This project will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRD to obtain high resolution information about the morphometry of particular brain regions implicated in emotion and emotion regulation and their levels of functional activation in a biological subsample of WLS respondents. Respondents will undergo functional and structural MR imaging, along with brain electrical activity measures. The circuitry that will be featured will include the amygdala, hippocampus and different territories of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Each of these structures has been implicated in different aspects of emotion and emotion regulation and is part of the central circuitry that is likely crucial for understanding how cumulative psychosocial burden can have deleterious effects upon health. For example, the hippocampus plays a crucial role in the regulation of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis and high levels of glucocorticoids have been implicated in hippocampal atropy. The failure to modulate emotion in a context-appropriate fashion is likely a consequence of hippocampal dysfunction. In addition to the hippocampus, the amygdala and prefrontal cortices are other key structures in the circuitry of emotion regulation and also play an important role in regulating peripheral biology that may be consequential for health. This project will utilize functional and structural MRI along with high-density electrophysiological measures to makes inferences about the structure and function of this circuitry in a subsample of WLS respondents. These measures of brain function and structure will be related to indices of advantage and adversity as well as measures of affect, mental health and physical health. The data will provide the most comprehensive examination to date of the relations between the central circuitry of emotion in the aging brain and physical and mental health.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 125 publications
