Research Domain Criteria: cognitive systems, neural circuits, and dimensions of behaviour

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. S533 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Cuthbert
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 247054701771564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandni Sheth ◽  
Erin McGlade ◽  
Deborah Yurgelun-Todd

The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative provides a strategy for classifying psychopathology based on behavioral dimensions and neurobiological measures. Neurodevelopment is an orthogonal dimension in the current RDoC framework; however, it has not yet been fully incorporated into the RDoC approach. A combination of both a neurodevelopmental and RDoC approach offers a multidimensional perspective for understanding the emergence of psychopathology during development. Environmental influence (e.g., stress) has a profound impact on the risk for development of psychiatric illnesses. It has been shown that chronic stress interacts with the developing brain, producing significant changes in neural circuits that eventually increase the susceptibility for development of psychiatric disorders. This review highlights effects of chronic stress on the adolescent brain, as adolescence is a period characterized by a combination of significant brain alterations, high levels of stress, and emergence of psychopathology. The literature synthesized in this review suggests that chronic stress-induced changes in neurobiology and behavioral constructs underlie the shared vulnerability across a number of disorders in adolescence. The review particularly focuses on depression and substance use disorders; however, a similar argument can also be made for other psychopathologies, including anxiety disorders. The summarized findings underscore the need for a framework to integrate neurobiological findings from disparate psychiatric disorders and to target transdiagnostic mechanisms across disorders.


2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-37 ◽  

Current diagnostic systems for mental disorders were established before the tools of neuroscience were available, and although they have improved the reliability of psychiatric classification, progress toward the discovery of disease etiologies and novel approaches to treatment and prevention may benefit from alternative conceptualizations of mental disorders. The Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative is the centerpiece of NIMH's effort to achieve its strategic goal of developing new methods to classify mental disorders for research purposes. The RDoC matrix provides a research framework that encourages investigators to reorient their research perspective by taking a dimensional approach to the study of the genetic, neural, and behavioral features of mental disorders, RDoCs integrative approach includes cognition along with social processes, arousal/regulatory systems, and negative and positive valence systems as the major domains, because these neurobehavioral systems have all evolved to serve the motivational and adaptive needs of the organism. With its focus on neural circuits informed by the growing evidence of the neurodevelopmental nature of many disorders and its capacity to capture the patterns of co-occurrence of behaviors and symptoms, the RDoC approach holds promise to advance our understanding of the nature of mental disorders.


2017 ◽  
Vol 225 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina B. Lonsdorf ◽  
Jan Richter

Abstract. As the criticism of the definition of the phenotype (i.e., clinical diagnosis) represents the major focus of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative, it is somewhat surprising that discussions have not yet focused more on specific conceptual and procedural considerations of the suggested RDoC constructs, sub-constructs, and associated paradigms. We argue that we need more precise thinking as well as a conceptual and methodological discussion of RDoC domains and constructs, their interrelationships as well as their experimental operationalization and nomenclature. The present work is intended to start such a debate using fear conditioning as an example. Thereby, we aim to provide thought-provoking impulses on the role of fear conditioning in the age of RDoC as well as conceptual and methodological considerations and suggestions to guide RDoC-based fear conditioning research in the future.


2017 ◽  
Vol 225 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Lang ◽  
Lisa M. McTeague ◽  
Margaret M. Bradley

Abstract. Several decades of research are reviewed, assessing patterns of psychophysiological reactivity in anxiety patients responding to a fear/threat imagery challenge. Findings show substantive differences in these measures within principal diagnostic categories, questioning the reliability and categorical specificity of current diagnostic systems. Following a new research framework (US National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH], Research Domain Criteria [RDoC]; Cuthbert & Insel, 2013 ), dimensional patterns of physiological reactivity are explored in a large sample of anxiety and mood disorder patients. Patients’ responses (e.g., startle reflex, heart rate) during fear/threat imagery varied significantly with higher questionnaire measured “negative affect,” stress history, and overall life dysfunction – bio-marking disorder groups, independent of Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals (DSM). The review concludes with a description of new research, currently underway, exploring brain function indices (structure activation, circuit connectivity) as potential biological classifiers (collectively with the reflex physiology) of anxiety and mood pathology.


2016 ◽  
Vol Ano 6 ◽  
pp. 38-42
Author(s):  
Andrea Feijó Mello ◽  
Euthymia B. Almeida Prado

O presente artigo discorre sobre a comorbidade entre transtorno bipolar (TB) e transtorno de estresse póstraumático (TEPT) e questiona sobre certos casos serem melhor avaliados à luz das novas teorias do Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), principalmente aqueles quadros de TEPT com sintomas disfóricos que podem ser classificados como TB, apesar de não preencherem critérios para tal. Nesse caso, questiona-se a comorbidade e propõe-se um aprofundamento da fisiopatologia dessa sintomatologia que está sobreposta. Clinicamente, esse olhar poderá facilitar o manejo farmacológico de pacientes graves com histórico de trauma.


Author(s):  
Sarah W. Yip ◽  
Zu Wei Zhai ◽  
Iris M. Balodis ◽  
Marc N. Potenza

Gambling problems are experienced by about 1% of the adult population, with higher estimates reported in adolescents. Both positive and negative motivations for gambling exist and may contribute to gambling problems. Positive valence disturbances involving how people process rewards, including monetary rewards relevant to gambling, have been reported in gambling disorder and have been associated with the disorder and clinically relevant measures relating to impaired impulse control. Positive valence systems as they relate to gambling disorder and clinically relevant features thereof are considered in this chapter. Findings from neuroimaging data related to the positive valence system constructs of approach motivation, initial and sustained/longer term responsiveness to reward, habit and reward learning are reviewed. Possible interactions between positive valence systems and other Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) systems are also discussed within the context of gambling disorder, as is how the application of an RDoC framework can be used to further understanding of gambling disorder.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Melody R. Altschuler ◽  
Robert F. Krueger

Abstract Traditional categorical approaches to classifying personality disorders are limited in important ways, leading to a shift in the field to dimensional approaches to conceptualizing personality pathology. Different areas of psychology – personality, developmental, and psychopathology – can be leveraged to understand personality pathology by examining its structure, development, and underlying mechanisms. However, an integrative model that encompasses these distinct lines of inquiry has not yet been proposed. In order to address this gap, we review the latest evidence for dimensional classification of personality disorders based on structural models of maladaptive personality traits, provide an overview of developmental theories of pathological personality, and summarize the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative, which seeks to understand underlying mechanisms of psychopathology. We conclude by proposing an integrative model of personality pathology development that aims to elucidate the developmental pathways of personality pathology and its underlying mechanisms.


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