Structural-functional correlations between hippocampal volume and cortico-limbic emotional responses in depressed children

Although hippocampal atrophy and altered functional brain responses to emotional stimuli have been found in major depressive disorder (MDD), the relationship between the two is not yet well understood. The present study focused on children with and without a history of preschool onset MDD (PO-MDD) and directly examined the relations between hippocampal volume and functional brain activation to affect-eliciting stimuli. Children completed annual diagnostic assessments starting at preschool. When children were school-aged, high-resolution structural MRI and task-related functional MRI data were acquired from N = 64 nonmedicated children. During fMRI, subjects were shown emotional faces. Results from the total sample indicated that smaller bilateral hippocampal volumes were associated with greater cortico-limbic (e.g., amygdala, hippocampus, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) activation to sad or negative faces versus neutral faces. Left hippocampal volume was negatively associated with the cortico-limbic activation in both the PO-MDD and healthy children. Right hippocampal volume was negatively correlated with amygdala responses in the PO-MDD group, but not in the healthy comparison group. These findings suggest that there may be important interrelationships between reduced hippocampal volume and hyperactivation of brain responses in children, both those with and those without a history of PO-MDD.     

Initiating the creation of a procedurally secular society through dialogic RE. The three realms

ABSTRACT

The interim report of the Commission on Religious Education drew attention to the use of ‘safe space’ within schools to encourage the exchange of differing world-views. The doctoral research discussed herein builds upon previous action research that analysed the development of dialogic skills within a school’s safe space. This new research examines two types of talk – cumulative (building consensus) and exploratory (constructive criticism) – that are held to be at the heart of human reasoning. Sixty-five students from 10 different secondary schools in the UK undertook paired conversations that were analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Additionally, the students completed questionnaire surveys with respect to deep learning and these were analysed by means of a Chi-Square Test for statistical significance. The positive findings indicate that dialogic RE within a school’s safe space is an appropriate pedagogy for the creation of a procedurally secular society, such as the three realms model, that envisages a renewed public sphere in which citizens are encouraged to exchange world-views through reasoning.