Early Life Threat Exposure Moderates Subcortical Functional Connectivity during Emotion Processing and Psychopathology Symptoms in Adolescents

Poster Session D - Monday, March 31, 2025, 8:00 – 10:00 am EDT, Back Bay Ballroom/Republic Ballroom

Sophia Martin¹ (smart48@emory.edu), Philip A. Kragel¹, Alexandra O. Cohen¹; ¹Emory University

Early childhood adversity exposure is linked to alterations in subcortical functional connectivity during emotion processing and greater psychopathology symptoms (e.g., anxiety). Recent studies identify superior colliculus (SC) functional pathways involved in processing aversive stimuli (SC-pulvinar (Pulv)-amygdala (Amyg); Kragel et al., 2021) and looming threats (SC-ventral tegmental area (VTA); Solié et al., 2022). Little work examines SC-subcortical functional connectivity during adolescence or relations to early threat exposure. The current study investigates relationships between SC-subcortical pathway connectivity, childhood threat exposure, and adolescent anxiety. We predicted that stronger task-related connectivity within SC-Pulv-Amyg and SC-VTA pathways would predict greater anxiety symptoms and that these relations would be stronger in individuals with greater childhood threat exposure. Adolescent Brain & Cognitive Development Study participants who completed the Emotional N-Back task during the baseline fMRI scan were pseudo randomly divided into age, sex, and site matched discovery and replication samples. Within the discovery sample (N = 1890), functional connectivity did not predict anxiety. Greater cumulative threat exposure significantly predicted higher anxiety. We observed a significant interaction between threat exposure and Pulv-Amyg functional connectivity whereby those with less threat exposure demonstrated a positive relationship between Pulv-Amyg functional connectivity and anxiety symptoms; however, those with greater threat exposure demonstrated a negative relationship. These results suggest that childhood threat exposure may alter the link between subcortical functional connectivity during threat detection and anxiety symptoms in early adolescence. Future analyses will aim to reproduce findings in the replication sample and investigate longitudinal trajectories of pathway development.

Topic Area: EMOTION & SOCIAL: Development & aging