2016 — 2020 |
Aupperle, Robin L |
K23Activity Code Description: To provide support for the career development of investigators who have made a commitment of focus their research endeavors on patient-oriented research. This mechanism provides support for a 3 year minimum up to 5 year period of supervised study and research for clinically trained professionals who have the potential to develop into productive, clinical investigators. |
Approach-Avoidance Conflict-a Multi-Level Predictor For Exposure Therapy Response @ Laureate Institute For Brain Research
? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Robin Aupperle is applying for the Mentored Patient-Oriented Career Development Award (K23) to support her development as an independent researcher using neuroscientific methods to inform the behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders. Clinicians and patients currently have little knowledge to guide them when deciding whether or not to embark on therapy or how to modify manualized therapy to optimize individual treatment. Dr. Aupperle's long-term career goal is to use knowledge regarding brain-behavior relationships to develop highly targeted behavioral interventions for anxiety disorders. More specifically, the aim would be that an individual patient could be assessed using a neurobehavioral battery to determine which therapy modules to use for optimizing response. The proposed research will accomplish the first steps towards this goal by investigating whether levels of approach (i.e., reward) and avoidance (i.e., threat) motivations, or the ability to arbitate these motivations can be used to identify individuals unlikely to respond to exposure-based therapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). This project will use a task Dr. Aupperle recently developed to probe brain and behavior responses during the arbitration of approach and avoidance motivations in combination with other tasks and questionnaires relevant to approach and avoidance processing. The achievement of Dr. Aupperle's career goals, and the specific research objectives of this application, requires expertise related to current behavioral interventions, treatment outcome research, neuroimaging methods and analyses, and statistical methods for aggregating across multiple levels of analyses and modeling longitudinal datasets. Based on her prior research and clinical training, Dr. Aupperle has demonstrated expertise in functional neuroimaging and current psychological interventions for anxiety. The proposed training plan will provide further mentorship, coursework, and hands-on experience in advanced statistical methods for longitudinal and multilevel analyses, behavioral outcome research, and multimodal EEG/fMRI neuroimaging (increasing the depth and clinical generalizability of her research). Dr. Aupperle has assembled a team of mentors uniquely suited to provide the required diversity of expertise. Drs. Martin Paulus (LIBR Scientific Director and primary mentor) and Jim Abelson will provide expertise for integrating across neurobiological and clinical/behavioral levels of analyses. Dr. Michelle Craske will bring her extensive experience related to the development and investigation of behavioral interventions for anxiety. Dr. Bodurka, LIBR Neuroimaging Core Director, will provide mentorship related to simultaneous EEG/fMRI imaging. The training, and associated research, will take place at LIBR, a state-of-the-art institute dedicated to conducting neuroimaging and genetics research aimed at developing more effective treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders.
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0.903 |
2020 |
Aupperle, Robin L Paulus, Martin P. [⬀] |
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. |
15/21 Abcd-Usa Consortium: Research Project Site At Libr @ Laureate Institute For Brain Research
ABSTRACT Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. The ABCD Research Consortium consists of 21 research sites across the country, a Coordinating Center, and a Data Analysis and Informatics Resource Center. In its first five years, under RFA-DA-15-015, ABCD enrolled a diverse sample of 11,878 9-10 year olds from across the consortium, and will track their biological and behavioral development through adolescence into young adulthood. All participants received a comprehensive baseline assessment, including state-of-the-art brain imaging, neuropsychological testing, bioassays, careful assessment of substance use, mental health, physical health, and culture and environment. A similar detailed assessment recurs every 2 years. Interim in-person annual interviews and mid-year telephone or mobile app assessments provide refined temporal resolution of developmental changes and life events that occur over time with minimal burden to participating youth and parents. Intensive efforts are made to keep the vast majority of participants involved with the study through adolescence and beyond, and retention rates thus far are very high. Neuroimaging has expanded our understanding of brain development from childhood into adulthood. Using this and other cutting-edge technologies, ABCD can determine how different kinds of youth experiences (such as sports, school involvement, extracurricular activities, videogames, social media, unhealthy sleep patterns, and vaping) interact with each other and with a child?s changing biology to affect brain development and social, behavioral, academic, health, and other outcomes. Data, securely and privately shared with the scientific community, will enable investigators to: (1) describe individual developmental pathways in terms of neural, cognitive, emotional, and academic functioning, and influencing factors; (2) develop national standards of healthy brain development; (3) investigate the roles and interaction of genes and the environment on development; (4) examine how physical activity, sleep, screen time, sports injuries (including traumatic brain injuries), and other experiences influence brain development; (5) determine and replicate factors that influence mental health from childhood to young adulthood; (6) characterize relationships between mental health and substance use; and (7) specify how use of substances such as cannabis, alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine affects developmental outcomes, and how neural, cognitive, emotional, and environmental factors influence the risk for adolescent substance use.
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0.903 |
2020 — 2021 |
Aupperle, Robin L |
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. |
An Approach-Avoidance, Computational Framework For Predicting Behavioral Therapy Outcome in Anxiety and Depression @ Laureate Institute For Brain Research
PROJECT SUMMARY Depression and anxiety disorders are highly comorbid and rank in the top ten causes of years lived with disability. Current gold-standard treatments are effective but do not work as well as we would like, with less than 50% experiencing long-lasting improvements. Two gold-standard behavioral interventions for depression and anxiety include behavioral activation, focused on enhancing approach behavior towards meaningful and reinforcing activities, and exposure-based therapy, focused on decreasing avoidance and challenging negative expectations through exposure to anxiety-provoking cues or situations. While these interventions have divergent approach versus avoidance treatment targets, there is currently little knowledge to guide clinical decision-making, i.e., to inform which strategies should be provided in the frequent case of comorbid anxiety and depression symptoms. Approach-avoidance decision-making paradigms focus on assessing neural and behavioral responses when faced with potential rewards and threats, tapping into processes though to be important for both anxiety and depression as well as behavioral activation and exposure-based therapy. For this study, we will recruit individuals reporting both anxiety and depression symptoms and randomize them to one of three different psychotherapeutic interventions delivered in a group setting, including (1) behavioral activation, (2) exposure-based therapy, and a non-specific therapy approach (3) supportive therapy. Participants will complete clinical, self-report, behavioral, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) assessments before and after therapy. Clinical symptoms will also be assessed three and six months following therapy completion. We will use a computational approach to model the different factors that may influence one?s behavior during approach-avoidance decision-making, including drives to avoid threat versus approach reward and confidence versus uncertainty in one?s decisions. This project will accomplish the following aims (1) Determine how changes in brain and behavior responses during approach-avoidance conflict relate to changes in mental health symptoms with the different therapy approaches, (2) Determine the degree to which baseline brain and behavior responses during approach-avoidance conflict predict response to the different therapy approaches, above and beyond the influence of demographics and baseline symptom severity. Results will have enhance our understanding of how different psychotherapy approaches (behavioral activation, exposure-based therapy) may impact brain responses and decisions when faces with potential reward versus threat and approach versus avoidance drives. In addition, results will have important implications concerning the potential for a more personalized approach to psychotherapy, enhancing knowledge of which types of therapy strategies may be most beneficial for which individuals.
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0.903 |