Using FreeSurfer to Identify Brain Quality Across Childhood and Adolescence (2024)

Undergraduates: Ria Patel, Anushree Ramanujam, Triyakshari Venkataraja

Faculty Advisor: Margaret Sheridan
Department: Neuroscience, Psychology

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FreeSurfer, developed by researchers at Harvard University, has become a key software used by multiple neuroimaging labs, including UNC’s Child Imaging Research on Cognition and Life Experience Lab, for brain data analysis. FreeSurfer can be used to acquire measurements of brain structure, such as cortical thickness and surface area. In fact, FreeSurfer is utilized in a variety of research projects to investigate associations between cortical structure and behavioral outcomes._x000D_
One such project is the Youth Emotion Study (YES) that explores how brain development in adolescence is affected by stressful life experiences and to clarify neural risk markers for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (STBs). fMRI scans of adolescent girls (9-16 years) were conducted as subjects completed cognitive control, emotion regulation, and social processing tasks. Researchers collected longitudinal fMRI data for a subset of the sample to analyze changes in neural processes throughout adolescence._x000D_
The Study of Toddler to Teenager Anxiety and Resiliency (STTAR) is another study that uses FreeSurfer to conduct a longitudinal follow-up to the Duke Preschool Anxiety Study from ten years ago. This study is designed to discern how adolescents (ages 12-18) are influenced by their early life experiences. Our current study expands on Duke’s original study and aims to understand how the original group of participants has developed over the last decade and how facets of early childhood affect a teenager’s emotionality and emotion regulation. This study involved both parent and adolescent participation to gain a well-rounded holistic view of the child’s development, mood, feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.