The purpose of this study is to use brain imaging technology to examine brain changes that occur in children when they are exposed to various kinds of emotional tasks and to determine if these changes are related to the child's temperament.

Studies suggest that the risk for developing mood and anxiety disorders in preschool children may be linked to differences in temperament. The relationship between temperament and risk or resilience may reflect the influences of brain activity on behavior at different stages of childhood development. Behavioral inhibition and mood or anxiety disorders have been linked to disturbances in the circuitry of several areas in the brain. However, the involvement of this circuitry in temperament remains unclear. This study will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the function of different parts of the brain in children who have previously undergone temperament studies and have had their temperaments classified.

This study will comprise three clinic visits. At Visit 1, children and their parents will meet with study staff individually and together for psychiatric interviews. Children will undergo a physical examination, medical history, a urine drug test, and practice in an fMRI simulator. Saliva samples will be collected from the children and tests will be given to assess stage of puberty, temperament, intelligence, feelings, experiences, and behavior. Other visits include fMRI scans of the brain and other tasks.

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Recent research delineates developmental pathways to mood and anxiety disorders. Among preschool children, prospective and family-based studies suggest that early risk and resilience may be linked to individual differences in temperament. For example, behaviorally inhibited children, who are prone to experiencing negative affect, may be at increased risk for mood and anxiety disorders. In contrast, exuberant children, who exhibit high positive affect, may face low risk for these conditions. Psychobiological studies note that the relationship between temperament and risk or resilience may reflect the influences of neural circuits on behavioral tendencies at different stages of development. For example, both behavioral inhibition and mood or anxiety disorders have been linked to perturbations in a neural circuit encompassing components of the prefrontal cortex (PFC)/cingulate, striatum, and the amygdala. However, less direct evidence exists for the involvement of this circuit in temperament than in mood and anxiety disorders. Recent neuroimaging advances provide an opportunity for more direct examination of the role of this circuit in childhood temperament, and the current proposal capitalizes on a rare opportunity to conduct such research. The proposal uses fMRI to examine PFC, cingulate cortex, amygdala, and striatal function in children previously classified with a state-of-the-art temperament battery and followed prospectively into early adolescence.

A total of 980 children previously classified with respect to temperament will be studied as adolescents (7-20 years old). This will include three groups of adolescents: (1) those who exhibit high motor arousal/high negative affect in early infancy in response to novel stimuli and who display behavioral inhibition from infancy to childhood (behaviorally inhibited), (2) those who exhibit high motor arousal/high positive affect in response to novel stimuli and who display temperamental exuberance from infancy to childhood (exuberant), and (3) those who exhibit approximate average levels of both reactivity/affect in infancy and inhibition/ exuberance from infancy to childhood (controls). Assessments will include psychiatric, behavioral, and neuropsychological batteries. The protocol uses three fMRI paradigms previously developed for studies of adolescents: face-processing parametric task, monetary incentive delay task, reward card task, saccade eye movement task, social-evaluation rating tasks, attention bias task, fear conditioning task, signal detection task, loss aversion task, risk-taking task, Wheel of Fortune (WOF) task, and attentional disengagement task.

The proposed fMRI studies are designed to test three hypotheses. First, behaviorally inhibited adolescents are hypothesized to exhibit enhanced amygdala activation when exposed to mild threats in the form of facial emotion displays. Second, behaviorally inhibited adolescents are hypothesized to exhibit reduced activation of the PFC and cingulate while attending to emotion vs. physical features present in facial threats. Third, exuberant adolescents are hypothesized to exhibit enhanced activation of striatum and inferior PFC during the presentation of reward stimuli.

An additional set hypotheses related to anxiety trait and risk-taking will also be tested. First anxious adolescents will activate striatal regions in response to reward more strongly than non-anxious adolescents. Second, risk takers will also activate striatal regions in response to reward more strongly than non-risk-taking adolescents. Third, we expect an interaction between risk-taking and anxious factors.

• Mood Disorders
• Anxiety Disorders
• Adolescents

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• INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Age: 7-20

Consent: Can give consent/assent.

IQ: All subjects will have IQ greater than 70.

Psychopathology: All subjects will be free of lifetime history of psychosis and pervasive developmental disorder.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Any chronic or acute medical condition severe enough to interfere with task performance or completion of questionnaires.

Any medical condition that increases risk for MRI (e.g. pacemaker, metallic foreign body in eye, dental braces).

Any current axis I psychiatric disorder necessitating acute treatment.

Claustrophobia.

Pregnancy