Publications by authors named "Elizabeth Mulligan"

Event-related potentials (ERPs) are widely employed as measures of transdiagnostic cognitive processes that are thought to underlie various clinical disorders (Hajcak et al., 2019). Despite their prevalent use as individual difference measures, the effects of within-person processes, such as the human menstrual cycle, on a broad range of ERPs are poorly understood.

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The P300 event-related potential (ERP) has been extensively studied across the human lifespan. However, many studies examining age-related effects are cross-sectional, and few have considered the unique role that pubertal development may have on P300 developmental trajectories. The current study examined whether age, pubertal maturation or their interaction predicted changes in P300 amplitude over two years among 129 females between the ages of 8 and 15 years at baseline.

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Postnatal depression and anxiety disorders pose a major burden on maternal mental health. While psychosocial risk factors for perinatal depression and anxiety are well-researched, there is a dearth of research examining neural biomarkers of risk for postnatal increases in depression and anxiety. Previous studies suggest two different event-related potentials, the P300 and the late positive potential (LPP), may predict the course of depressive and anxious symptoms in non-perinatal populations.

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Understanding how event-related potentials (ERPs) change following repeated assessments is critical to advance our understanding of neural mechanisms implicated in psychopathology. Specifically, it is unclear if associations between ERPs and individual differences can be reproduced when repeatedly measured within the same participants, or if clinical characteristics impact ERP trajectories over repeated assessments. The present study assessed P300 amplitude and latency from a flanker task at four time points over one month (M = 7.

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Mother-to-infant attachment is critical to the health of mothers and offspring. While reward circuitry is implicated in maternal attachment, no studies have yet examined whether antenatal (i.e.

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The pubertal period is a time of rapid increase in the incidence of anxiety disorders, and thus, pubertal hormones may play a role in the precipitation of anxious psychopathology. DHEA, a steroid hormone that surges in adolescence, has been previously linked to anxiety, although the direction of this effect has been mixed. Using a cross-sectional design in a sample of 286 adolescent girls, the present study examined associations between salivary DHEA concentrations and self-report and interview-based measures of anxiety while controlling for pubertal status, menarche status, assessment time of day, and other hormones including testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone.

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The late positive potential (LPP) is characterized by temporal and spatial changes across development-though existing work has primarily relied on visual or statistical comparisons of relatively few electrodes and averaged activity over time. The current study used an empirically based approach to characterize temporal and spatial changes in ERPs over time. Data were utilized from a large longitudinal study (N = 380) in which the LPP was recorded to pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures around age 9 and again around age 12.

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Introduction: Heterogeneity of segmentation protocols for medial temporal lobe regions and hippocampal subfields on magnetic resonance imaging hinders the ability to integrate findings across studies. We aim to develop a harmonized protocol based on expert consensus and histological evidence.

Methods: Our international working group, funded by the EU Joint Programme-Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND), is working toward the production of a reliable, validated, harmonized protocol for segmentation of medial temporal lobe regions.

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Objective: This study examines the demographic and clinical variables associated with cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) in a sample of older, male, oral-digestive cancer survivors at VA Medical Centers in Boston and Houston.

Methods: A two-time point, longitudinal design was used, with cognitive assessment conducted at 6 and 18 months post-diagnosis. Using ANCOVA, the cognitive functioning of 88 older adults with head and neck, esophageal, gastric, or colorectal cancers was compared with that of 88 healthy controls.

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Adolescence is frequently described as a developmental period characterized by increased sensitivity to rewards. However, previous research on age-related changes in the neural response to gains and losses have produced mixed results, with only some studies reporting potentiated neural responses during adolescence. The current study examined the ERP responses to gains and losses during a simple monetary reward (i.

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The menstrual cycle is known to impact mood and cognitive function and has been shown to lead to variability in symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorders and anxiety. Using a within-subject design, the present study examined ovarian hormones, the error-related negativity (ERN), and self-reported checking symptoms in both the mid-follicular and mid-luteal phases of the menstrual cycle. ERN amplitude and checking symptom severity did not vary between the follicular and luteal phases.

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While psychosocial risk factors for peripartum depression are well-researched, studies on neural risk factors are scarce. Previous studies suggest a blunted neural response to reward may be a biomarker of depression and risk. In a sample of 86 pregnant women, the present study examined whether a reduced Reward Positivity (RewP), an event-related potential (ERP) elicited to feedback indicating monetary reward, relates to greater antenatal depressive symptoms.

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The menstrual cycle impacts mood and neural response to reward-phenomena that may be related to natural fluctuations in ovarian hormones. Using a within-subject design, the present study examined ovarian hormones (i.e.

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Objectives: This article describes the development and program evaluation of an 8-session outpatient geriatric mental health clinic bereavement group for United States military veterans who experienced the death of a loved one.

Methods: Group materials were developed based on a review of literature, with a focus on the dual process model of coping with bereavement and complicated grief treatment. Data are presented from 19 veterans who attended at least 4 of the 8 sessions across the five offerings of this group between 2013 and 2015.

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Objective: To describe a program evaluation of the interrelationship of adherence and treatment outcomes in a sample of veteran older adults with co-morbidities who participated in group-based cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia.

Methods: Retrospective data extraction was performed for 14 older adults. Adherence measures and sleep outcomes were measured with sleep diaries and Insomnia Severity Index.

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The Reward Positivity (RewP) is an event-related potential (ERP) potentiated to monetary gains and reduced to monetary losses. Recently, competing data suggest that more salient outcomes elicit a positivity relative to less salient outcomes, regardless of valence. However, all previous work testing the impact of salience on the RewP have examined expected versus unexpected outcomes.

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Episodic memory shows striking improvement during early childhood. However, neural contributions to these behavioral changes are not well understood. This study examined associations between episodic memory and volume of subregions (head, body, and tail) of the hippocampus-a structure known to support episodic memory in school-aged children and adults-during early childhood (n = 45).

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Background: When patients have multiple chronic illnesses, it is not feasible to provide disease-based care when treatments for one condition adversely affect another. Instead, health-care delivery requires a broader person-centred treatment plan based on collaborative, patient-oriented values and goals.

Objective: We examined the individual variability, thematic content, and sociodemographic correlates of valued life abilities and activities among multimorbid veterans diagnosed with life-altering cancer.

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Recent literature has supported a moderate, inverse relationship between social anxiety and positive affect. It has been proposed, but not clearly established, that the inverse relationship between the constructs may be stronger in younger adults than in adults who are older. We tested this hypothesis in two archival data sets of community participants.

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