Naturalistic paradigms hold enormous potential for studying abnormal brain function. However, the development of clinical applications based on naturalistic approaches is still in its infancy. Our symposium at OHBM 2023 presented the challenges and recent advances in research directed at clinical translation of naturalistic paradigms for brain mapping. See here if you are interested in participating.
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This is a neuroimaging study conducted at McLean Hospital which is focused on studying changes in functional brain network architecture in patients with OCD over the course of intensive, residential treatment.
MoreIn collaboration with Kerry Ressler, the goal of this project is to improve our understanding of the neurobiology and treatment of anhedonia.
In collaboration with Elizabeth Olson, this project aims to identify the contribution of a specific neural circuit to social withdrawal during the transition to adulthood (ages 16-20) in individuals with a history of interpersonal trauma exposure. Active and passive digital phenotyping metrics will be used to assess social withdrawal over the course of a 12-month follow-up. The hypothesis is that baseline functional connectivity within basolateral amygdala-ventromedial prefrontal cortex-nucleus accumbens circuitry will prospectively predict social withdrawal.
In collaboration with Joan Camprodon, the goal of this supplemental project was to capture temporally dense behavioral recordings from individuals receiving ECT and being studied using serial neuroimaging and clinical assessment as part of the parent grant, using smartphones, wearable devices, and audiovisual recordings.
In collaboration with Milissa Kaufman, the goals of this study will be 1) to understand the differential biomarkers that map onto dissociative symptoms, and 2) to understand how these biomarkers may best predict trajectory of response to empirically based standard-of-care treatments. This naturalistic study will allow us to map the biology of dissociation, and importantly, the change in dissociative symptoms and underlying biomarkers over time, using naturalistic evidenced-based treatment for PTSD in 240 treatment-seeking patients with PTSD, and a range of dissociation.
In collaboration with Isabelle Rosso, this study aims to identify brain processes that are associated with distinctive phenomenological characteristics of trauma memories that implicate sensory-perceptual brain networks, and that may be different than canonical brain networks of PTSD.
Research on affective disorders, such as bipolar disorder, and on psychotic disorders is hampered by a lack of basic understanding of the course of dynamic circuit properties that might underlie fluctuations in mood and cognition.Bipolar and psychotic disorders at its core are unstable clinical conditions: at its extremes, it can result in periods of profound changes in mood and cognition (i.e., mania, major depression, and psychosis). And yet, remarkably little has been done to understand the basic mechanisms underlying the fluctuating course common to these individuals. We hope to better understand and characterize the natural course of changes in mood and cognition and associated environmental variables in individuals with severe affective and psychotic disorders using mobile behavioral technology. We believe that this will further enable advances in our understanding of how these disorders develop, paving the way for the development and evaluation of new treatment strategies.
The major goal of this study was to probe the biology of the frontoparietal control network, a key brain network engaged in higher cognition and disrupted in chronic in psychosis by linking genetics, neuroimaging and clinical variables in individuals at clinical and genetic high risk for psychosis.
In collaboration with Kerry Ressler and Milissa Kaufman, the major goals of this study were to characterize brain system abnormalities present in patients with dissociative symptoms and diagnoses of either post-traumatic stress disorder or dissociative identity disorder.