Addiction is a major health concern, and one of the most pressing issues is how it develops. Emerging adulthood is a high-risk life stage where drug use is initiated and often becomes more severe. Prenatal exposure to cocaine is associated with higher risk-taking behavior as well, and the potential mechanisms of this heightened risk deserve examination. Reward processing is an important factor that is associated with addiction, and in adults, dysregulation of reward contributes to persistent drug abuse. In this application, I propose to examine reward processing in prenatally exposed emerging adults in a longitudinal design. This cohort will be drawn from a pre-existing cohort of individuals recruited as part of an already existing study, and who have been followed since birth. I will measure reward processing in two temporally close testing sessions involving two methodologies, electrophysiology and fMRI. I will also collect information about experimental and problematic drug use, as well as information about mood, at the recording sessions. Drug use and mood information will then be collected once again in quarterly follow-up sessions for one year. The goal is to examine if PCE status and reward processing are risk factors for problematic drug abuse and risky behaviors in emerging adulthood, and if these factors interact to increase such risk. The training plan for the applicant will focus on three major goals. The first is increasing understanding of how drug use develops in an emerging adult population. The second is enhancing the applicant's training in fMRI techniques, including developing fMRI tasks and in analyzing fMRI data using GLM-based approaches, as well as combining ERP and fMRI data for a comprehensive examination of the temporal and spatial aspects of reward processing. The third is in developing longitudinal analysis techniques and developing skills to conduct longitudinal analyses. This approach will complement the training the applicant has received during her graduate training and will position the applicant to become an independent researcher with a strong background in both fMRI and longitudinal research techniques as applied to the study of addictions. The proposed training and research plan are greatly enhanced by the interdisciplinary and intellectually rigorous environment provided by the schools (Yale School of Medicine, Faculty of Arts and Sciences), departments (Psychiatry, Diagnostic Radiology, Child Study Center and Neuroscience), and divisions (Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Division of Substance Abuse Research) at Yale University.
The effects of prenatal exposure to cocaine have been examined in childhood, but fewer studies exist on the long-term effects of this exposure in emerging adulthood, which is an age range where the risk of substance use initiation and progression of experimental to problematic drug use is high. The proposed research will examine an important characteristic that is associated with chronic drug use, reward processing, and examine its role as a predictor of substance use development in a cohort of prenatally cocaine-exposed emerging adults who will be followed longitudinally. Investigating these characteristics will shed light on how reward processing presents in prenatally cocaine-exposed individuals and help establish the mechanisms by which the risk for problematic substance use is raised in this population.
| Morie, Kristen P; Wu, Jia; Landi, Nicole et al. (2018) Feedback processing in adolescents with prenatal cocaine exposure: an electrophysiological investigation. Dev Neuropsychol 43:183-197 |
