Many congratulations for recent achievements are in order: Congratulations to Carissa Weis for defending her dissertation, Data-driven approach to dynamic resting state functional connectivity in post-traumatic stress disorder. Well done, Dr. Weis! Congratulations to neuroscience doctoral student, Kate Webb, who was recently awarded the APA Student Science Council Early Graduate Student Researcher Award as well […]
Author Archives: Christine L. Larson
DACC Resting State Functional Connectivity as a Predictor of Pain Symptoms Following Motor Vehicle Crash: A Preliminary Investigation
There is significant heterogeneity in pain outcomes following motor vehicle crashes (MVCs), such that a sizeable portion of individuals develop symptoms of chronic pain months after injury while others recover. Despite variable outcomes, the pathogenesis of chronic pain is currently unclear. Previous neuroimaging work implicates the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in adaptive control of […]
A Randomized Trial of Modified Prolonged Exposure to Prevent the Development of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Patients HospitalizedWith Traumatic Injuries
Individuals who require hospitalization after traumatic injuries are at increased risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); however, few early behavioral interventions have been effective at preventing PTSD within this population. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of modified prolonged exposure therapy (mPE) to prevent PTSD and depression […]
Acute Posttrauma Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Periaqueductal Gray Prospectively Predicts Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms
BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by hyperarousal, avoidance, and intrusive/reexperiencing symptoms. The periaqueductal gray (PAG), which generates behavioral responses to physical and psychological stressors, is also implicated in threat processing. Distinct regions of the PAG elicit opposing responses to threatening or stressful stimuli; the ventrolateral PAG evokes passive coping strategies (e.g., analgesia), whereas the dorsolateral PAG (dlPAG) […]
State anxiety reduces working memory capacity but does not impact filtering cost for neutral distracters
Current theories propose that anxiety adversely impacts working memory (WM) by restricting WM capacity and interfering with efficient filtering of task-irrelevant information. The current study investigated the effect of shock-induced state anxiety on WM capacity and the ability to filter task-irrelevant neutral stimuli. We measured the contralateral delay activity (CDA), an event-related potential that indexes […]
Multi-voxel pattern analysis of amygdala functional connectivity at rest predicts variability in posttraumatic stress severity
Introduction: Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) studies demonstrate that individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit atypical functional connectivity (FC) between the amygdala, involved in the generation of emotion, and regions responsible for emotional appraisal (e.g., insula, orbitofrontal cortex [OFC]) and regulation (prefrontal cortex [PFC], anterior cingulate cortex). Consequently, atypical amygdala FC within an emotional processing and regulation network […]
rsFC of Skin Picking
Pathological skin picking (excoriation) is a relatively common disorder. Although it has been hypothesized to share a similar pathophysiological basis as other obsessive-compulsive (OC) spectrum disorders, to date, little work has specifically examined the precise neurobiological mechanisms involved in excoriation. Disruption in functional circuits involving the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) and supplementary motor area (SMA) may be particularly […]
Congratulations to Richard!
ANL neuroscience doctoral student, Richard Ward, received a Sigma Xi Grant in Aid of Research award. Congratulations, Richard!
Congratulations to Ashley Huggins!
Ashley defended her dissertation on May 28 and is off to the Charleston Consortium for internship this summer. Congratulations, Ashley!
Image processing for ABCD
The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is an ongoing, nationwide study of the effects of environmental influences on behavioral and brain development in adolescents. The main objective of the study is to recruit and assess over eleven thousand 9-10-year-olds and follow them over the course of 10 years to characterize normative brain and cognitive […]
