Publications

Alterations in reward-related brain activity have been linked to response to psychological treatment in adolescents with anxiety disorders. However, it remains unknown whether these effects are driven by reward anticipation or feedback, which reflect different functional roles in motivated behavior, or to what extent brain activity changes as a function of treatment response and relates to future depression. A team...

Rui Peixoto, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry), is an expert in developmental neuroscience and investigates abnormalities in cortical and striatal development associated with autism spectrum disorder. He is senior author of recent papers published in Cell Reports and Molecular Psychiatry. “Our recent findings provide new insight into how the striatum and basal ganglia shape the maturation of prefrontal...

As adolescents increasingly use screen-based devices to watch videos, text, use social media, videochat, and play games, health care professionals have grown concerned that excessive screen time could contribute to mental health problems (such as depression) in this population. Excessive screen time may impact sleep duration and brain structural connectivity—such as white matter organization—which are critical for...

The prefrontal cortex is critical for regulating affective and motivational processing, and dysfunction of these processes is associated with psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and drug and alcohol use disorders. Because prefrontal cortex function is maintained by a diverse pool of GABAergic interneurons, the manipulation of prefrontal cortex interneurons has potential to...