PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACTThis project combines the expertise of Dr. Katalin Gothard at The University of Arizona [US] and Dr. Anna W.Roe at Zhejiang University [China]. The aim of this project is to understand changes in the brain underlying theemergence of social and emotional regulation during adolescence. Adolescence is a period of accelerated socialand cognitive development and also a time of enhanced vulnerability for anxiety and impulse-control disorderswhich elevate the lifelong risk for secondary psychiatric disorders. During this period the prefrontal cortexundergoes maturation but little is known about the maturation of its relationship with the amygdala considereda hub of emotional processing in the brain. In humans and nonhuman primates the amygdala matures longbefore puberty; in early adolescence emotional processes and arousal governed by the amygdala dominateemotional and social behavior. As the prefrontal cortex matures and increases its influence on amygdalarfunction emotional behavior becomes more regulated. We hypothesize that the development of emotionalregulation during adolescence is due to changes in amygdala-prefrontal networks. The goal of this proposal isto monitor longitudinally in the same individuals the reorganization of functional connections between theamygdala and the PFC. This will be accomplished by a multimodal approach of laser-fMRI functional tract tracingand neurophysiological recordings in the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. In parallel punctate administrationof behavioral tasks will provide a measure of longitudinal changes in impulsivity and sociability. The fMRIneurophysiological and behavioral measures will be correlated at matched timepoints thereby achieving amultiscale (cellular to circuit level to behavior) understanding of adolescent development. The findings from thisstudy will have significant bearing on our understanding of normal adolescent brain development and also of thepossible risk factors for the emergence of social misadjustment and mental disease.