# Impact of Trauma on the Longitudinal Development of Cognitive Control Networks in Healthy Youth

> **NIH NIH F30** · FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME · 2024 · $43,870

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Psychiatric disorders are the most prevalent debilitating illnesses across the lifespan. Importantly, epidemiologic
studies indicate that 75% of all diagnosable psychiatric disorders begin prior to age 24, highlighting the need for
investigations of the developing brain. Exposure to traumatic events during childhood and adolescence can
induce maladaptive functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to long-term structural
and functional alterations in stress-sensitive brain regions that are known to be critical for cognitive control.
Similar neural aberrations have been identified across a range of mental health disorders, including anxiety,
ADHD, and depression. However, the extant literature focusing specifically on the impact of trauma and HPA
axis activation on the development of cognitive control networks is extremely sparse. Given the high incidence
of trauma in youth and ties with psychopathology, it is imperative that we develop a more detailed understanding
of the neurophysiological changes underlying brain development in the context of trauma exposure.
The proposed fellowship aims to partially remedy these knowledge gaps by utilizing the excellent spatial and
temporal precision (i.e., millisecond) of magnetoencephalography (MEG) to investigate the developmental
trajectory of brain networks critical to cognitive control and the impact of trauma and HPA axis activation on such
networks. Briefly, participants between the ages of 6 to 15 years-old will annually complete a cognitive control
task during MEG, complete cognitive and emotional assessments, and provide hair samples. The resulting MEG
data will be transformed into the time-frequency domain and imaged using a beamforming approach, while the
hair samples will be used to compute mean cortisol concentrations over 3 months. The output dynamic functional
maps will be used to examine spectrally specific brain responses that are developmentally-sensitive in regions
critical to cognitive control. Aim 1 will map the longitudinal development of neural dynamics and network
connectivity that underlie response selection in typically-developing youth from age 6 to 15 years-old. Aim 2 will
determine the impact of trauma exposure and HPA axis activation on the longitudinal development of cognitive
control networks, neuropsychological performance, and emotional health. To this end, we will leverage the latest
MEG and source reconstruction techniques, neural oscillatory dynamics and connectivity analysis methods, hair
cortisol concentrations, and cognitive assessments to map variability in the neurophysiological bases of cognitive
control development in healthy youth. In addition to the sponsor, who is a developmental cognitive neuroscientist
with extensive mentoring and NIH funding experience, we will leverage an expert mentoring team comprised of
leaders in cortisol analysis (Dr. Megan Gunnar), trauma assessment (Dr. Patrick Tyler), and the neurona...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10854758
- **Project number:** 5F30MH134713-02
- **Recipient organization:** FATHER FLANAGAN'S BOYS' HOME
- **Principal Investigator:** Jake Son
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $43,870
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-05-30 → 2027-05-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10854758

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10854758, Impact of Trauma on the Longitudinal Development of Cognitive Control Networks in Healthy Youth (5F30MH134713-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10854758. Licensed CC0.

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