Consortium profile: the methylation, imaging and NeuroDevelopment (MIND) consortium.

Epigenetic processes, such as DNA methylation, show potential as biological markers and mechanisms underlying gene-environment interplay in the prediction of mental health and other brain-based phenotypes. However, little is known about how peripheral epigenetic patterns relate to individual differences in the brain itself. An increasingly popular approach to address this is by combining epigenetic and neuroimaging data; yet, research in this area is almost entirely comprised of cross-sectional studies in adults.

Biased and Inflexible Interpretations of Social Situations Predict Affect Intensity and Variability in Children and Adolescents.

Adolescence is a developmental period characterized by heightened emotionality. Past research indicated that the biased interpretation of social situations (i.e.

Neuroimaging genetics and developmental psychopathology: A systematic review.

Imaging genetics is an interdisciplinary field that integrates neuroimaging and genetic data to improve behavioral prediction and investigate the genetic bases of brain structure and function. It aims to identify associations between genetic markers and brain imaging phenotypes, with a behavioral or clinical trait as the outcome of interest. Since its emergence nearly 30 years ago, the field has advanced substantially, fueled by rapid developments in molecular-genetic and neuroimaging techniques.

Face perception, attention, and memory as predictors of social change in autistic children.

Objective: Social perception and attention markers have been identified that, on average, differentiate autistic from non-autistic children. However, little is known about how these markers predict behavior over time at both short and long time intervals.

Methods: We conducted a large multisite, naturalistic study of 6- to 11-year-old children diagnosed with ASD ( = 214).

A Role for Fetal Movement in Shaping Maternal Neurodevelopment.

Emerging evidence suggests that the maternal brain undergoes significant change during pregnancy, which may serve to prepare the individual for caregiving, including increased maternal responsiveness. It has been proposed that fetal movement may play a role in shaping maternal neurodevelopment during pregnancy, including increasing responsiveness to infant cues. In the current study, we examined links between fetal movement and neural responses to infant cues in 22 primiparous pregnant women.

Transdiagnostic Examination of Interrelationships Between Anxiety, Insistence on Sameness and Compulsions.

Although insistence on sameness (IS) and compulsions occur across a wide range of neurodevelopmental (NDD) and neuropsychiatric (NPD) conditions, they are typically only examined within the confines of specific singular disorders. Indeed, while anxiety has been consistently linked to IS in autism and compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), no empirical study has examined these associations in a sample spanning a range of NDD and NPD. Therefore, this study utilized a large sample of children and adolescents spanning several NDD and NPD to examine whether anxiety shows different patterns of association with IS or compulsions within and across diagnostic groups.

Advancing scientific understanding of the drive to socially engage: from broad constructs to transdiagnostic 'building blocks'.

Reduced drive to socially engage is observed across neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions. However, previous research has relied on disorder-specific conceptualizations and measurement approaches that might obscure important differences in how social drive manifests and its underlying neurobiological mechanisms, both within and across different diagnostic categories. In this commentary, we argue that a model of reward processing that deconstructs social drive into 'orienting', 'wanting', 'pursuing', 'liking' and 'learning' processes can advance mechanistic and phenomenological understanding.

When smartphones take over: a mixed methods study of phubbing in child and adolescent psychiatry.

Introduction: The recent term phubbing is the amalgamation of the words phone and snubbing, and refers to those phone-related behaviors through which we ignore, dismiss, or otherwise eschew social interactions. Little is known about phubbing among child and adolescent psychiatrists (CAPs), a group often called upon to provide direction on how to guide children in their rapidly evolving cybernetic contexts.

Methods: We conducted a mixed methods study of trainees in CAP (n = 73; 68% women), recruited in the US (6 training programs; n = 35) and Türkiye (5 programs; n = 38).

Characterizing Profiles of Substance Use and Addictive Behaviors Among High School Students: A Latent Class Analysis.

Background: Adolescence is a critical period for experimenting with substances and addictive behaviors. Early initiation and co-occurrence of these behaviors are associated with adverse mental health, academic, and social outcomes/measures, underscoring the importance of identifying distinct patterns. We investigated correlates of substance use, gambling, and high-frequency screen time from a representative school-based survey.

Biased and inflexible interpretations of social situations predict depressive symptoms and relational outcomes in parent-adolescent dyads.

Adolescence is a critical period for social-emotional development, characterized by increased risk for psychopathology and disruptive changes in the parent-adolescent relationship. Biased and inflexible interpretations of social situations have been linked to psychopathology and adaptive social functioning, but these associations are rarely studied in adolescence. To address this gap, the present study examined whether interpretation bias and cognitive inflexibility are associated between parents and adolescents, and whether these factors relate to depressive symptoms and relational perceptions.

Associations among prenatal stress, socioeconomic status, and infant epigenetic aging.

This pre-registered study investigated the associations between prenatal stress and socioeconomic disadvantage with epigenetic aging in one-month-old infants. We hypothesized that exposure to greater maternal perceived stress, maternal physiological stress, and family socioeconomic disadvantage would be associated with accelerated epigenetic aging among infants. A socioeconomically and racially diverse sample of mothers were recruited during their last 5 weeks of pregnancy, when they completed surveys on their family income, education, and perceived stress levels, and provided a hair sample to index hair cortisol concentration.

Associations between fetal movement and maternal-fetal attachment in late pregnancy.

Maternal-fetal attachment (MFA) represents the evolving psychological bond between a pregnant person and their fetus, reflecting early emotional investment and expectations of the maternal role. Maternal awareness and response to fetal movement are key components of MFA, suggesting that fetal activity may serve as a meaningful cue in the development of maternal representations of the baby. Previous work shows that engaging in fetal movement counting significantly enhances MFA scores, and mothers who perceive greater fetal movements have higher MFA scores compared to those who perceive fewer movements.

Motor stereotypies in toddlers with and without autism: A transdiagnostic dimension.

Background: Motor stereotypies (MS) represent one of the transdiagnostic symptom dimensions identified by the NIMH Research Domain Criteria work group as relevant to psychopathology. MS are common in neurodevelopmental conditions, but they remain poorly understood, particularly in early childhood. The present study examined MS in 648 toddlers with autism spectrum disorder (autism, n = 455) and other neurodevelopmental conditions (non-autism, n = 193) and their concurrent and prospective links with other phenotypic characteristics.

Associations Between Prenatal Maternal Stress and Infant Resting Brain Activity: A Preregistered Investigation.

Mounting evidence suggests that maternal stress is associated with infants' brain activity, but the role of maternal stress during pregnancy is not yet understood. The present preregistered investigation examines associations between prenatal maternal stress (physiological and perceived) and infant brain activity at 1 month of age. A sample of diverse mother-infant dyads (N = 160) participated (55% female; 39% White).

Operationalizing psychological trauma in pregnancy: A systematic review.

Objective: Psychological trauma can affect health and well-being across the lifespan but may be significantly impactful, with intergenerational consequences, during pregnancy. However, there appears to be no uniform agreement on the operationalization of psychological trauma in pregnancy. Such agreement is critical for the translation of research findings into clinical care.

A large multinational study of irritability in adolescents.

Background: While irritability is associated with poor psychosocial functioning and high use of mental health services, research in this area has predominantly focused on the US and the UK, leaving a significant gap in our understanding of its presentation among adolescents globally. This study explores cross-national aspects of adolescent irritability using self-report data, examining gender differences and associations with mental health symptoms, bullying, life satisfaction, and socioeconomic status.

Method: We utilized linear mixed-effects models to examine data from the Programme for International Student Assessment, analyzing a large sample (n = 56,324, 50.

Rates of Prescription Fentanyl Misuse and Correlated Mental Health, Social, and Service Utilization Factors Among Adults in the United States, 2021.

Background: Misuse of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, can lead to severe consequences, including overdose and death. This study examined sociodemographic, mental health, and service utilization factors associated with past-year fentanyl misuse in the United States.

Methods: We utilized the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative sample of the non-institutionalized U.

Task relevance selectively modulates sensorimotor adaptation in the presence of multiple prediction errors.

Adaptation to consistently occurring sensorimotor errors is considered obligatory in nature. We probed the robustness of this finding by asking if humans can selectively attenuate adaptation based on the task-relevance of error signals. Subjects made planar reaches to three different targets: an arc (experiment 1), a bar (experiment 2), and a point (experiment 3).

Competing Programs Shape Cortical Sensorimotor-Association Axis Development.

The neocortex is organized along a dominant sensorimotor-to-association (S-A) axis, anchored by modality-specific primary sensorimotor areas at one end and transmodal association areas that form distributed networks supporting abstract cognition at the other. The developmental mechanisms shaping this axis remain elusive. Here, we present converging multispecies evidence supporting the Multinodal Induction-Exclusion in Network Development (MIND) model, in which S-A patterning is governed by competing processes of induction and exclusion, driven by opposing transcriptomically-defined identity programs emerging from different nodes.

Long-term neurocognitive and behavioral outcomes in patients with non-syndromic craniosynostosis.

Purpose: In this study, we explore the long-term cognitive capabilities and behaviors of patients in late adolescence and early adulthood who underwent corrective surgery for craniosynostosis as infants.

Methods: Patients 16 years of age or older who had undergone surgery as infants for any type of non-syndromic craniosynostosis were identified from the operating records of three craniofacial plastic surgeons from a single institution. Participants underwent standardized neurocognitive testing using the BEERY and WASI.

Racial and Socioeconomic Disparities in Autism Providers' ACEs Inquiries.

Autistic individuals experience Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including neglect, abuse, and financial stress, at above-average rates. However, little is known regarding the factors influencing whether autism community-based providers conduct ACEs inquiries in their practice. Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic status (SES) group disparities persist in healthcare and may exist in providers' ACEs inquiries.

Higher dopamine D1 receptor expression in prefrontal parvalbumin neurons underlies higher distractibility in marmosets versus macaques.

Marmosets and macaques are common nonhuman primate models of cognition, yet marmosets appear more distractible and perform worse in cognitive tasks. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is pivotal for sustained attention, and research in macaques suggests that dopaminergic modulation and inhibitory parvalbumin (PV) neurons could influence distractor resistance. Here we compare the two species using a visual fixation task with distractors, perform molecular and anatomical analyses in dlPFC, and link functional microcircuitry with cognitive performance using computational modeling.