Default Mode and Frontoparietal Network Dynamics: Associations with Familial Risk for Depression and Stress Sensitivity.

Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with alterations within the default mode (DMN) and frontoparietal (FPN) networks. However, it is unclear whether changes in these networks occur prior to onset in youth at high familial risk for MDD or are a consequence of MDD. Moreover, studies examining premorbid MDD vulnerability markers have focused on static rather than dynamic network properties, which could further elucidate DMN-FPN imbalances linked to MDD risk.

Reward-Related Neural Circuitry in Depressed and Anxious Adolescents: A Human Connectome Project.

Objective: Although depression and anxiety often have distinct etiologies, they frequently co-occur in adolescence. Recent initiatives have underscored the importance of developing new ways of classifying mental illness based on underlying neural dimensions that cut across traditional diagnostic boundaries. Accordingly, the aim of the study was to clarify reward-related neural circuitry that may characterize depressed-anxious youth.

Reward Functioning Abnormalities in Adolescents at High Familial Risk for Depressive Disorders.

Background: A parental history of major depressive disorder (MDD) is an established risk factor for MDD in youth, and clarifying the mechanisms related to familial risk transmission is critical. Aberrant reward processing is a promising biomarker of MDD risk; accordingly, the aim of this study was to test behavioral measures of reward responsiveness and underlying frontostriatal resting activity in healthy adolescents both with (high-risk) and without (low-risk) a maternal history of MDD.

Methods: Low-risk and high-risk 12- to 14-year-old adolescents completed a probabilistic reward task (n = 74 low-risk, n = 27 high-risk) and a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan (n = 61 low-risk, n = 25 high-risk).

Delineating the social valuation network in adolescents.

Adolescents strive for peer approval, and an increased sensitivity to peers' opinions is normative. However, among vulnerable adolescents, peer evaluation can be detrimental, contributing to affective disorders. It is, therefore, critical to improve our understanding of neural underpinnings of peer evaluation.