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The IMAGEN study: reinforcement-related behaviour in normal brain function and psychopathology

Abstract

A fundamental function of the brain is to evaluate the emotional and motivational significance of stimuli and to adapt behaviour accordingly. The IMAGEN study is the first multicentre genetic-neuroimaging study aimed at identifying the genetic and neurobiological basis of individual variability in impulsivity, reinforcer sensitivity and emotional reactivity, and determining their predictive value for the development of frequent psychiatric disorders. Comprehensive behavioural and neuropsychological characterization, functional and structural neuroimaging and genome-wide association analyses of 2000 14-year-old adolescents are combined with functional genetics in animal and human models. Results will be validated in 1000 adolescents from the Canadian Saguenay Youth Study. The sample will be followed up longitudinally at the age of 16 years to investigate the predictive value of genetics and intermediate phenotypes for the development of frequent psychiatric disorders. This review describes the strategies the IMAGEN consortium used to meet the challenges posed by large-scale multicentre imaging–genomics investigations. We provide detailed methods and Standard Operating Procedures that we hope will be helpful for the design of future studies. These include standardization of the clinical, psychometric and neuroimaging-acquisition protocols, development of a central database for efficient analyses of large multimodal data sets and new analytic approaches to large-scale genetic neuroimaging analyses.

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Acknowledgements

IMAGEN study receives research funding from the European Community's Sixth Framework Programme (LSHM-CT-2007-037286). This paper reflects only the author's views, and the Community is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein. The Saguenay Youth Study project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Quebec, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. We thank all families for their help with this study.

Author contributionsDevelopment of the neuropsychological test battery in humans and behavioural test batteries in animals: TW Robbins, D Stephens, H Flor, JW Dalley; recruitment and psychometric standardization: P Conrod, M Struve, H Flor, H Garavan, A Heinz, K Mann, J-L Martinot, T Paus and Partner Delosis; Neuroimaging Standardization: G Barker, L Reed, C Mallik, B Ittermann; Neuroimaging assessment and analyses: C Büchel, T Paus, E Loth, H Flor, H Garavan, J Gallinat, M Smolka, K Mann, T Banaschewski; Data base development, preprocessing and statistical analyses (biostatistics): J-B Poline, A Barbot and Partners Nordic NeuroLab, Pertimm, Scito; Genetic analyses: G Schumann, M Lathrop, R Spanagel; Ethics: M Rietschel; Genetic neuroimaging training: A Ströhle, A Heinz; E Loth and G Schumann wrote this paper.

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Appendix

Appendix

IMAGEN consortium

King's College, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

G Schumann

P Conrod

L Reed

G Barker

S Williams

E Loth

M Struve

A Lourdusamy

S Costafreda

A Cattrell

C Nymberg

L Topper

L Smith

S Havatzias

K Stueber

C Mallik

T-K Clarke

D Stacey

C Peng Wong

H Werts

S Williams

C Andrew

S Desrivieres

S Zewdie (Coordination office)

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Campus Charité Mitte, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany

A Heinz

J Gallinat

I Häke

N Ivanov

A Klär

J Reuter

C Palafox

C Hohmann

C Schilling

K Lüdemann

A Romanowski

A Ströhle

E Wolff

M Rapp

Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Berlin, Germany

B Ittermann

R Brühl

A Ihlenfeld

B Walaszek

F Schubert

Institute of Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

H Garavan

C Connolly

J Jones

E Lalor

E McCabe

A Ní Shiothcháin

R Whelan

Department of Psychopharmacology, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

R Spanagel,

F Leonardi-Essmann,

W Sommer

Department of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

H Flor

S Vollstaedt-Klein

F Nees

Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

T Banaschewski

L Poustka

S Steiner

Department of Addictive Behaviour and Addiction Medicine, Mannheim, Germany

K Mann

M Buehler

S Vollstedt-Klein

Department of Genetic Epidemiology in Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

M Rietschel

E Stolzenburg

C Schmal

F Schirmbeck

Brain and Body Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

T Paus

P Gowland

N Heym

C Lawrence

C Newman

Z Pausova

Technische Universitaet Dresden, Dresden, Germany

M Smolka

T Huebner

S Ripke

E Mennigen

K Muller

V Ziesch

Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

C Büchel

U Bromberg

T Fadai

L Lueken

J Yacubian

J Finsterbusch

Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Service Hospitalier Frédéric Joliot, Orsay, France

J-L Martinot

E Artiges

N Bordas

S de Bournonville

Z Bricaud

F Gollier Briand

H Lemaitre

J Massicotte

R Miranda

M-L Paillère Martinot

J Penttilä

Neurospin, Commissariat à l′Energie Atomique, Paris, France

J-B Poline

A Barbot

Y Schwartz

C Lalanne

V Frouin

B Thyreau

Department of Experimental Psychology, Behavioural and Clinical Neurosciences Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

J Dalley

A Mar

T Robbins

N Subramaniam

D Theobald

N Richmond

M de Rover

A Molander

E Jordan

E Robinson

L Hipolata

M Moreno

Mercedes Arroyo

University of Sussex, Brighton, UK

D Stephens

T Ripley

H Crombag

Y Pena

Centre National de Genotypage, Evry, France (CNG)

M Lathrop

D Zelenika

S Heath

German Centre for Ethics in Medicine, Bonn (DZEM), Germany

D Lanzerath

B Heinrichs

T Spranger

Gesellschaft fuer Ablauforganisation m.b.H. (Munich) (GABO), Germany

B Fuchs

C Speiser

Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie, Zentrum für Psychosoziale Medizin, Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg, Germany

F Resch

J Haffner

P Parzer

R Brunner

Scito, Paris, France

A Klaassen

I Klaassen

PERTIMM, Asnières-Sur-Seine, France

P Constant

X Mignon

NordicNeuroLabs, Bergen, Norway

T Thomsen

S Zysset

A Vestboe

Delosis Ltd, London, UK

J Ireland

J Rogers

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Schumann, G., Loth, E., Banaschewski, T. et al. The IMAGEN study: reinforcement-related behaviour in normal brain function and psychopathology. Mol Psychiatry 15, 1128–1139 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2010.4

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