Human emotions unfold over time, and more affective computing research has to prioritize capturing this crucial component of real-world affect. Modeling dynamic emotional stimuli requires solving the ...twin challenges of time-series modeling and of collecting high-quality time-series datasets. We begin by assessing the state-of-the-art in time-series emotion recognition, and we review contemporary time-series approaches in affective computing, including discriminative and generative models. We then introduce the first version of the Stanford Emotional Narratives Dataset (SENDv1): a set of rich, multimodal videos of self-paced, unscripted emotional narratives, annotated for emotional valence over time. The complex narratives and naturalistic expressions in this dataset provide a challenging test for contemporary time-series emotion recognition models. We demonstrate several baseline and state-of-the-art modeling approaches on the SEND, including a Long Short-Term Memory model and a multimodal Variational Recurrent Neural Network, which perform comparably to the human-benchmark. We end by discussing the implications for future research in time-series affective computing.
Childhood stress has a deleterious impact on youth behavior and brain development. Resilience factors such as positive parenting (e.g. expressions of warmth and support) may buffer youth against the ...negative impacts of stress. We sought to determine whether positive parenting buffers against the negative impact of childhood stress on youth behavior and brain structure and to investigate differences between youth-reported parenting and caregiver-reported parenting. Cross-sectional behavioral and neuroimaging data were analyzed from 482 youth (39% female and 61% male, ages 10-17) who participated in an ongoing research initiative, the Healthy Brain Network (HBN). Regression models found that youth-reported positive parenting buffered against the association between childhood stress and youth behavioral problems (
= -0.10,
= 0.04) such that increased childhood stress was associated with increased youth behavior problems only for youth who did not experience high levels of positive parenting. We also found that youth-reported positive parenting buffered against the association between childhood stress and decreased hippocampal volumes (
= 0.07,
= 0.02) such that youth who experienced high levels of childhood stress and who reported increased levels of positive parenting did not exhibit smaller hippocampal volumes. Our work identifies positive parenting as a resilience factor buffering youth against the deleterious impact of stressful childhood experiences on problem behaviors and brain development. These findings underscore the importance of centering youth perspectives of stress and parenting practices to better understand neurobiology, mechanisms of resilience, and psychological well-being.
On-going, large-scale neuroimaging initiatives can aid in uncovering neurobiological causes and correlates of poor mental health, disease pathology, and many other important conditions. As projects ...grow in scale with hundreds, even thousands, of individual participants and scans collected, quantification of brain structures by automated algorithms is becoming the only truly tractable approach. Here, we assessed the spatial and numerical reliability for newly deployed automated segmentation of hippocampal subfields and amygdala nuclei in FreeSurfer 7. In a sample of participants with repeated structural imaging scans (
N
=
928
), we found numerical reliability (as assessed by intraclass correlations, ICCs) was reasonable. Approximately 95% of hippocampal subfields had “excellent” numerical reliability (ICCs ≥ 0.90), while only 67% of amygdala subnuclei met this same threshold. In terms of spatial reliability, 58% of hippocampal subfields and 44% of amygdala subnuclei had Dice coefficients ≥ 0.70. Notably, multiple regions had poor numerical and/or spatial reliability. We also examined correlations between spatial reliability and person-level factors (e.g., participant age; T1 image quality). Both sex and image scan quality were related to variations in spatial reliability metrics. Examined collectively, our work suggests caution should be exercised for a few hippocampal subfields and amygdala nuclei with more variable reliability.
Graphical Abstract
The calculation of so‐called “brain age” from structural MRIs has been an emerging biomarker in aging research. Data suggests that discrepancies between chronological age and the predicted age of the ...brain may be predictive of mortality and morbidity (for review, see Cole, Marioni, Harris, & Deary, 2019). However, with these promising results come technical complexities of how to calculate brain age. Various groups have deployed methods leveraging different statistical approaches, often crafting novel algorithms for assessing this biomarker derived from structural MRIs. There remain many open questions about the reliability, collinearity, and predictive power of different algorithms. Here, we complete a rigorous systematic comparison of three commonly used, previously published brain age algorithms (XGBoost, brainageR, and DeepBrainNet) to serve as a foundation for future applied research. First, using multiple datasets with repeated structural MRI scans, we calculated two metrics of reliability (intraclass correlations and Bland–Altman bias). We then considered correlations between brain age variables, chronological age, biological sex, and image quality. We also calculated the magnitude of collinearity between approaches. Finally, we used machine learning approaches to identify significant predictors across brain age algorithms related to clinical diagnoses of cognitive impairment. Using a large sample (N = 2557), we find all three commonly used brain age algorithms demonstrate excellent reliability (r > .9). We also note that brainageR and DeepBrainNet are reasonably correlated with one another, and that the XGBoost brain age is strongly related to image quality. Finally, and notably, we find that XGBoost brain age calculations were more sensitive to the detection of clinical diagnoses of cognitive impairment. We close this work with recommendations for future research studies focused on brain age.
We conducted a rigorous systematic comparison between three MRI‐based algorithms calculating “brain age,” an emerging biomarker in aging research. For each algorithm, we analyze reliability, collinearity, and predictive power.
Many lifestyle and psychosocial factors are associated with a longer lifespan; central among these is social connectedness, or the feeling of belongingness, identification, and bond as part of ...meaningful human relationships. Decades of research have established that social connectedness is related not only to better mental health (e.g., less loneliness and depression) but also to improved physical health (e.g., decreased inflammatory markers, reduced cortisol activity). Recent methodological advances allow for the investigation of a novel marker of biological health by deriving a predicted “age of the brain” from a structural neuroimaging scan. Discrepancies between a person’s algorithm-predicted brain-age and chronological age (i.e., the brain-age gap) have been found to predict mortality and psychopathology risk with accuracy rivaling other known measures of aging. This preregistered investigation uses the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study to examine connections between the quality of social connections, the brain-age gap, and markers of mortality risk to understand the longevity-promoting associations of social connectedness from a novel biological vantage point. While social connectedness was associated with markers of mortality risk (number of chronic conditions and ability to perform activities of daily living), our models did not find significant links between social connectedness and the brain-age gap, or the brain-age gap and mortality risk. Supplemental and sensitivity analyses suggest alternate approaches to investigating these associations and overcoming limitations. While plentiful evidence underscores that being socially connected is good for the mind, future research should continue to consider whether it impacts neural markers of aging and longevity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)
ObjectivesThis study aims to investigate the association between childhood adversity and COVID-19-related hospitalisation and COVID-19-related mortality in the UK Biobank.DesignCohort ...study.SettingUK.Participants151 200 participants in the UK Biobank cohort who had completed the Childhood Trauma Screen were alive at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic (January 2020) and were still active in the UK Biobank when hospitalisation and mortality data were most recently updated (November 2021).Main outcome measuresCOVID-19-related hospitalisation and COVID-19-related mortality.ResultsHigher self-reports of childhood adversity were related to greater likelihood of COVID-19-related hospitalisation in all statistical models. In models adjusted for age, ethnicity and sex, childhood adversity was associated with an odds ratio (OR) of 1.227 of hospitalisation (95% CI 1.153 to 1.306, childhood adversity z=6.49, p<0.005) and an OR of 1.25 of a COVID-19-related death (95% CI 1.11 to 1.424, childhood adversity z=3.5, p<0.005). Adjustment for potential confounds attenuated these associations, although associations remained statistically significant.ConclusionsChildhood adversity was significantly associated with COVID-19-related hospitalisation and COVID-19-related mortality after adjusting for sociodemographic and health confounders. Further research is needed to clarify the biological and psychosocial processes underlying these associations to inform public health intervention and prevention strategies to minimise COVID-19 disparities.
Childhood maltreatment, a form of early life stress, impacts an extraordinary number of children per year and has profound implications for mental health and other psychosocial outcomes. Abuse ...experienced as a child is well-linked to antisocial behavior such as aggression and misconduct and to alterations in neural structures and pathways. Many of the neural structures implicated in childhood maltreatment are crucial components of emotional regulatory brain networks, connected through pathways including the uncinate fasciculus, the cingulum bundle, and the fornix. Poorer emotion regulation has been pointed to as an underlying factor contributing to antisocial behavior; therefore, we seek to explore if alterations in neural emotion-regulatory pathways significantly account for a portion of the established link between childhood maltreatment and adult antisocial behavior. We explored these related questions in a subsample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study dataset – a unique, multi-decade longitudinal study of youth and family processes. Related to childhood maltreatment and violence in adulthood, we did not find significant associations between childhood maltreatment and violent adult criminal versatility within our sample. Connected to potential neural mediators, we also did not find any significant associations between childhood maltreatment and white matter integrity in the aforementioned tracts involved in emotion regulation. Further, we found no associations between white matter integrity in these tracts and violent criminal versatility. Potential explanations for this pattern of null findings, as well as implications for this field of research, are discussed. Further work is needed to continue to understand the associations between childhood abuse, the brain, and violent antisocial behavior in order to elucidate the downstream associations of early life stress on later behavior.
Aggression in youth is a transdiagnostic indicator and associated with a variety of serious, maladaptive outcomes. Theoretically, aggression is linked to individual differences in empathy (i.e., the ...capacity to understand, resonate with, and experience others’ emotions); yet the empirical research is mixed. To clarify this literature, this pre-registered study examined unique associations between subtypes of empathy (cognitive, affective, somatic, positive, and negative) and aggression (reactive, proactive) among a diverse sample of high-risk adolescents (
N
= 103;
M
age
=16.1 years, 53% female; 60% racial/ethnic minoritized groups). Empathy was assessed via youth-report at baseline and aggression was assessed at baseline and 9-month follow-up across multiple informants (youth-, parent-, and teacher). Associations were examined simultaneously while controlling for theoretically relevant covariates (age, sex, minoritized status, receipt of public assistance) and emotional reactivity. Somatic empathy was the most consistent predictor of aggression. Specifically, youth reporting
higher
somatic empathy had
lower
levels of youth- and teacher-reported reactive and proactive aggression at baseline and 9-month follow-up. Additionally, youth who endorsed higher affective empathy also reported more reactive aggression at baseline and at follow-up after accounting for individual differences in emotional reactivity. Results highlight the importance of considering subtypes of both empathy and aggression when examining risk and resilience pathways and point to the potential role of somatic empathy as a protective factor. Taken together, findings enhance our understanding of etiological mechanisms for aggression and suggest that interventions that encourage youth to upregulate their emotional sensitivity or interoceptive awareness may reduce aggression.
Graphic videos of race-based violence, including police brutality toward Black people and anti-Asian hate crimes, have exploded over the past year. While documentation of these horrific acts has ...brought visibility to the pervasiveness of racial discrimination, it has also resulted in youth of color being exposed to racial stressors more than ever before across numerous social media and news platforms.
Beyond the significant race-related stress already experienced by youth in school contexts,
this increased exposure to racism via media is concerning, as both direct and vicarious exposure to racial discrimination can compromise psychological well-being of youth and cause trauma-like symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts, vigilance, and depression.
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