# A longitudinal study of Puerto Rican children and the impact of adverse childhood experiences on the development of cognitive control and risk for substance use disorders

> **NIH NIH K08** · NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC · 2020 · $196,020

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
This K08 application aims to characterize how exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) changes
sub-components of cognitive control, related brain function, and substance use disorder (SUD) risk. Improved
understanding of the impact of ACEs on cognitive control and SUD risk is of particular importance in the Puerto
Rican community, as this group has higher rates of ACEs and worse SUD treatment outcomes than the
general US population, and is underrepresented in SUD and neurobiological studies. This five-year K08
application presents a program for research and training that will support the applicant on a path towards
becoming an independent investigator, focused on studying the development of SUD risk using a
developmental cognitive neuroscience approach. The training plan builds on the candidate's prior experience
and training and capitalizes on an outstanding mentorship team and research environment to foster the
development of the candidate's expertise in (1) collection, analysis and interpretation of longitudinal pediatric
fMRI data; 2) SUD risk in a pediatric minority population; (3) computational modeling of cognitive and neuro-
developmental processes; (4) responsible conduct of scientific research. This project will investigate the
influence of ACEs on the development of sub-components cognitive control and related brain activity in the
frontoparietal (FPN) and cingulo-opercular (CON) networks during a cognitive control performance task and at
rest (Aim 1), and the relationship between ACE-related changes in development and SUD risk (Aim 2). We
hypothesize that increased ACEs will lead to (1) a slower rate of evidence accumulation (i.e. drift rate, a
computational model parameter), (2) greater activity in key FPN nodes, and (3) increased connectivity between
FPN and CON nodes and other regions. Furthermore, these behavioral and neural changes will be associated
with increased risk for SUD. Currently, the proposed study participants are enrolled in the NIH Environmental
influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) study, which will collect cognitive control measures and MRI
data on 290 children. Building on this structure, we propose to select a subsample (n=76) of children, evenly
sampled across the full range of baseline cumulative ACE scores, and invite them to participate in a follow up
assessment. Measures of cognitive control performance, brain activity during cognitive task performance and
rest, and parental- and self-report of SUD-risk related behaviors will be collected. Data yielded from the
proposed study will lead to a future R01 application examining continued development of cognitive control,
brain activity and SUD risk, as well as the development of substance use patterns and SUD as these children
become adolescents. Together, the research and training experiences and expertise developed through this
K08 award will support the applicant's transition to research independence and ensure the applicant become...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10055574
- **Project number:** 1K08DA049913-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** NEW YORK STATE PSYCHIATRIC INSTITUTE DBA RESEARCH FOUNDATION FOR MENTAL HYGIENE, INC
- **Principal Investigator:** Tamara Sussman
- **Activity code:** K08 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $196,020
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-08-01 → 2025-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10055574

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10055574, A longitudinal study of Puerto Rican children and the impact of adverse childhood experiences on the development of cognitive control and risk for substance use disorders (1K08DA049913-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10055574. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*