How a midbrain pathway shapes fear and emotional arousal
Superior Colliculus Pathways for Defensive Behavior and Emotional Arousal
This project looks at how a midbrain region called the superior colliculus and its connections relate to fear and emotional arousal in adolescents using brain scans and large youth data.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Emory University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Atlanta, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11285272 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you took part, you would do brain scans (fMRI) while completing tasks that trigger attention, threat responses, and emotional arousal, and researchers would use machine learning to map the midbrain pathways involved. The team will also analyze brain and behavior data from the national Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study to see how these pathways relate to anxiety across adolescence. Findings from animal models will be used together with the human imaging to build a mechanistic picture of how these circuits drive defensive behavior. The goal is to link specific pathways to emotional reactions that matter for anxiety disorders.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal participants are adolescents or young people (roughly ages 12–20) from the community, including those with anxiety symptoms and healthy peers who can safely undergo MRI.
Not a fit: People seeking immediate clinical treatment changes or those who cannot have an MRI (for example, due to metal implants or severe claustrophobia) are unlikely to receive direct benefit from participation.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the work could identify specific brain circuits that contribute to excessive fear and arousal and point to targets for future treatments or better diagnostics for anxiety.
How similar studies have performed: Animal studies and prior human imaging link related subcortical pathways to fear, but applying fMRI and machine learning specifically to the human superior colliculus across adolescence is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
Atlanta, United States
- Emory University — Atlanta, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kragel, Philip Augustus — Emory University
- Study coordinator: Kragel, Philip Augustus
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.