Schedule of Events | Symposia

Predicting Adolescent Mental Health and Adversity from Neural Networks of Decision-making

Poster Session B - Sunday, March 30, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Boluwatife Cole¹, MaryAnn Noonan^1,2, Alan Stein¹, Miriam Klein-Fluggë¹; ¹University of Oxford, ²University of York

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a key node in decision-making, emotion regulation and motivation. Decision-making processes are now known to be altered in sub-clinical mental health states of depression and anxiety. In addition, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), known to be a key determinant of psychiatric disorders, are associated with structural alterations in the ACC. Given this anatomical overlap, there is a strong argument that the decision-making mechanisms mediated by the ACC may be atypical in adolescents with these mental health disorders, particularly those with ACEs. Utilising resting-state functional MRIs and behavioural data from 334 healthy adolescents in the Lifespan Human Connectome Project Development (HCP-D) database, we have explored the functional connectivity coupling between the ACC and likely cortical and subcortical target regions involved in learning and decision-making behaviour. Further, using a factor analysis and robust linear regressions, we examined the intersection between functional connectivity within these brain networks and dimensions of mental health and childhood adversity. Results suggest that while a number of connections with the ACC are associated with these dimensions, neural connections with the amygdala most strongly and reliably predict negative emotions associated with anxiety and depression. By contrast, connections between the ACC and hippocampus are most strongly predictive of adversity-associated personal loss. Interestingly, gender is a key co-variate in predicting mental health from decision-making networks. These results identify potential regions of vulnerability during adolescence, although future research must determine causality, in order to clarify whether these connections could act as biomarkers of future well-being.

Topic Area: THINKING: Decision making