E1: Interactive neural systems governing emotion and social interaction

This project aims to understand the brain mechanisms underlying aggression and social attention (interpreting another persons focus of attention from their eye gaze, head or body orientation) and their disruption in two clinical conditions, Conduct Disorder and Autism, respectively. ||Conduct Disorder (CD) is an adolescent condition characterised by heightened levels of aggression and antisocial behaviour and has significant financial impact on society. Although CD is suspected to have a biological basis the brain mechanisms involved are poorly understood. This research uses behavioural and brain imaging experiments developed in healthy individuals to understand the brain mechanisms disrupted in CD. |A second line of research focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying social attention and their disruption in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Individuals with ASD show problems in inferring others mental states from social attention cues (i.e., that person A is interested in and may make a move towards the object that they are gazing at). However, the psychological and brain mechanisms of social attention and the aspects that are disrupted in ASD are poorly understood. The research uses behavioural and brain imaging experiments to address these issues.

Understanding the neural basis of emotional and social functions in healthy individuals is crucial to understanding their breakdown in developmental or psychiatric disorders. This project uses behavioural and neuroimaging investigations of healthy and clinical populations to address the neural mechanisms underlying aggression and social attention and their disruption in specific clinical conditions. Because the project requires detailed information on the clinical groups psychiatric profiles, performance on psychological tests, and functional brain abnormalities, its success relies on the joint contribution of the MRC-CBSU and the Psychiatry Department of the University of Cambridge. ||A first series of studies focussing on aggression examines healthy individuals and a population of individuals with Conduct Disorder (CD), an adolescent condition associated with heightened levels of aggression and antisocial behaviour. The societal impact of CD is profound. Individuals with CD are at increased risk for developing mental and physical health problems and the impact of their violent and antisocial behavior is considerable. Behavioural studies are used to identify the emotional and social functions disrupted in these individuals relative to healthy controls, whereas neuroimaging investigations address the neural bases of these deficits and structural impairments that may be potential biological markers of CD. A key focus of enquiry regards an influential theory that posits that two recognised forms of CD (a childhood-onset variant in which the symptoms present prior to age 10 years and an adolescent-onset variant in which symptoms present after age 10) have different aetiological bases; specifically, it posits that only childhood-onset variant is associated with a neurological basis. Contrary to this proposal, our research to date indicates that both forms have a neurological basis. ||A second series of studies aims to understand the functional and neural mechanisms of social attention and their breakdown in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) using behavioural and neuroimaging experiments. Social attention is signalled by a persons eye gaze, head or body orientation. Our perception of others social attention plays a central role in guiding social interactions. Individuals with ASD show problems in inferring others mental states from social attention cues (i.e., that person A is interested in and may make move towards the object that they are gazing at). However, the cognitive and neural substrates of social attention and the mechanisms disrupted in ASD are poorly understood.