Search

Your search keyword '"Lickley, Rachael"' showing total 6 results
Start Over Author "Lickley, Rachael"
6 results on '"Lickley, Rachael"'

1. The development, expression and neural basis of frustration in adolescence

Author

Lickley, Rachael

Subjects
Frustration, Adolescence, Reactive aggression
Abstract

Frustration is the affective response to the thwarting of one's goals and is one of the antecedent processes to reactive aggression. Yet, little is known about how frustration develops, is expressed or its neural bases. This is particularly lacking in relation to adolescence, a period of ongoing affective and neural development characterised by comparatively high levels of reactive aggression. This thesis therefore aimed to a) understand the development of the frustration response across adolescence at behavioural and neural levels, and b) explore whether individual differences in the frustration response are related to individual differences in reactive aggression during adolescence. In Chapter 2 an age-appropriate frustration paradigm was developed and validated that induced and parametrically modulated the frustration response. In Chapter 3, individual differences in overt reactive aggression (measured via grip force) and the frustration response in adults was explored. Aggressive responding parametrically increased in the same direction as the frustration response, but the two were not significantly correlated. In Chapter 4, age and trait-like reactive aggression was investigated in a sample of 11-16 year- olds. The frustration response did not vary with age but was positively related to trait-like reactive aggression. In Chapter 5, the neural bases of frustration were explored in a sample of 11-18 year olds. The frustration response was characterised by increased activation in regions associated with emotional reactivity, modulation of emotional responses and reactive aggression, including the cingulate cortex and anterior insula. Further, amygdala activation was negatively related to age, while anterior cingulate cortex activation was positively related to trait-like reactive aggression in response to increasing frustration. Results are discussed in terms of current theories of adolescent neurocognitive development, with findings across the thesis suggesting that individual differences in the frustration response vary only marginally with age, but more strongly with trait-like reactive aggression.

Published
2020

4. Altered neural response to rejection‐related words in children exposed to maltreatment

Author

Puetz, Vanessa B., Viding, Essi, Palmer, Amy, Kelly, Philip A., Lickley, Rachael, Koutoufa, Iakovina, Sebastian, Catherine L., and McCrory, Eamon J.

Subjects
Cerebral Cortex, Male, emotion regulation, Adolescent, fMRI, Original Articles, Amygdala, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Executive Function, Psychological Distance, posttraumatic stress disorder, Stroop Test, Humans, Original Article, adolescence, Female, Child Abuse, Child
Abstract

Background Children exposed to maltreatment show neural sensitivity to facial cues signalling threat. However, little is known about how maltreatment influences the processing of social threat cues more broadly, and whether atypical processing of social threat cues relates to psychiatric risk. Methods Forty‐one 10‐ to 14‐year‐old children underwent a social rejection‐themed emotional Stroop task during functional magnetic resonance imaging: 21 children with a documented history of maltreatment (11 F) and 19 comparison children with no maltreatment history (11 F). Groups were matched on age, pubertal status, gender, IQ, socioeconomic status, ethnicity and reading ability. Classic colour Stroop stimuli were also administered in the same paradigm to investigate potential differences in general cognitive control. Results Compared with their peers, children who had experienced maltreatment showed reduced activation in the Rejection versus Neutral condition, across circuitry previously implicated in abuse‐related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including the left anterior insula, extending into left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex; left amygdala; left inferior parietal cortex (STS); and bilateral visual association cortex, encompassing the cuneus and lingual gyrus. No group differences in neural or behavioural responses were found for the classic colour Stroop conditions. Significant negative associations between activity in bilateral cuneus and STS during the rejection‐themed Stroop and higher self‐reported PTSD symptomatology, including dissociation, were observed in children exposed to maltreatment. Conclusion Our findings indicate a pattern of altered neural response to social rejection cues in maltreated children. Compared to their peers, these children displayed relative hypoactivation to rejection cues in regions previously associated with PTSD, potentially reflecting an avoidant coping response. It is suggested that such atypical processing of social threat may index latent vulnerability to future psychopathology in general and PTSD in particular.

Published
2016

Catalog

Books, media, physical & digital resources
See catalog results