Past Studies

Gompers Preparatory Academy X SDSU Support Study

The School-Based Intervention for Trauma study is a collaboration between the TEND Lab and SDSU’s Marriage and Family Therapy Graduate Program. In this study, we’re evaluating the relationship between reward processing and trauma in adolescents using fMRI and neuropsychological assessments, including traditional questionnaires and iPad “games.” Additionally, participants will complete a group intervention at their respective schools. Through our aim of better understanding the complex relationship between trauma and reward processing, we hope to be able to inform prevention and future treatment programs. To inquire about this study, please call (619) 878-3553.

TRAIN-Brain Study

The TRAIN-Brain study is a collaboration between TEND Lab and the Center for Understanding and Treating Anxiety. In this study, we are investigating reward and emotional face processing in kids with varying levels of anxiety and irritability symptoms using fMRI and neuropsychological (questionnaire and iPad “game”) tools. Kids with anxiety and irritability show differences in how they expect and experience rewards, as well as how they perceive emotions on faces; understanding the neural underpinnings of these altered processes is important to improve prevention and treatment programs.

Neurobiology of Treatment Response: A Follow-up to a Brief Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Trial for Anxious and/or Depressed Youth

This study, a collaboration between TEND Lab and ChAAMP, is a follow-up to a previous study that tested the efficacy and effectiveness of brief cognitive behavioral therapy for youths suffering from anxiety and/or depression in primary care. In the current study, we evaluate current symptom levels in previously treated youth. Participants will complete an fMRI scan to identify differences in brain activity related to social and emotional functioning. Potential benefits of this follow-up include an increased understanding of the long-term impact of the tested treatment program on symptoms. This project also begins a line of work that evaluates neurobiological mechanisms of psychological treatments.

FACE IT LAB

TEND Lab is collaborating with the Center for Understanding and Treating Anxiety on neuroimaging the FACE IT study. In this study, we will investigate how brain imaging can help us predict how much symptom reduction kids with obsessive-compulsive disorder experience after the FACE IT treatment, as well as how this treatment may change the brain. Treatment includes family-based exposure with response prevention and a novel computerized training task. Study aims include examining the relative contribution of changes in automatic versus strategic behavioral approaches in predicting symptom changes as well as underlying neurobiological mechanisms.