How attention-related brain networks develop from birth through early school age and relate to childhood anxiety
Official title: Longitudinal Development of Attention-Related Brain Networks from Birth to School-Age and Risk for Anxiety Disorders
Funded at Washington University · NIH-11241122 · Data updated 2026-11-12
Researchers are following children from birth through early school age to learn whether early attention brain systems are linked to later anxiety.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Washington University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Saint Louis, United States) |
| Project start | April 1, 2020 |
| Project end | January 31, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $689,445 |
| NIH project number | 5R01MH122389-07 |
| Project ID | NIH-11241122 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal participants are newborns and young children from birth through early school age, especially those with a family history of anxiety or early anxious behaviors.
✕Less likely to help
Adults and people seeking immediate clinical treatment are unlikely to receive direct therapeutic benefit from this observational research.
What this research studies
If my baby joins, researchers will follow them from birth through early school age with brain imaging and behavioral visits to track how two attention-related brain networks (the ventral attention network and the fronto-parietal network) develop. They will include babies at higher risk for anxiety because of family history or early anxious behaviors and compare them to lower-risk children. By combining newborn brain scans with repeated check-ins during infancy and the preschool years, they aim to see which early brain patterns relate to later anxiety. This work could point to earlier ways to spot risk or to treatments that target attention systems to prevent or reduce anxiety symptoms.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help identify children at risk earlier and guide new prevention or treatment approaches that target attention-related brain systems.
How similar studies have gone: Earlier work, including from this team, found comparable early differences in attention networks in newborns, but extending those findings through long-term follow-up to predict later anxiety is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Washington University
Saint Louis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sylvester, Chad Michael — Washington University
- Study coordinator: Sylvester, Chad Michael
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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.