Jillian Lee Wiggins

YNICL Journal 2025 Journal Article

Neural interactions between reward and inhibition in preadolescent irritability: a dual-task design

• Alyssa J. Parker
• Johanna C. Walker
• Lea R. Dougherty
• Jillian Lee Wiggins

Aberrant reward and inhibitory control processing have been implicated in mechanistic models of irritability theorizing that better inhibitory control may be an effective modulator of exaggerated reward responses and thus, irritable behavior. Despite emerging research supporting the roles of both inhibition and reward independently in irritability, research has yet to examine the interplay of neural networks subserving these processes. Leveraging fMRI baseline data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 4664, Mage = 9. 98, SDage = 0. 62), interactions between preadolescent irritability, inhibitory control, and reward processing were examined. The stop signal task and monetary incentive delay task were used to probe inhibitory control (successful and failed) and reward (receipt/non-receipt of possible reward), respectively. Neural activation and functional connectivity with amygdala and ventral striatal regions were explored through whole brain analyses. Preadolescents with higher levels of irritability exhibited aberrant associations in activation as well as ventral striatal connectivity during successful and failed inhibitory control and reward receipt. While exact patterns varied by region, these interactions were largely driven by (1) opposite patterns of activation/connectivity across reward conditions or (2) stronger associations between inhibition and reward non-receipt in preadolescents with higher levels of irritability. This study observed inhibitory control and reward processing functional differences within the same neural networks, supporting the previously theorized interplay of hypersensitive bottom-up reward processing and deficient top-down inhibitory control in youth irritability. Understanding this interplay is essential to develop targeted preadolescent irritability interventions that enhance inhibitory control and mitigate exaggerated reward responses.

YNICL Journal 2023 Journal Article

Corrigendum to “Contributions of childhood abuse and neglect to reward neural substrates in adolescence” [NeuroImage: Clin. 32 (2021) 102832]

• Ruiyu Yang
• Qiongru Yu
• Cassidy Elizabeth Owen
• Gabriele Ibarra Aspe
• Jillian Lee Wiggins

YNICL Journal 2021 Journal Article

Contributions of childhood abuse and neglect to reward neural substrates in adolescence

• Ruiyu Yang
• Qiongru Yu
• Cassidy Elizabeth Owen
• Gabriele Ibarra Aspe
• Jillian Lee Wiggins

BACKGROUND: Childhood adverse experiences may come to bear particularly during adolescence, when neural reward systems are developing rapidly and psychopathology spikes. Despite prior work differentiating threat- (abuse) vs. deprivation- (neglect) related adversity, no research has yet identified their relative nor interactive contributions to reward neural substrates during adolescence. In the present study, we leveraged a diverse sample of adolescents with different childhood adversity profiles to examine neural responses to reward in relation to varying degrees of abuse vs. neglect. METHODS: Adolescents (N = 45; 23 females; mean age = 14.9 years, SD = 1.9) completed a child-friendly monetary incentive delay task during fMRI acquisition. The self-report Childhood Trauma Questionnaire assessed childhood abuse and neglect. Whole brain ANCOVA analyses evaluated reward anticipation (reward vs. no reward expected) and feedback (hitting vs. missing the target with a reward vs. no reward) in relation to abuse and neglect dimensions. RESULTS: Whole-brain analyses revealed that abuse, adjusted for neglect, is associated with greater differences between task conditions (reward vs. no reward, hit vs. miss) in regions associated with threat/emotion regulation (prefrontal and temporal cortices, as well as posterior regions including fusiform and posterior cingulate/precuneus). Additionally, level of neglect modulated neural response associated with abuse in prefrontal and temporoparietal regions, such that youths with high levels of both abuse and neglect showed qualitatively different, more exaggerated neural patterns compared to youths with elevated adversity in only one dimension. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that early experiences of abuse and neglect have a long developmental reach resulting in reward-related neural alterations in adolescence. Moreover, our results bolster theoretical conceptualizations of adversity along threat and deprivation dimensions and provide evidence that "adding up" adverse life events may not be sufficient to capture the qualitatively different neural profiles produced by differing combinations of types of adversity, which may in turn necessitate different treatment approaches.

YNICL Journal 2021 Journal Article

Reward-related neural correlates in adolescents with excess body weight

• Surabhi Bhutani
• Isaac Ray Christian
• Danielle Palumbo
• Jillian Lee Wiggins

The functional and connectivity reward processing in adults with excessive body weight is well documented, though is relatively less researched during adolescence. Given that reward and inhibition may be highly malleable during adolescence, it is unknown how impulsive behaviors, potentially stemming from impaired inhibitory control and heightened sensitivity to rewarding cues, relate to increases in body weight in adolescents. Adolescents (N = 76; mean age = 14.10 years, SD = 1.92) with varied body mass index (BMI) performed a child-friendly monetary incentive delay task during functional magnetic resonance imaging, to study reward processing during the anticipation of rewards (cue) and reactions to feedback about rewards (feedback). Our results show that adolescents with greater BMI z-score show neural activation and ventral striatum connectivity alterations in networks implicated in reward, salience detection, and inhibitory control. These bottom-up reward and top-down inhibitory control networks, as well as interactions between these networks were prevalent during the anticipation period (when the cue is presented) as well as when receiving feedback about whether one has received a reward. Specifically, our results were mainly driven by failure to receive a reward in the feedback period, and the anticipation of a potential reward in the anticipation period. Overall, we provide evidence for heightened reward salience as well as inhibitory control deficits that, in combination, may contribute to the impulsive behaviors that lead to higher BMI in adolescents.

YNIMG Journal 2014 Journal Article

Age-related changes in the structure and function of prefrontal cortex–amygdala circuitry in children and adolescents: A multi-modal imaging approach

• Johnna R. Swartz
• Melisa Carrasco
• Jillian Lee Wiggins
• Moriah E. Thomason
• Christopher S. Monk

The uncinate fasciculus is a major white matter tract that provides a crucial link between areas of the human brain that underlie emotion processing and regulation. Specifically, the uncinate fasciculus is the major direct fiber tract that connects the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala. The aim of the present study was to use a multi-modal imaging approach in order to simultaneously examine the relation between structural connectivity of the uncinate fasciculus and functional activation of the amygdala in a youth sample (children and adolescents). Participants were 9 to 19years old and underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results indicate that greater structural connectivity of the uncinate fasciculus predicts reduced amygdala activation to sad and happy faces. This effect is moderated by age, with younger participants exhibiting a stronger relation. Further, decreased amygdala activation to sad faces predicts lower internalizing symptoms. These results provide important insights into brain structure–function relationships during adolescence, and suggest that greater structural connectivity of the uncinate fasciculus may facilitate regulation of the amygdala, particularly during early adolescence. These findings also have implications for understanding the relation between brain structure, function, and the development of emotion regulation difficulties, such as internalizing symptoms.

YNIMG Journal 2013 Journal Article

Disrupted cortico-cerebellar connectivity in older adults

• Jessica A. Bernard
• Scott J. Peltier
• Jillian Lee Wiggins
• Susanne M. Jaeggi
• Martin Buschkuehl
• Brett W. Fling
• Youngbin Kwak
• John Jonides

Healthy aging is marked by declines in a variety of cognitive and motor abilities. A better understanding of the aging brain may aid in elucidating the neural substrates of these behavioral effects. Investigations of resting state functional brain connectivity have provided insights into pathology, and to some degree, healthy aging. Given the role of the cerebellum in both motor and cognitive behaviors, as well as its known volumetric declines with age, investigating cerebellar networks may shed light on the neural bases of age-related functional declines. We mapped the resting state networks of the lobules of the right hemisphere and the vermis of the cerebellum in a group of healthy older adults and compared them to those of young adults. We report disrupted cortico-cerebellar resting state network connectivity in older adults. These results remain even when controlling for cerebellar volume, signal-to-noise ratio, and signal-to-fluctuation noise ratio. Specifically, there was consistent disruption of cerebellar connectivity with both the striatum and the medial temporal lobe. Associations between connectivity strength and both sensorimotor and cognitive task performances indicate that cerebellar engagement with the default mode network and striatal pathways is associated with better performance for older adults. These results extend our understanding of the resting state networks of the aging brain to include cortico-cerebellar networks, and indicate that age differences in network connectivity strength are important for behavior.

YNICL Journal 2013 Journal Article

The impact of serotonin transporter genotype on default network connectivity in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders

• Jillian Lee Wiggins
• Scott J. Peltier
• Jirair K. Bedoyan
• Melisa Carrasco
• Robert C. Welsh
• Donna M. Martin
• Catherine Lord
• Christopher S. Monk

Compared to healthy controls, individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have weaker posterior–anterior connectivity that strengthens less with age within the default network, a set of brain structures connected in the absence of a task and likely involved in social function. The serotonin transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) genotypes that result in lowered serotonin transporter expression are associated with social impairment in ASD. Additionally, in healthy controls, low expressing 5-HTTLPR genotypes are associated with weaker default network connectivity. However, in ASD, the effect of 5-HTTLPR on the default network is unknown. We hypothesized that 5-HTTLPR's influence on posterior–anterior default network connectivity strength as well as on age-related changes in connectivity differs in the ASD group versus controls. Youth with ASD and healthy controls, ages 8–19, underwent a resting fMRI acquisition. Connectivity was calculated by correlating the posterior hub of the default network with all voxels. Triallelic genotype was assessed via PCR and Sanger sequencing. A genotype-by-diagnosis interaction significantly predicted posterior–anterior connectivity, such that low expressing genotypes (S/S, S/LG, LG/LG) were associated with stronger connectivity than high expressing genotypes (LA/LA, S/LA, LA/LG) in the ASD group, but the converse was true for controls. Also, youth with ASD and low expressing genotypes had greater age-related increases in connectivity values compared to those with high expressing genotypes and controls in either genotype group. Our findings suggest that the cascade of events from genetic variation to brain function differs in ASD. Also, low expressing genotypes may represent a subtype within ASD.

YNIMG Journal 2012 Journal Article

The impact of serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) genotype on the development of resting-state functional connectivity in children and adolescents: A preliminary report

• Jillian Lee Wiggins
• Jirair K. Bedoyan
• Scott J. Peltier
• Samantha Ashinoff
• Melisa Carrasco
• Shih-Jen Weng
• Robert C. Welsh
• Donna M. Martin

A fundamental component of brain development is the formation of large-scale networks across the cortex. One such network, the default network, undergoes a protracted development, displaying weak connectivity in childhood that strengthens in adolescence and becomes most robust in adulthood. Little is known about the genetic contributions to default network connectivity in adulthood or during development. Alterations in connectivity between posterior and frontal portions of the default network have been associated with several psychological disorders, including anxiety, autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, depression, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. These disorders have also been linked to variants of the serotonin transporter linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR). The LA allele of 5-HTTLPR results in higher serotonin transporter expression than the S allele or the rarer LG allele. 5-HTTLPR may influence default network connectivity, as the superior medial frontal region has been shown to be sensitive to changes in serotonin. Also, serotonin as a growth factor early in development may alter large-scale networks such as the default network. The present study examined the influence of 5-HTTLPR variants on connectivity between the posterior and frontal structures and its development in a cross-sectional study of 39 healthy children and adolescents. We found that children and adolescents homozygous for the S allele (S/S, n=10) showed weaker connectivity in the superior medial frontal cortex compared to those homozygous for the LA allele (LA/LA, n=13) or heterozygotes (S/LA, S/LG, n=16). Moreover, there was an age-by-genotype interaction, such that those with LA/LA genotype had the steepest age-related increase in connectivity between the posterior hub and superior medial frontal cortex, followed by heterozygotes. In contrast, individuals with the S/S genotype had the least age-related increase in connectivity strength. This preliminary report expands our understanding of the genetic influences on the development of large-scale brain connectivity and lays down the foundation for future research and replication of the results with a larger sample.

YNIMG Journal 2009 Journal Article

Abnormalities of intrinsic functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorders,

• Christopher S. Monk
• Scott J. Peltier
• Jillian Lee Wiggins
• Shih-Jen Weng
• Melisa Carrasco
• Susan Risi
• Catherine Lord

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) impact social functioning and communication, and individuals with these disorders often have restrictive and repetitive behaviors. Accumulating data indicate that ASD is associated with alterations of neural circuitry. Functional MRI (FMRI) studies have focused on connectivity in the context of psychological tasks. However, even in the absence of a task, the brain exhibits a high degree of functional connectivity, known as intrinsic or resting connectivity. Notably, the default network, which includes the posterior cingulate cortex, retro-splenial, lateral parietal cortex/angular gyrus, medial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, temporal lobe, and parahippocampal gyrus, is strongly active when there is no task. Altered intrinsic connectivity within the default network may underlie offline processing that may actuate ASD impairments. Using FMRI, we sought to evaluate intrinsic connectivity within the default network in ASD. Relative to controls, the ASD group showed weaker connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and superior frontal gyrus and stronger connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and both the right temporal lobe and right parahippocampal gyrus. Moreover, poorer social functioning in the ASD group was correlated with weaker connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and the superior frontal gyrus. In addition, more severe restricted and repetitive behaviors in ASD were correlated with stronger connectivity between the posterior cingulate cortex and right parahippocampal gyrus. These findings indicate that ASD subjects show altered intrinsic connectivity within the default network, and connectivity between these structures is associated with specific ASD symptoms.