Neurobiological Correlates Of Emotion Processing And Cognitive Control Interference In Adolescents: The Role Of Childhood Trauma

Childhood trauma significantly affects emotional and cognitive development, often heightening bottom-up threat detection and emotional reactivity. These enhanced responses can impair cognitive control and increase vulnerability to trauma-related disorders such as anxiety and PTSD. Critical gaps remain in our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying individual differences in post-trauma risk and resilience.This dissertation addresses two interrelated gaps in this literature. First, it investigates individual variability in brain-based threat processing biomarkers, specifically amygdala activity and fear learning, and their associations with heterogeneous trauma-related outcomes. Using data-driven analytical approaches, this work reviews functional MRI-based neural biotypes that may predict differential outcomes following trauma exposure. It also examines the relationship between candidate biomarkers, including amygdala responses to negative emotion and psychophysiological indicators of fear learning, in trauma-exposed youth. Additionally, the dissertation explores methodological variability, particularly the effects of reporter discordance (e.g., caregiver vs. youth self-report), in assessing trauma-related symptoms. Second, this work examines how trauma exposure may disrupt cognitive control under emotional load through neurometabolic mechanisms. Using 1H functional MRS, it assesses Glu modulation during tasks involving cognitive control with and without emotion interference. This novel approach provides insights into the dynamic neurometabolic processes supporting emotional and cognitive functioning in trauma-exposed adolescents. Together, these investigations advance understanding of the neurobiological and methodological factors contributing to heterogeneous outcomes following childhood trauma.