# Neurodevelopmental Emergence of Callous-Unemotional Behavior Beginning in Infancy: Neural Markers and Environmental Risk and Protective Factors

> **NIH NIH K23** · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $180,721

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Callous-unemotional behavior (CU behavior), characterized by atypically low empathy, prosociality and guilt,
represents a serious impairment in moral development associated with severe and persistent conduct problems,
violent crime, social rejection, and substance use disorders. Alarmingly, CU behaviors have been historically
difficult to treat. By age 3, CU behaviors are reliably measurable, predict CU into late childhood, and are already
associated with greater conduct and social problems. Despite this evidence, very few studies have examined
precursors of CU behaviors (i.e., emerging CU) or identified risk and protective factors during infancy and
toddlerhood, when morality develops rapidly and thus may be most malleable. This knowledge may identify more
precise risk and protective processes underlying emerging CU that may be targeted to prevent a highly impairing
psychosocial trajectory. Consistent with NIMH Strategic Objective 2 to “chart mental illness trajectories to
determine when, where, and how to intervene,” this K23 application aims to identify neural correlates and
environmental, child dispositional, and parenting risk and protective factors for emerging CU behavior across
infancy and toddlerhood. To accomplish these aims, this proposal leverages an exceptional opportunity to add
measures to an NIH-funded study following a large, high-risk cohort of mother-infant dyads annually from birth
through age 3. The applicant will add critical measures to this parent study including observational and parent-
report assessments of emerging CU, an event-related potential (ERP) task, and experimenter-child interactions
to assess children's dispositions. This proposal will use ERPs to characterize neural markers of CU behavior
and examine whether aspects of children's environments (early life adversity) and dispositions (low affiliation)
measured in infancy predict maladaptive trajectories of emerging CU through age 3. Further, it will test whether
low parenting warmth is implicated in these risk trajectories and could thus be a protective factor targeted in
treatment. Findings will inform the developmental neurobiology of emerging CU behavior and elucidate promising
early prevention and treatment targets. To execute this proposal, the training plan in this application addresses
the applicant's need for training in 1) ERP assessment methods; 2) the developmental psychopathology of CU
behavior; and 3) longitudinal design and analysis. A rich training environment and a multidisciplinary team of
mentors in each of these areas is detailed. The described research and training activities will enable the
candidate to become an independent scientist investigating neural and psychosocial risk for aberrant moral
development and its role in the onset and maintenance of early childhood psychopathology.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10328264
- **Project number:** 5K23MH125023-02
- **Recipient organization:** WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Meghan Rose Donohue
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $180,721
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-02-01 → 2026-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10328264

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10328264, Neurodevelopmental Emergence of Callous-Unemotional Behavior Beginning in Infancy: Neural Markers and Environmental Risk and Protective Factors (5K23MH125023-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10328264. Licensed CC0.

---

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