2006 — 2007 |
Friedman, Naomi P. |
R03Activity Code Description: To provide research support specifically limited in time and amount for studies in categorical program areas. Small grants provide flexibility for initiating studies which are generally for preliminary short-term projects and are non-renewable. |
Longitudinal Effects of Sleep Problems On Cognition @ University of Colorado At Boulder
[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sleep-related cognitive problems can result in accidents, deficient job and work performance, poor decision making, and other serious problems. Previous research supports the general conclusion that sleep problems influence cognitive functioning, but evidence also indicates sleep problems affect some cognitive functions more than others. However, specific patterns of impairments are inconsistent across studies, possibly because of less than optimal individual cognitive measures. Moreover, the field lacks a systematic analysis of developmental patterns of general and specific Sleep problems and their cognitive covariates and sequelae. The specific aims of this project are to (1) identify developmental patterns in sleep problems; (2) specify the etiology of sleep problems, including genetic and environmental contributions to stability and change; and (3) determine the effect of developmental and concurrent sleep problems on different cognitive functions. These goals will be addressed through application of statistical techniques, not previously applied to these issues, to existing longitudinal data from a large-scale study of 462 twin pairs examined from infancy through early adulthood. Specifically, we will use latent class growth curve models of parent-rated sleep problems from ages 4 to 16 to explore the development of sleep problems and identify different patterns (e.g., persistent vs. transient). We will then apply genetic models of these developmental patterns as well as problems at individual time points to specify the etiology of these problems. Finally, we will examine the cognitive outcomes of developmental problems as well as recent self-ratings of sleep habits, using latent- variable cognitive ability outcome measures of multiple separable executive functions and other cognitive abilities. We will also examine the effect of sleep problems on teacher-rated attention and thought problems throughout development. These proposed analyses will result in more comprehensive and powerful models of sleep problems and cognitive function. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]
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2009 — 2012 |
Ito, Tiffany (co-PI) [⬀] Miyake, Akira (co-PI) [⬀] Friedman, Naomi |
N/AActivity Code Description: No activity code was retrieved: click on the grant title for more information |
Collaborative Research: Individual Differences in Executive Functions and Expressions of Racial Biases @ University of Colorado At Boulder
"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
This collaborative project outlines a series of studies investigating the role of individual differences in executive functions (EFs) in expression of implicit racial bias. Executive functions refer to higher-order control processes that regulate thought and action. Although an individual's performance on laboratory-based implicit bias tasks is typically interpreted as a straightforward manifestation of his/her underlying automatic bias, recent preliminary evidence suggests that performance on all such tasks implicates executive control processes, such as the overriding of dominant or pre-potent responses. According to the team of researchers involved in this project, racial bias, as assessed by implicit bias tasks, is a complex construct jointly affected by automatic bias and individual differences in EF abilities. The research they will carry out seeks to vigorously test this emerging theoretical view by conducting a large-scale individual differences study of the relationship between EF abilities and expressions of racial bias. The aim of this research is threefold: to investigate the extent to which behavioral manifestations of race bias are associated with individual differences in related but separable EF abilities; to investigate several neurocognitive processes associated with cognitive control as mechanisms through which EF abilities affect expression of race bias; and to determine whether individual differences in EF abilities moderate the impact of manipulations that temporarily deplete executive functioning. The work will involve 5 collaborators and include nearly 500 research participants at three geographic locations. What sets this project apart theoretically from existing work is that rather than treating EF as a unitary ability, the current research adopts a multi-component view of EF that suggest it can be decomposed into correlated yet separable subcomponents, such as inhibition, updating, and shifting. By examining both behavioral and neurocognitive (ERP) indices of implicit bias, this project has the potential to provide the first-ever systematic and comprehensive analysis of the EF-bias relationship.
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0.915 |
2016 — 2018 |
Friedman, Naomi P. |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Neural Substrates of Executive Function: An Fmri Twin Study
DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is highly plausible that heritable individual differences in executive functions (EFs), mediated by variation in identifiable neural circuits, contribute to a generalized genetic vulnerability to psychopathology and psychiatric disorder. Determining the extent to which functional variation in neural circuits supporting EF is itself heritable, or influenced by environmental factors, will provide information critical to understanding the role of neural circuits in mediating the genetic and environmental vulnerability to mental illness. In this competitive renewal, we propose to extend our twin study of individual differences in EFs by conducting the following: (1) the first large-scale functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of individual differences in the multiple EFs; (2) the first fMRI study of EFs to incorporate latent variables measured outside of the scanner; and (3) the first behavior genetic study of functional neural indices of these multiple EFs in adulthood. By collecting fMRI data on a carefully selected set of EF tasks and analyzing it in conjunction with additional EF tasks measured outside the scanner, as well as new assessments of psychopathology linked to EFs, we will be able to determine neural circuits related to individual differences in EFs and associated psychopathology. Because the data come from twins, we will also assess the genetic and environmental etiologies of individual differences in these neural indices, and examine their genetic and environmental correlations with the behavioral EF measures. Finally, by integrating the neural data with assessments of symptoms related to psychopathology (e.g., attention problems, depression), we will test whether the brain areas related to EFs mediate the relations between EFs and these symptoms identified in this sample. To achieve these aims we conduct an fMRI study on twins who have participated in the Colorado Longitudinal Twin Study (LTS) since infancy and have previous EF assessments. Based on recruitment rates for prior waves and a pilot study, we estimate 640 participants from 320 twin pairs (167 monozygotic and 153 dizygotic). In the scanner they will perform 3 tasks tapping 3 separable but correlated EFs: inhibiting prepotent responses, updating working memory, and shifting between tasks or mental sets. They will complete 3 additional EF tasks outside the scanner so we can construct latent variables for each component. They will also complete phone interviews and online questionnaire assessments of symptoms related to mental illness before the imaging session. We will analyze the imaging data using independent components analysis to identify separable neural circuits that correlate with individual differences in performance. We will then examine whether these neural measures mediate the relations between EFs and symptoms of psychopathology.
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2018 — 2021 |
Friedman, Naomi P. Vrieze, Scott Ian [⬀] |
U01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
A Twin Study of Adolescent Alcohol and Drug Use Development: Leveraging Intensive Longitudinal Assessments @ University of Minnesota
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Taken together, alcohol and drug use account for more morbidity and mortality than any single disease or disorder in the United States. Rates of substance use are highest among older adolescents and younger adults, which are critical developmental windows for the development of addiction. The combined factors of sensation seeking versus behavioral and cognitive control are underdeveloped in adolescence. Under popular models of adolescent use, such as the dual systems model, these two systems are hypothesized to explain developmental trends in adolescent substance use. More recently, such theories have incorporated the potential impact of social context, including deviant peers, as accentuating sensation seeking and reward systems in adolescents and contributing to their increased risk of substance use and dependence. To date, these developmental models have been tested and characterized primarily in cross-sectional studies or longitudinal studies with, at best, annual assessments. Here, we will use smartphone sensors and weekly surveys to assess substance use, executive function, disinhibition, risk-taking, and social context on a quasi-continuous basis over the course of multiple years in a large sample during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. The results will provide a fine-grained model of developmental change in key risk domains and their relationship to substance use. Instrument variables derived from the smartphone's GPS, camera, and microphone, combined with an adolescent twin study design, will provide stringent tests of whether and how environmental and social context disrupts normative developmental trends.
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0.958 |
2020 — 2021 |
Friedman, Naomi P. Wager, Tor D (co-PI) [⬀] |
R01Activity Code Description: To support a discrete, specified, circumscribed project to be performed by the named investigator(s) in an area representing his or her specific interest and competencies. |
Brain and Genetic Predictors of Individual Differences in Pain and Placebo Analgesia
Project Summary Throughout history, placebo effects have been variously considered as tricks played upon the gullible by medical practitioners and powerful but mysterious healing forces. With the advent of direct measurements of human brain function, modern science has shown that placebo effects are neither of these. Rather, they reflect the principled impact of psychological and brain processes on diseases of the brain and body. Placebo effects represent an opportunity because they provide a window into internal brain processes that influence health, and a challenge because many clinical trials have now failed due to large and durable placebo responses, at great cost to health care providers and consumers. Definitive studies of the brain pathways involved in placebo responses?and the genetic, environmental, and neural factors that lead some individuals to respond more strongly than others?are critical to harnessing placebo effects, eliminating or controlling placebo responses in clinical trials, and understanding the psychological and brain factors that predispose one to successful treatment and ?spontaneous? improvement. Placebo analgesia is the best-studied type of placebo effect, with well-developed paradigms and preliminary data on its brain mechanisms. This background provides a foundation for larger-scale, definitive studies. In this project, we propose the first such large-scale study of brain mechanisms of placebo analgesia, combining neuroimaging, behavioral, and genetic approaches. It builds on 15 years? experience in PI Wager?s laboratory on fMRI and placebo analgesia and 40 years of genetics research at the Institute for Behavior Genetics (IBG) at the University of Colorado, Boulder. We will use fMRI to characterize the neural bases of placebo effects in 600 twins recruited from the Colorado Twin Sample and predict individual differences in placebo effects across two forms of pain. In Aim 1, we will develop models that predict the magnitude of individuals? placebo effects in pain and pain neurophysiology based on a) fMRI activity, b) brain structure, and a combination of personality, behavioral, and cognitive measures that can be deployed clinically. In Aim 2, we conduct the first analyses of heritability of placebo effects and their neural predictors, and genetic correlations that can identify brain features whose relationships with placebo effects are genetic in origin. In Aim 3, we leverage the >50,000 person Enhancing Neuro-Imaging Genetics through Meta-analysis (ENIGMA) consortium to identify genome-wide associations with placebo-linked brain features and develop polygenic risk scores for placebo effects. The research products from this endeavor will include data and models useful for characterizing and screening participants in clinical trials, assessing interactions between placebo responses and other treatments, and assessing placebo effects across disorders.
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