FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY, THE
Grant: $496,383 - National Institutes of Health - Sep. 21, 2009
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Award Description: This application addresses broad Challenge Area (03) Biomarker Discovery/Validation and specific Topic 03-MH-101: Biomarkers in Mental Disorders. The proposed research takes a construct-oriented approach to the identification of biomarkers for prevalent forms of mental illness by focusing on physiological indicators of two dispositional constructs that have direct referents in neurobiology as well as behavior: (1) fear/fearlessness, theorized to reflect individual differences in the sensitivity of the brain's defensive motivational system, and (2) inhibitory control, presumed to reflect individual differences in the functioning of brain systems that modulate affective and behavioral response in the service of distal goals. Because these constructs link neurobiology with behavior, they can serve as concrete referents for a physiologically based science of individual differences relevant to psychopathology. The current proposal builds on extensive preliminary efforts to develop sensitive and precise psychometric measures of these two constructs and identify reliable brain indicators of each. A two-year program of work is proposed involving collection of psychometric, diagnostic, and physiological (including EEG/ERP) data from 240 incarcerated offenders. Statistical analyses will evaluate how constructs of dispositional fear and disinhibition, operationalized psychometrically, relate to varying forms of psychopathology (including impulse control disorders, affiliated personality disorders, and psychopathy as assessed by clinical interview) and to varying physiological indicators—at both univariate and multivariate levels. Advanced analysis techniques including EEG time-frequency decomposition, neural source modeling, and phase coherence analysis will be applied to the brain response data to elucidate neural circuits that underlie individual variations in fear/fearlessness and disinhibition and to clarify how deviations in the functioning of these circuits contribute to varying mental disorders. This work promises to advance our understanding of overlapping and distinctive aspects of varying mental disorders by examining these disorders in relation to unifying constructs with clear neurobiological referents.
Project Description: Not yet started.
Jobs Summary: N/A (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Not Started
This award's data was last updated on Sep. 21, 2009. Help expand these official descriptions using the wiki below.
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