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Representational similarity analysis of neural patterns in childhood maltreatment

Neuropsychopharmacology (2024)Cite this article

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Surmounting evidence has connected region-specific neural alterations with childhood maltreatment (CM). Univariate region of interest (ROI) approaches indicate amygdala hyperactivity and atypical prefrontal activity in response to negatively valenced stimuli, and volumetric differences, which may underpin aberrant threat processing, emotion regulation, and executive functioning in these groups [1]. Such univariate analyses aggregate voxelwise data which, although ideal for measuring overall activity of ROIs, lack sensitivity of item-level activity and global network interactions. Therefore, they cannot provide information on how information processing occurs.

To complement this work, multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) can be used to detect patterns across individual voxels. The computational technique presents the opportunity to spatially map the distribution of neuronal firing, uncover the organization and contribution of ROIs in response to information, and compare response profiles across contexts [2]. Representational similarity analysis (RSA) is one type of MVPA that assesses similaritites of one pattern to another to disentangle overlap in how categorical information is spatially encoded in the brain [3]. Hence, RSA offers the ability to investigate encoding in CM-exposed individuals under various conditions or in comparison to controls.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

    Marika G. Del Motte & Amanda J. F. Tamman

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  1. Marika G. Del Motte
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  2. Amanda J. F. Tamman
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MD was responsible for preparation and submission of the report with supervision and revision from AT. Both authors have contributed to the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marika G. Del Motte.

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Del Motte, M.G., Tamman, A.J.F. Representational similarity analysis of neural patterns in childhood maltreatment. Neuropsychopharmacol. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-024-01955-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-024-01955-7

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