Dyadic Neurofeedback for Emotion Regulation in Youth With Maternal Adversity

Maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with elevated rates of behavioral and mental health problems in adolescents. A likely mechanism for this link is through intergenerational continuity of difficulties in emotion regulation (ER). ACEs are associated with ER difficulties, which in turn affect parenting behaviors and adolescents' own ER development. Breaking the intergenerational cycle of the effects of ACEs requires novel, neuroscience-informed approaches aimed at improving parenting practices as they relate to emotion socialization. The current study will determine the effects of a real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging dyadic neurofeedback (rtfMRI-DNF) protocol that will train mothers with a history of ACEs to regulate adolescents' activation in the anterior insular cortex (aIC) - a key brain region for ER. The proposed study will test a maternal history of adversity. The proposed study will test the efficacy of this protocol to promote healthy ER-related neurodevelopment in adolescents with a maternal history of adversity. The proposed study will use DNF to provide neurofeedback from the adolescent's aIC to the parent as the parent and adolescent engage in an emotion task together. Parents and adolescents (n=10 dyads) will communicate via microphones and noise-canceling headphones while the adolescent is undergoing fMRI scanning. Specific aims of the current study are: (1) to determine the brain response to aIC DNF adolescents, and (2) to determine effects of DNF on parenting behaviors. This study is significant because engaging with parents in DNF can promote positive ER development in adolescents at risk due to the intergenerational effects of ACEs. Adolescence is a sensitive period for the development of ER, and adaptive changes in neurocircuitry and the parent-adolescent relationship could promote resilience to later mental health problems. This study is innovative in that DNF is a novel neurobehavioral approach with the potential to simultaenously affect both parenting behavior and adolescent neurobiology. The study employs an experimental paradigm with naturalistic aspects that are often lacking in fMRI studies, thus increasing the generalizability of DNF effects outside the scanner. The overall impact of the study will be the evaluation of a novel neurobehavioral approach to the promotion of adaptive ER skills in adolescents that can inform future prevention and intervention efforts for psychiatric disorders.