# Functional neuroanatomy of social and perceived internal threat in anxious youth at high-risk for bipolar disorder

> **NIH NIH K23** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER · 2020 · $190,072

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
The purpose of this K23 application is to support my short-term career objectives of acquiring multimodal
neuroimaging, neurocomputational, biostatistical, and theoretical social cognitive knowledge in the study of
anxiety and emotion regulation in youth at high-risk for bipolar disorder (BD). Longitudinal evidence suggests
that youth at high-risk for BD that develop any mood disorder experience an anxiety disorder as an early
antecedent. Anxiety is therefore an important symptom in the developmental trajectory of BD. One of the
largest sources of anxiety in youth is the quality of social relationships, which greatly influence youth's
perceived quality of life. However, little is known about the neural underpinnings of social cognition in youth at
high-risk for BD or how everyday social interactions affect anxiety and emotion regulation, which is a hallmark
characteristic of BD. In a previous pilot study (P.I. Roybal, American Academy of Child and Adolescent
Psychiatry/Lilly Pilot Research Award), I showed differences in brain activation and functional connectivity
between youth with BD relative to healthy controls (HC) when both groups experienced a functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) social rejection task. I applied this fMRI social rejection task to youth at high-risk for
BD (P.I. Roybal, Hogg Foundation for Mental Health). The research proposed here will add to the sample size
of this high-risk group (HR) as it proposes to use the same fMRI social rejection task and add on an fMRI task
evaluating perceived internal threat subsequent to social rejection. Behavioral assessments and fMRI will be
used to assess functional neuroanatomical correlates in the HR group. Our hypotheses predict that the HR
group will have functional neural deficits relative to HC during a social rejection task that involve regions salient
to social rejection, specifically subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula, but also will involve
limbic areas not typically seen in social rejection, specifically the amygdala and hippocampus. We hypothesize
that within the HR group, hyperactivation and abnormal connectivity observed during the social rejection task
will correlate with subsequent anxiety felt after experiencing social rejection. We will also examine the effects
of social rejection on internal threat cues that affect mood. We hypothesize the HR group will exhibit greater
amygdala activation and weaker functional connectivity between amygdala and prefrontal cortex, a structure
theorized to regulate the amygdala, relative to HC. Within the HR group, abnormal activation and connectivity
will be correlated with the ability to emotionally self-regulate. Both treating youth with and at high-risk for BD
and having basic neuroimaging experience have laid a solid foundation for me to achieve my training goals
and complete this study. The proposed integrated research, mentorship, and didactic training programs,
combined with the o...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9927709
- **Project number:** 5K23MH109832-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HLTH SCIENCE CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Donna J Roybal
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $190,072
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-06-01 → 2021-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9927709

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9927709, Functional neuroanatomy of social and perceived internal threat in anxious youth at high-risk for bipolar disorder (5K23MH109832-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9927709. Licensed CC0.

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