Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 2, 2025
13:08
Measurement of Fronto-limbic Activity Using an Emotional Oddball Task in Children with Familial High Risk for Schizophrenia
Published on: December 2, 2015
9.0K
Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Task-based fMRI Studies in Youths With Irritability
Ka Shu Lee1, Cheyanne N Hagan2, Mina Hughes2
1Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut; University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
Summary
This review found no consistent brain activity patterns in children with irritability across different tasks. Standardized assessments and fMRI studies are needed to understand the neural basis of childhood irritability.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Child Psychology
- Psychiatric Disorders
Background:
- Childhood irritability is a common symptom across pediatric disorders.
- Task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating neural dysfunction in irritability have increased.
- An integrated review of fMRI methods and findings in childhood irritability is lacking.
Approach:
- A systematic search identified 30 studies on childhood irritability and task-based functional neuroimaging.
- Coordinate-based meta-analysis of 28 studies was performed using activation-likelihood estimation.
- Neural convergence across irritability measures and fMRI task domains was examined.
Key Points:
- Studies featured small, heterogeneous samples and diverse methods.
- Meta-analyses revealed no evidence of neural activation convergence for irritability across emotional reactivity, cognitive control, or reward processing domains.
- Sensitivity analyses controlling for heterogeneity also yielded null findings.
Conclusions:
- The lack of neural convergence highlights the need for standardized irritability assessments and homogeneous fMRI tasks.
- Future research should focus on well-defined neurocognitive functions to elucidate irritability's neural mechanisms.
- Open science practices and standardized methods are crucial for collaborative irritability research.
