, and inhibitory control in the context of both negative and neutral images, were compared across groups using independent t-tests for self-report data and whole-brain mixed effects regression analyses for neural data. As expected, the NSSI group reported more psychopathology. Results also indicated that the NSSI group reported higher negative urgency [t(50) = -5.55, p < .001, MNSSI = 2.83, MCOMP = 1.84] than the comparison group. The NSSI group also showed poorer Go/No-Go task performance overall [d-prime: F(1,68) = 5.63, p = .02] but not by specific to emotional conditions (p > .34). Neural data indicated that the NSSI group showed greater activation in the dorsal medial PFC and the left lingual gyrus when performing the inhibitory control task without emotional distractors (voxel-wise significance threshold of p < .005 and a cluster threshold of p < .05). No group differences in brain activation were observed for emotional contrasts on the task. The current data indicates that adolescent girls who engage in NSSI show impaired action restraint across both emotional and non-emotional conditions relative to adolescent females who do not engage in NSSI. Teens who self-injure did not show greater behavioral impulsivity nor differences in neural activity within the context of emotionally negative photographs compared to the non-NSSI group. Further research examining emotional contexts that are more clearly arousing or distressing to teens who self-injure is warranted.

Authors

• Lauren Demers, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Presenting Author

• Bonnie Klimes-Dougan, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kathleen M. Thomas, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
  Non-Presenting Author

• Zeynep Basgoze, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• Timothy Hendrickson, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bryon Mueller, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kathryn Cullen, University of Minnesota
  Non-Presenting Author