Catherine L Sebastian

Publications (21) View all

• Article: Neural responses to fearful eyes in children with conduct problems and varying levels of callous–unemotional traits

  C. L. Sebastian, E. J. McCrory, M. R. Dadds, C. A. M. Cecil, P. L. Lockwood, Z. H. Hyde, S. A. De Brito, E. Viding
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  ABSTRACT: Background. Children with conduct problems (CP) are a heterogeneous group. Those with high levels of callous–unemotional traits (CP/HCU) appear emotionally under-reactive at behavioural and neural levels whereas those with low levels of CU traits (CP/LCU) appear emotionally over-reactive, compared with typically developing (TD) controls. Investigating the degree to which these patterns of emotional reactivity are malleable may have important translational implications. Instructing participants with CP/HCU to focus on the eyes of fearful faces (i.e. the most salient feature) can ameliorate their fear-recognition deficits, but it is unknown whether this is mediated by amygdala response. It is also unknown whether focusing on fearful eyes is associated with increased amygdala reactivity in CP/LCU. Method. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure neural responses to fearful and calm faces in children with CP/HCU, CP/LCU and TD controls (n=17 per group). On half of trials participants looked for a blue dot anywhere within target faces; on the other half, participants were directed to focus on the eye region. Results. Reaction time (RT) data showed that CP/LCU were selectively slowed in the fear/eyes condition. For the same condition, CP/LCU also showed increased amygdala and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC)/orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) responses compared with TD controls. RT and amygdala response to fear/eyes were correlated in CP/LCU only. No effects of focusing on the eye region were observed in CP/HCU. Conclusions. These data extend the evidence base suggesting that CU traits index meaningful heterogeneity in conduct problems. Focusing on regulating reactive emotional responses may be a fruitful strategy for children with CP/LCU.
  Psychological Medicine 03/2013; · 6.16 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Xiaosi Gu

  Article: Association of Callous Traits with Reduced Neural Response to Others' Pain in Children with Conduct Problems.

  Patricia L Lockwood, Catherine L Sebastian, Eamon J McCrory, Zoe H Hyde, Xiaosi Gu, Stéphane A De Brito, Essi Viding
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  ABSTRACT: Children with conduct problems (CP) persistently violate others' rights and represent a considerable societal cost [1]. These children also display atypical empathic responses to others' distress [2], which may partly account for their violent and antisocial behavior. Callous traits index lack of empathy in these children and confer risk for adult psychopathy [3]. Investigating neural responses to others' pain is an ecologically valid method to probe empathic processing [4], but studies in children with CP have been inconclusive [5, 6]. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we measured neural responses to pictures of others in pain (versus no pain) in a large sample of children with CP and matched controls. Relative to controls, children with CP showed reduced blood oxygen level-dependent responses to others' pain in bilateral anterior insula (AI), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and inferior frontal gyrus, regions associated with empathy for pain in previous studies [7, 8]. In the CP group, callous traits were negatively associated with responses to others' pain in AI and ACC. We conclude that children with CP have atypical neural responses to others' pain. The negative association between callous traits and AI/ACC response could reflect an early neurobiological marker indexing risk for empathic deficits seen in adult psychopathy.
  Current biology: CB 05/2013; · 10.99 Impact Factor
• Article: Amygdala activation in maltreated children during pre-attentive emotional processing.

  Eamon J McCrory, Stéphane A De Brito, Philip A Kelly, Geoffrey Bird, Catherine L Sebastian, Andrea Mechelli, Sophie Samuel, Essi Viding
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  ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Childhood adversity is associated with significantly increased risk of psychiatric disorder. To date, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of children have mainly focused on institutionalisation and investigated conscious processing of affect. AIMS: To investigate neural response to pre-attentively presented affect cues in a community sample of children with documented experiences of maltreatment in the home. METHOD: A masked dot-probe paradigm involving pre-attentive presentation of angry, happy and neutral facial expressions was employed. Eighteen maltreated children were compared with 23 carefully matched non-maltreated peers. RESULTS: Increased neural response was observed in the right amygdala for pre-attentively presented angry and happy faces in maltreated v. non-maltreated children. Level of amygdala activation was negatively associated with age at onset for several abuse subtypes. CONCLUSIONS: Maltreatment is associated with heightened neural response to positive and negative facial affect, even to stimuli outside awareness. This may represent a latent neural risk factor for future psychiatric disorder.
  The British journal of psychiatry: the journal of mental science 03/2013; · 6.62 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Catherine L Sebastian

  Article: Reduced orbitofrontal and temporal grey matter in a community sample of maltreated children.

  Stéphane A De Brito, Essi Viding, Catherine L Sebastian, Philip A Kelly, Andrea Mechelli, Helen Maris, Eamon J McCrory
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  ABSTRACT: Background:  Childhood maltreatment is strongly associated with increased risk of psychiatric disorder. Previous neuroimaging studies have reported atypical neural structure in the orbitofrontal cortex, temporal lobe, amygdala, hippocampus and cerebellum in maltreated samples. It has been hypothesised that these structural differences may relate to increased psychiatric vulnerability. However, previous studies have typically recruited clinical samples with concurrent psychiatric disorders, or have poorly characterised the range of maltreatment experiences and levels of concurrent anxiety or depression, limiting the interpretation of the observed structural differences. Methods:  We used voxel-based morphometry to compare grey matter volume in a group of 18 children (mean age 12.01 years, SD = 1.4), referred to community social services, with documented and well-characterised experiences of maltreatment at home and a group of 20 nonmaltreated children (mean age 12.6 years, SD = 1.3). Both groups were comparable on age, gender, cognitive ability, ethnicity and levels of anxiety, depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms. We examined five a priori regions of interest: the prefrontal cortex, temporal lobes, amygdala, hippocampus and cerebellum. Results:  Maltreated children, compared to nonmaltreated peers, presented with reduced grey matter in the medial orbitofrontal cortex and the left middle temporal gyrus. Conclusions:  The medial orbitofrontal cortex and the middle temporal gyrus have been implicated in reinforcement-based decision-making, emotion regulation and autobiographical memory, processes that are impaired in a number of psychiatric disorders associated with maltreatment. We speculate that grey matter disturbance in these regions in a community sample of maltreated children may represent a latent neurobiological risk factor for later psychopathology and heightened risk taking.
  Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 08/2012; · 4.28 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Nathalie M. G. Fontaine

  Article: Neural responses to affective and cognitive theory of mind in children with conduct problems and varying levels of callous-unemotional traits.

  Catherine L Sebastian, Eamon J P McCrory, Charlotte A M Cecil, Patricia L Lockwood, Stéphane A De Brito, Nathalie M G Fontaine, Essi Viding
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  ABSTRACT: Reduced neural responses to others' distress is hypothesized to play a critical role in conduct problems coupled with callous-unemotional traits, whereas increased neural responses to affective stimuli may accompany conduct problems without callous-unemotional traits. Heterogeneity of affective profiles in conduct problems may account for inconsistent neuroimaging findings in this population. To broaden understanding of neural processing in conduct problems using an affective processing task including an empathy component as well as to explore dimensional contributions of conduct problems symptoms and callous-unemotional traits to variance in affective neural responses. Case-control study. On-campus neuroimaging facility. Thirty-one boys with conduct problems (mean age, 14.34 years) and 16 typically developing control subjects (mean age, 13.51 years) matched for age (range, 10-16 years), IQ, socioeconomic status, handedness, and race/ethnicity. Participants were recruited using screening questionnaires in a community-based volunteer sample. Functional magnetic resonance imaging of a task contrasting affective and cognitive theory of mind judgments. Relative to typically developing children, children with conduct problems showed reduced activation in right amygdala and anterior insula for affective vs cognitive theory of mind judgments. Furthermore, in the right amygdala, regression analysis within the conduct-problems group showed suppressor effects between ratings of conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits. Specifically, unique variance associated with conduct problems was positively correlated with amygdala reactivity, whereas unique variance associated with callous-unemotional traits was negatively correlated with amygdala reactivity. These associations were not explained by hyperactivity, depression/anxiety symptoms, or alcohol use ratings. Childhood conduct problems are associated with amygdala and anterior insula hypoactivity during a complex affective processing task including an empathy component. Suppressor effects between conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits in the amygdala suggest a potential neural substrate for heterogeneity in affective profiles associated with conduct problems.
  Archives of general psychiatry 08/2012; 69(8):814-22. · 12.26 Impact Factor