# Visuocortical Dynamics of Affect-Biased Attention in the Development of Adolescent Depression

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · 2022 · $168,409

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Depression is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease, and rates of depression increase rapidly
during adolescence, particularly for girls. Affect-biased attention is a putative mechanism underlying
adolescent depression that may also represent a target for intervention. To better inform experimental
therapeutics, this proposal tests a mechanistic model of the visuocortical dynamics underlying the role of
affect-biased attention in the development of depression using a risk-enriched sample of adolescent girls with
no history of major depression at baseline (n = 90). The proposal will use steady-state visual evoked potentials
(SSVEPs), derived from EEG, to provide a temporally-sensitive biological index of attention to competing visual
stimuli at the level of neuronal populations in the visual cortex. The candidate proposes that increased
stimulus-driven attention to distracting negative stimuli (assessed using SSVEPs as a novel visuocortical
probe), which occurs at the expense of goal-directed attention to task-relevant stimuli, serves as a mechanistic
precursor in the development of adolescent depression. The study will use a repeated-measures multi-wave
assessment of depressive symptoms and SSVEP indices of affect-biased attention. A pilot experimental
manipulation will test a novel real time SSVEP neurofeedback training to target affect-biased attention. We
hypothesize that SSVEP indices of affect-biased attention will characterize depressive symptoms at baseline
(Aim 1) and predict future depressive symptoms (Aim 2) and that real time SSVEP neurofeedback training will
ameliorate affect-biased attention and buffer mood reactivity (Aim 3). In the proposed K23, the candidate will
expand on her strong foundation in vulnerability models of depression by gaining additional training in: 1)
developmental cognitive-affective neuroscience, 2) neurophysiology and advanced SSVEP analysis, 3)
longitudinal data analysis, and 4) experimental therapeutics. The Department of Psychiatry at the University of
Pittsburgh provides the optimal scientific training environment to meet these career development goals. The
candidate's mentors (Drs. Price, Silk, and Salisbury) and consultants (Drs. Akcakaya, Iyengar, Ladouceur,
Pine, and Young) are ideally suited to guide the candidate's training given their combined expertise in the
neuroscience of youth depression, neurophysiology, longitudinal high risk designs, and experimental
therapeutics (including expertise in neurofeedback concepts and methods). This proposal will inform the
design of larger R series grants that will test, for example, if SSVEP indices of affect-biased attention predict
the onset of youth internalizing disorders and if real time SSVEP neurofeedback training can be used in
personalized intervention/prevention. The proposed K23 will prepare the candidate to investigate mechanisms
of adolescent depression and position her with the requisite skills to target these mecha...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10380686
- **Project number:** 5K23MH119225-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH
- **Principal Investigator:** Mary Louise Woody
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $168,409
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10380686

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10380686, Visuocortical Dynamics of Affect-Biased Attention in the Development of Adolescent Depression (5K23MH119225-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10380686. Licensed CC0.

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