The primary aim of our research program is to identify and better understand transdiagnostic, neurobehavioral factors promoting stress-related psychopathology, with a particular emphasis on factors contributing to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs). Towards this aim, we employ a translational framework in which candidate mechanisms are tested for their roles in the pre-existing risk, maintenance, and treatment of stress-related psychopathology. We employ a variety of techniques to accomplish this, primarily including event-related potentials (ERPs) and ecological momentary assessments (EMA) to evaluate the associations between neurobehavioral traits and naturalistic symptom expression. We also use a suite of other tools, including virtual reality, skin conductance, heart rate variability, and virtual reality, when appropriate. Below are a few of the primary areas that we are actively pursuing:
Relief sensitivity and negative reinforcement learning
How good does it feel when you escape something uncomfortable? Some people experience this as more rewarding than others – and our work in this area suggests that being hypersensitive to relief may place someone at greater risk for engaging in subtle avoidance behaviors to obtain relief (i.e., safety behaviors) and have thoughts of suicide. Currently, we are using a modified doors task in which participants guess which of two doors contains either an aversive noise or the absence of that noise to extract reward-related brain activity to relieving feedback. We then extract the Reward Positivity (RewP) ERP component to examine relief-related reward responses. We are also using computational modeling of a negative reinforcement learning task to link neural relief sensitivity and behavioral decision-making biases to obtain relief, and examine how these factors amplify acute escalations in PTSD and STBs.
Neurobehavioral responses to threat
Theoretical perspectives on STBs posit that the transition from thinking about suicide to making a suicide attempt is facilitated, in part, by individual differences in responses to potential bodily harm (c.f., threat). Our work has shown that individuals at greater risk for suicide demonstrate blunted responses to threat (as assessed via the late positive potential; LPP). Currently, we are working to expand upon these findings by using a Wii balance board with custom software to evaluate differences in the behavioral freeze response among those with PTSD and/or past suicidal behaviors.
Cognitive control
Cognitive control is critical to maneuvering through the stressors of everyday life. For individuals who struggle with cognitive control, these stressors may have a greater impact on their psychological functioning, including more dramatic increases in PTSD symptoms or the emergence of suicidal crises. Our current research builds upon a large body of work demonstrating cognitive control deficits in PTSD and suicide by demonstrating that the context in which cognitive control is assessed can help us better understand how these deficits contribute to acute increases in PTSD and suicide. More specifically, we are currently conducting several studies testing how cognitive control (as assessed using the P3 in a variety of tasks) in the context of an acute threat helps explain individual differences in the magnitude of naturalistic stress-elicited increases in PTSD and STBs during an EMA period.
Anxiety Sensitivity
Anxiety Sensitivity (AS), commonly referred to as the ‘fear of fear,’ is a cognitive-affective risk factor that reflects individual differences in the belief that stress is associated with deleterious cognitive (e.g., difficulty controlling thoughts), physical (e.g., having a heart attack), or social (e.g., embarrassment) consequences. AS is a well-researched risk factor for PTSD and related conditions, with the literature supporting that high AS amplifies bottom-up affective reactivity and, in turn, both PTSD symptomology and suicide risk. Currently, we are testing neurobehavioral tasks to help expand our understanding of AS and how it contributes to a broader stress sensitivity construct, which we hope will improve our prediction of stress-elicited increases in PTSD and STBs.
Relief sensitivity and negative reinforcement learning
How good does it feel when you escape something uncomfortable? Some people experience this as more rewarding than others – and our work in this area suggests that being hypersensitive to relief may place someone at greater risk for engaging in subtle avoidance behaviors to obtain relief (i.e., safety behaviors) and have thoughts of suicide. Currently, we are using a modified doors task in which participants guess which of two doors contains either an aversive noise or the absence of that noise to extract reward-related brain activity to relieving feedback. We then extract the Reward Positivity (RewP) ERP component to examine relief-related reward responses. We are also using computational modeling of a negative reinforcement learning task to link neural relief sensitivity and behavioral decision-making biases to obtain relief, and examine how these factors amplify acute escalations in PTSD and STBs.
Neurobehavioral responses to threat
Theoretical perspectives on STBs posit that the transition from thinking about suicide to making a suicide attempt is facilitated, in part, by individual differences in responses to potential bodily harm (c.f., threat). Our work has shown that individuals at greater risk for suicide demonstrate blunted responses to threat (as assessed via the late positive potential; LPP). Currently, we are working to expand upon these findings by using a Wii balance board with custom software to evaluate differences in the behavioral freeze response among those with PTSD and/or past suicidal behaviors.
Cognitive control
Cognitive control is critical to maneuvering through the stressors of everyday life. For individuals who struggle with cognitive control, these stressors may have a greater impact on their psychological functioning, including more dramatic increases in PTSD symptoms or the emergence of suicidal crises. Our current research builds upon a large body of work demonstrating cognitive control deficits in PTSD and suicide by demonstrating that the context in which cognitive control is assessed can help us better understand how these deficits contribute to acute increases in PTSD and suicide. More specifically, we are currently conducting several studies testing how cognitive control (as assessed using the P3 in a variety of tasks) in the context of an acute threat helps explain individual differences in the magnitude of naturalistic stress-elicited increases in PTSD and STBs during an EMA period.
Anxiety Sensitivity
Anxiety Sensitivity (AS), commonly referred to as the ‘fear of fear,’ is a cognitive-affective risk factor that reflects individual differences in the belief that stress is associated with deleterious cognitive (e.g., difficulty controlling thoughts), physical (e.g., having a heart attack), or social (e.g., embarrassment) consequences. AS is a well-researched risk factor for PTSD and related conditions, with the literature supporting that high AS amplifies bottom-up affective reactivity and, in turn, both PTSD symptomology and suicide risk. Currently, we are testing neurobehavioral tasks to help expand our understanding of AS and how it contributes to a broader stress sensitivity construct, which we hope will improve our prediction of stress-elicited increases in PTSD and STBs.