An integrative, multidisciplinary approach to the study of brain–behavior relations in the context of typical and atypical development

Abstract

The study of brain development and that of behavioral development have historically proceeded independently of one another. This is an unfortunate set of circumstances, given that the disciplines concerned with development—for example, developmental psychology, pediatrics, psychiatry, clinical psychology, and the neurosciences—have much to learn from each other. Drawing on recent advances in the developmental brain and behavioral sciences, we illustrate the transdisciplinary approach our group has adopted in the service of uniting the research on brain and behavior in the context of development. We specifically report on our nonhuman primate and human studies that collectively illustrate our “genes to behavior” approach to the study of development. Our goal in summarizing our research in this fashion is to promote discussion about promising templates for how research on brain, behavior, and development might proceed into the 21st century.

Adolescent immaturity in attention-related brain engagement to emotional facial expressions

“…Because puberty and age are so highly correlated, novel designs are needed to generate insights on specificity of associations with puberty as opposed to age (Angold et al, 1999). For example, in order to evaluate puberty, future work may select adoles-cents of the same age who are discordant for pubertal status (Nelson et al, 2002). Using such an approach with the present paradigm may help to reveal the role of puberty on the control of attention allocation during the viewing of emotional stimuli.…”

“…We hypothesized that the neural effects of goal-directed attention would differ between adults and adolescents when they viewed fearful faces. In particular, adults are thought to better use goal-directed attention during the processing of emotionally evocative events (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson, 1984;Larson et al, 1980;Nelson et al, 2002). Therefore, we predicted that attention demands would induce greater modulation of ACC, OFC, and amygdala activation in adults relative to adolescents while viewing fearful faces.…”

“…Successful transition in humans from adolescence to adulthood is thought to involve maturing capacity to maintain goal-directed atten-tion when emotionally evocative, attention-grabbing events occur, particularly in social domains. Such maturation in the ability to maintain attention during adolescence is thought to reflect aspects of brain development (Dahl, 1996;Nelson et al, 2002;Spear, 2000). Nevertheless, the evidence to support this hypothesis remains relatively indirect.…”

“…Therefore, we predicted that attention demands would induce greater modulation of ACC, OFC, and amygdala activation in adults relative to adolescents while viewing fearful faces. Conversely, as adolescents are hypothesized to be less likely to engage in goal-directed attention while distracting, emotionbased stimuli are presented (Csikszentmihalyi and Larson, 1984;Larson et al, 1980;Nelson et al, 2002), we predicted that fearful relative to neutral faces would induce greater activation in these structures among adolescents when subjects were instructed to attend to nonemotional facial features (nose width) or when attention was unconstrained (passive viewing). Such differences were hypothesized to reflect adolescents' relative inability to deploy goal-directed attention when confronted with potentially distracting emotional stimuli.…”

Translational research on early language development: Current challenges and future directions

“…In response, the NIH has recently called for collaborative translational ("bench to bedside") research on basic developmental processes in both typical and atypical populations to better inform and guide clinical practice with children with developmental disorders, including language impairment, and to encourage basic behavioral scientists to seek a further understanding of how behavioral processes (such as language)are altered by developmental disorders. Until recently, however, advancement in collaborative translational language research has been hampered by fragmentation among multidisciplinary fields, related funding constraints, and poor communication among investigators from different disciplines (McCardle, Cooper, & Freund, 2005;Nelson et al, 2002;Rice & Warren, 2005b).…”