Disentangling the neural underpinnings of response inhibition in disruptive behavior and co-occurring ADHD.

While impaired response inhibition has been reported in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), findings in disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) have been inconsistent, probably due to unaccounted effects of co-occurring ADHD in DBD. This study investigated the associations of behavioral and neural correlates of response inhibition with DBD and ADHD symptom severity, covarying for each other in a dimensional approach. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were available for 35 children and adolescents with DBDs (8-18 years old, 19 males), and 31 age-matched unaffected controls (18 males) while performing a performance-adjusted stop-signal task.

Different whole-brain functional connectivity correlates of reactive-proactive aggression and callous-unemotional traits in children and adolescents with disruptive behaviors.

Background: Disruptive behavior in children and adolescents can manifest as reactive aggression and proactive aggression and is modulated by callous-unemotional traits and other comorbidities. Neural correlates of these aggression dimensions or subtypes and comorbid symptoms remain largely unknown. This multi-center study investigated the relationship between resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) and aggression subtypes considering comorbidities.

Age-related brain deviations and aggression.

Background: Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) are heterogeneous at the clinical and the biological level. Therefore, the aims were to dissect the heterogeneous neurodevelopmental deviations of the affective brain circuitry and provide an integration of these differences across modalities.

Methods: We combined two novel approaches.

Cohort profile: demographic and clinical characteristics of the MILESTONE longitudinal cohort of young people approaching the upper age limit of their child mental health care service in Europe.

Purpose: The presence of distinct child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and adult mental health services (AMHS) impacts continuity of mental health treatment for young people. However, we do not know the extent of discontinuity of care in Europe nor the effects of discontinuity on the mental health of young people. Current research is limited, as the majority of existing studies are retrospective, based on small samples or used non-standardised information from medical records.

Reward and Punishment Sensitivity are Associated with Cross-disorder Traits.

Reversal learning deficits following reward and punishment processing are observed across disruptive behaviors (DB) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and have been associated with callous-unemotional (CU) traits. However, it remains unknown to what extent these altered reinforcement sensitivities are linked to the co-occurrence of oppositional traits, ADHD symptoms, and CU traits. Reward and punishment sensitivity and perseverative behavior were therefore derived from a probabilistic reversal learning task to investigate reinforcement sensitivity in participants with DB (n=183, ODD=62, CD=10, combined=57, age-range 8-18), ADHD (n=144, age-range 11-28), and controls (n=191, age-range 8-26).

Subgrouping children and adolescents with disruptive behaviors: symptom profiles and the role of callous-unemotional traits.

Disruptive behavior during childhood and adolescence is heterogeneous and associated with several psychiatric disorders. The identification of more homogeneous subgroups might help identify different underlying pathways and tailor treatment strategies. Children and adolescents (aged 8-18) with disruptive behaviors (N = 121) and healthy controls (N = 100) were included in a European multi-center cognition and brain imaging study.

Aggression subtypes relate to distinct resting state functional connectivity in children and adolescents with disruptive behavior.

There is increasing evidence for altered brain resting state functional connectivity in adolescents with disruptive behavior. While a considerable body of behavioral research points to differences between reactive and proactive aggression, it remains unknown whether these two subtypes have dissociable effects on connectivity. Additionally, callous-unemotional traits are important specifiers in subtyping aggressive behavior along the affective dimension.

Specific cortical and subcortical alterations for reactive and proactive aggression in children and adolescents with disruptive behavior.

Maladaptive aggression, as present in conduct disorder (CD) and, to a lesser extent, oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), has been associated with structural alterations in various brain regions, such as ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), amygdala, insula and ventral striatum. Although aggression can be subdivided into reactive and proactive subtypes, no neuroimaging studies have yet investigated if any structural brain alterations are associated with either of the subtypes specifically. Here we investigated associations between aggression subtypes, CU traits and ADHD symptoms in predefined regions of interest.

The effects of callous-unemotional traits and aggression subtypes on amygdala activity in response to negative faces.

Background: Brain imaging studies have shown altered amygdala activity during emotion processing in children and adolescents with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) compared to typically developing children and adolescents (TD). Here we aimed to assess whether aggression-related subtypes (reactive and proactive aggression) and callous-unemotional (CU) traits predicted variation in amygdala activity and skin conductance (SC) response during emotion processing.

Methods: We included 177 participants (n = 108 cases with disruptive behaviour and/or ODD/CD and n = 69 TD), aged 8-18 years, across nine sites in Europe, as part of the EU Aggressotype and MATRICS projects.

Executive functioning and emotion recognition in youth with oppositional defiant disorder and/or conduct disorder.

Executive functioning and emotion recognition may be impaired in disruptive youth, yet findings in oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) are inconsistent. We examined these functions related to ODD and CD, accounting for comorbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and internalising symptoms. We compared executive functioning (visual working memory, visual attention, inhibitory control) and emotion recognition between youth (8-18 years old, 123 boys, 55 girls) with ODD ( = 44) or CD (with/without ODD,  = 48), and healthy controls ( = 86).