Translational Neuroscience: Fear, Safety and Reward Discrimination
Successful fear learning requires discrimination among valenced stimuli, in addition to mounting a fear response. In collaboration with Dr. Susan Sangha (Indiana University), our lab has translated a rodent task of fear discrimination to humans and is subsequently studying how deficits in stimuli discrimination contribute to atypical fear responding in those with PTSD. Part of this work has sought to validate the study of reward discrimination in those with PTSD.
Select Publications
Sangha, S., & Fitzgerald, J. M. (2024). Translational approaches to the neurobiological study of conditional discrimination and inhibition: Implications for psychiatric disease. Behavioral Neuroscience. PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., Webb, E.K., Sangha, S. (2023). Psychological and physiological discrimination of fear and reward in adults. Psychophysiology, 60(10), e14327. PDF
Bennett, M., Davis, K., Fitzgerald, J.M. (2023). Neural correlates of reward processing in the onset, maintenance, and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry: CNNI, 8(9), 884-890. PDF (selected as cover image of BP:CNNI in September 2023 - pictured to the right)
Select Presentations
Cross-species Collaborative Work. Presented at the Pavlovian Society Conference (September, 2020; presented virtually).
Neurobiology of Emotion Dysregulation in PTSD
Developing new paradigms for the study of PTSD necessitates a nuanced understanding of neurobiological deficits in this disorder. A major emphasis of our work is the study of differences in neural functioning and neurocircuitry between trauma-exposed controls versus PTSD using both fMRI and psychophysiology methods.
Findings from Kaley Davis’ publication on emotion conflict neural response predicting prospective PTSD severity (Davis et al, in press)
Select Publications
Davis, K., Tomas, C.W., Webb, E.K., Huggins, A.A., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L., Fitzgerald, J.M. (In press). Neural processes of emotional conflict detection and prediction of post-traumatic stress disorder symptom clusters in traumatic injury survivors. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., Timmer-Murillo, S., Sheeran, C.,* Begg, H.,* Christoph, M.,*, deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L. (2022). Psychophysiological predictors of change in emotion dysregulation six months after traumatic injury. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 173, 29-37. PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M.**, Webb, E.K.**, Weis, C.N., Huggins, A.A., Bennett, K.P., Miskovich, T.A., Krukowski, J.L., deRoon-Cassini, T.***, Larson, C.L.*** (2021). Hippocampal resting-state functional connectivity forecasts individual PTSD symptoms: A data-driven approach. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, S2451-9022(21)00232-9 ** = shared first author; *** = shared senior author PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., Belleau, E.L., Miskovich, T.A., Pedersen, W.S., Larson, C.L. (2020). Multi-voxel pattern analysis of amygdala functional connectivity as a predictor of variability in posttraumatic stress severity. Brain and Behavior, in press. PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., DiGangi, J., Phan, K.L. (2018). Functional neuroanatomy of emotion and its regulation in PTSD. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 26(3), 116-128. PDF
Neurobiology of Emotion in Health
Foundational to our work on neural disruptions of emotion processing in those with PTSD is our work on how the brain processes and regulates emotions in those without psychopathology. This work allows us to develop targeted approaches to studying specific processes in those with PTSD.
Select Publications
Fitzgerald, J.M., Kinney, K., Phan, K.L., Klumpp, H. (2018). Distinct neural engagement during implicit and explicit regulation of negative stimuli. Neuropsychologia, Epub ahead of print.
Full List of Publications
Ŧ denotes graduate student author; * denotes undergraduate student author
In press
Davis, K.,Ŧ Tomas, C.W., Webb, E.K., Huggins, A.A., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L., Fitzgerald, J.M. (In press). Neural processes of emotional conflict detection and prediction of post-traumatic stress disorder symptom clusters in traumatic injury survivors. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy PDF
Davis, K. E.Ŧ, Bennett, M. M.Ŧ, Hillard, C. J., Whittle, J., Franco, Z., Bollaert, R. E., & Fitzgerald, J. M. (2024). Effect of trauma type and trauma burden on self-efficacy for physical exercise in military veterans. Trauma, 14604086241231373. PDF
2024
Benjamin, T. A.Ŧ , Bennett, M. M.Ŧ , & Davis, K. E.Ŧ (2024). Environmental and Interpersonal Factors Impact the Developing Brain. Journal of Neuroscience, 44(31). PDF
Bennett, M. M. Ŧ , Tomas, C. W., & Fitzgerald, J. M. (2024). Relationship between heart rate variability and differential patterns of cortisol response to acute stressors in mid‐life adults: A data‐driven investigation. Stress and Health, 40(3), e3327. PDF
Bollaert, R. E., Bennett, M. M.Ŧ, Davis, K. E.Ŧ, Hillard, C. J., Whittle, J., Franco, Z., ... & Fitzgerald, J. (2024). Yoga for Veterans with PTSD: Intervention Feasibility, Changes in PTSD Symptom Severity, and Psychological and Physiological Health-Related Fitness Outcomes. International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 34(2024). PDF
Liuzzi, M. T., Harb, F., Petranu, K., Huggins, A. A., Webb, E. K., Fitzgerald, J. M., ... & Larson, C. L. (2024). The dichotomy of threat and deprivation as subtypes of childhood maltreatment: Differential functional connectivity patterns of threat and reward circuits in an adult trauma sample. Biological psychiatry: cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging, 9(2), 227-234. PDF
Huggins, A. A., Baird, C. L., Briggs, M., Laskowitz, S., Hussain, A., Fouda, S., ... & Morey, R. (2024). Smaller total and subregional cerebellar volumes in posttraumatic stress disorder: a mega-analysis by the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD workgroup. Molecular psychiatry, 29(3), 611-623. PDF
Sangha, S., & Fitzgerald, J. M. (2024). Translational approaches to the neurobiological study of conditional discrimination and inhibition: Implications for psychiatric disease. Behavioral Neuroscience. PDF
Suarez-Jimenez, B., Lazarov, A., Zhu, X., Zilcha-Mano, S., Kim, Y., Marino, C. E., ... & Morey, R. A. (2024). Intrusive Traumatic Re-Experiencing Domain: Functional Connectivity Feature Classification by the ENIGMA PTSD Consortium. Biological psychiatry global open science, 4(1), 299-307. PDF
2023
Fitzgerald, J. M., & Huggins, A. A. (2023). Perspectives on PTSD and its treatment. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 17, 1327251. PDF
Zhu, X., Kim, Y., Ravid, O., He, X., Suarez-Jimenez, B., Zilcha-Mano, S., ... & Morey, R. A. (2023). Neuroimaging-based classification of PTSD using data-driven computational approaches: A multisite big data study from the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD consortium. NeuroImage, 283, 120412. PDF
Jayan, D., Timmer-Murillo, S., Fitzgerald, J. M., Hillard, C. J., & de Roon-Cassini, T. A. (2023). Endocannabinoids, cortisol, and development of post-traumatic psychopathological trajectories. General Hospital Psychiatry, 85, 199-206. PDF
Bennett, M.,Ŧ Davis, K., Ŧ Fitzgerald, J.M. (2023). Neural correlates of reward processing in the onset, maintenance, and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry: CNNI, 8(9), 884-890. PDF Article selected by Editor to independently feature on issue cover and selected for commentary: Stout and Risbrough (2023). Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained: Understanding Reward Circuit Mechanisms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder PDF of commentary
Fitzgerald, J.M., Webb, E.K., Sangha, S. (2023). Psychological and physiological discrimination of fear and reward in adults. Psychophysiology, 60(10), e14327. PDF
Calkins, K., Guttormson, J., McAndrew, N.S., Losurdo, H., Loonsfoot, D., Schmitz, S., Fitzgerald, J.M. (2023). The Early Impact of COVID-19 on Intensive Care Nurses’ Personal and Professional Well-Being: A Qualitative Study. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 76: 103388. PDF
2022
Sun, D., Rakesh, G., Clarke-Rubright, E., Haswell, C., Buckley, N., Logue, M., O’Leary, B., Cotton, A., Xie, H., Dennis, E., Jahanshad, N., Salminen, L., Thomopoulos, S., Rashad, F., Koch, S., Frijling, J., Nawijn, L., Olff, M,, van Zuiden, M., Zhu, X., Neria, Y., Suarez-Jimenez, B., DeBellis, M,, Daniels, J., Sierk, A., Walter, H., Manthey, A., Stevens, J., Jovanovic, T., Fani, N., van Rooij, S., Stein, M., Shenton, M., Bomyea, J., Koerte, I., Choi, K., van de Werff, S., van deWerff, N., Vermeiren, R., Herzog, J.. Schmahl, C., Kaufman, M., Lebois, L., Baker, J., Ressler, K., Rosso, I., Olson, E. Straube, T., Hofmann, D., Bryant, R., Korgaonkar, M., Andrew, E., Wang, L., Zhu, Y., Li, G., Stein, D., Ipser, J., Mueller, S., Hudson, A., Phan, L., McLaughlin, K., Peverill, M., Sambrook, K., Veltman, D., Gordon, E., Nelson, S., May, G., Baugh, L., Forster, G., Simons, R., Simons, J., Magnotta, V., Fercho, K., Maron-Katz, A., du Plessis, S., Disner, S., Davenport, N., Grupe, D., Davidson, R., Nitschke, J., deRoon-Cassini, T., Fitzgerald, J., Larson, C., Sponheim, S., Etkin, A., Seedat, S., Harpaz-Rotem, I., Abdallah, C., Krystal, J., Levy, I., Gomaa, H., Liberzon, I., Wang, X., Thompson, P., Morey, R. (2022). A comparison of methods to harmonize cortical thickness across platforms and sites. NeuroImage, 1(261): 119509, ePub ahead of print. PDF
Tomas, C.W., Fitzgerald, J.M., Bergner, C., Ŧ Hillard, C.J., Larson, C.L., deRoon-Cassini, T.A. (2022). Machine learning prediction of PTSD trajectories following traumatic injury: identification and validation in two independent samples. Neurobiology of Stress, 35(6), 1656-1671. PDF
Sun, D., Rakesh, G., Clarke-Rubright, E., Haswell, C., Buckley, N., Logue, M., O’Leary, B., Cotton, A., Xie, H., Dennis, E., Jahanshad, N., Salminen, L., Thomopoulos, S., Rashad, F., Koch, S., Frijling, J., Nawijn, L., Olff, M,, van Zuiden, M., Zhu, X., Neria, Y., Suarez-Jimenez, B., DeBellis, M,, Daniels, J., Sierk, A., Walter, H., Manthey, A., Stevens, J., Jovanovic, T., Fani, N., van Rooij, S., Stein, M., Shenton, M., Bomyea, J., Koerte, I., Choi, K., van de Werff, S., van deWerff, N., Vermeiren, R., Herzog, J.. Schmahl, C., Kaufman, M., Lebois, L., Baker, J., Ressler, K., Rosso, I., Olson, E. Straube, T., Hofmann, D., Bryant, R., Korgaonkar, M., Andrew, E., Wang, L., Zhu, Y., Li, G., Stein, D., Ipser, J., Mueller, S., Hudson, A., Phan, L., McLaughlin, K., Peverill, M., Sambrook, K., Veltman, D., Gordon, E., Nelson, S., May, G., Baugh, L., Forster, G., Simons, R., Simons, J., Magnotta, V., Fercho, K., Maron-Katz, A., du Plessis, S., Disner, S., Davenport, N., Grupe, D., Davidson, R., Nitschke, J., deRoon-Cassini, T., Fitzgerald, J., Larson, C., Sponheim, S., Etkin, A., Seedat, S., Harpaz-Rotem, I., Abdallah, C., Krystal, J., Levy, I., Gomaa, H., Liberzon, I., Wang, X., Thompson, P., Morey, R. (2022). Remodeling of the Cortical Structural Connectome in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Results from the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD Consortium. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, 15, S2451-9022(22)00047-7. PDF
Tomas, C.W., Webb, E.K., Bennett, K.P., Huggins, A.A., Fitzgerald, J.M., Miskovich, T.A., Krukowski, J., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L. (2022). Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and the neurobiology of uncertainty in traumatically injured adults. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 2(3), 263-272. PDF
Guttormson, J., Calkins, K.L., McAndrew, N., Fitzgerald, J.M., Losurdo, H., Loonsfoot, D. (2022). Critical care nurse burnout and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic: A United States survey. Heart Lung, 55, 127–133. PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., Timmer-Murillo, S., Sheeran, C.,* Begg, H.,* Christoph, M.,*, deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L. (2022). Psychophysiological predictors of change in emotion dysregulation six months after traumatic injury. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 173, 29-37. PDF
Webb, E.K., Bird, C.M., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Weis, C.N., Huggins, A.A., Fitzgerald, J.M., Miskovich, T., Bennett, K., Krukowski, J., Torres, L., Larson, C.L. (2022). Racial Discrimination and Resting-State Functional Connectivity of Salience Network Nodes in Trauma-Exposed Black Adults in the United States. JAMA Network: Open, 5(1), e2144759. PDF
Clausen A.N., Fercho, K.A., Monsour, M., Disner, S., Salminen, L., Haswell, C.C., Clarke Rubright, E., Watts, A.A., Buckley, M.N., Maron-Katz, A., Sierk, A., Manthy, A., Suarez-Jimenez, B., Olatunji, B.O., Averill, C.L., Hofmann, D., Veltman, D.J., Olson, E.A., Li, G., Forster, G.L., Walter, H., Fitzgerald, J.M., Theberge, J., Simons, J.S., Bomyea, J., Frijling, J.L., Krystal, J.H., Baker, J.T., Phan, K.L., Ressler, K., Han, L., Nawijn, L., Lebois, L.A.M., Schmaal, L., Densmore, M., Shenton, M.E., van Zuiden, M., Stein, M., Fani, N., Simons, R.M., Neufeld, R.W.J., Bonomo, S., Jovanovic, T., deRoon-Cassini, T., Ely, T.D., Magnotta, V.A., He, X., Abdallah, C.G., Etkin, A., Schmahl, C., Larson, C., Rosso, I.M., Urbano Blackford, J., Stevens, J.S., Daniels, J.K., Herzog, J., Kaufman, M., Olff, M., Davidson, R.J., Sponheim, S.R., Mueller, S.C., Straube, T., Zhu, X., Neria, Y., Baugh, L.A., Cole, J.H., Thompson, P.M., Morey, R.A. (2022). Assessment of brain age in posttraumatic stress disorder: Findings from the ENIGMA PTSD and brain age working groups. Brain and Behavior, 12(1):e2413 PDF
Jayan, D., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Sauber, G., Hillard, C.J., Fitzgerald, J.M. (2022). A cluster analytic approach to examining the role of cortisol in the development of post-traumatic stress and dysphoria in adult traumatic injury survivors. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 135(105450). PDF
2021
Weis, C. N., Huggins, A. A., Miskovich, T. A., Fitzgerald, J. M., Bennett, K. P., deRoon-Cassini, T. A., Larson, C. L. (2021). Acute white matter integrity post-trauma predicts chronic PTSD symptoms. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 15(742198), eCollection. PDF
Guttormson, J.L., Calkins, K., McAndrew, N., Fitzgerald, J.M., Losurdo, H., Loonsfoot, D. (2021). Critical care nurses experiences during COVID-19: A United States national survey. American Journal of Critical Care. 27, e1-e7. PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M.**, Webb, E.K.**, Weis, C.N., Huggins, A.A., Bennett, K.P., Miskovich, T.A., Krukowski, J.L., deRoon-Cassini, T.***, Larson, C.L.*** (2021). Hippocampal resting-state functional connectivity forecasts individual PTSD symptoms: A data-driven approach. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, S2451-9022(21)00232-9 ** = shared first author; *** = shared senior author PDF Article selected for commentary: Neria et al (2021). Identifying Neurobiological Markers of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Using Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Data: The Promise of Data-Driven Computational Approaches PDF of commentary
Webb, E.K.,** Weis, C.N.** Huggins, A.A., Fitzgerald, J.M., Bennett, K., Bird, C., Parisi, E.A., Kallenbach, M., Miskovich, T., Krukowski, J., deRoon-Cassini, T., Larson, C.L. (2021). Neural impact of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage in traumatically-injured adults. Neurobiology of Stress, 15(100385). ** = shared first authorWeis, C.N., Webb, E.K., Huggins, A.A., Kallenbach, M., Miskovich T.A., Fitzgerald, J.M., Bennett, K.P., Krukowski, J.L., deRoon-Cassini, T.,* Larson, C.L.* (2021). Reliability of hippocampal subfield measurement using FreeSurfer in a longitudinal study of PTSD. NeuroImage, * = denotes shared senior authorship PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., Chesney, S.A., Sander Lee, T., Brasel, K., Larson, C.L., Hillard, C.J., deRoon-Cassini, T.A. (2021). Circulating endocannabinoids and prospective risk for depression in trauma-injury survivors. Neurobiology of Stress. PDF
2020
Fitzgerald, J.M., Belleau, E.L., Taubitz, L.E., Trevino, C., Brasel, K.J., Larson, C.L.*, deRoon-Cassini, T.* (2020). Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex resting state functional connectivity as a predictor of pain symptoms following motor vehicle crash: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Pain, in press. * = shared senior authorship PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., Belleau, E.L., Miskovich, T.A., Pedersen, W.S., Larson, C.L. (2020). Multi-voxel pattern analysis of amygdala functional connectivity as a predictor of variability in posttraumatic stress severity. Brain and Behavior, in press. PDF
Xing, M., Fitzgerald, J.M, Klumpp, H. (2020). Classification of social anxiety disorder with support vector machine analysis using neural correlates of social signals of threat. Frontiers in Psychiatry (11) 144, ePub. PDF
2019
Fitzgerald, J.M., Klumpp, H., Langenecker, S., Phan, K.L. (2019). Transdiagnostic neural correlates of volitional emotion regulation in anxiety and depression. Depression and Anxiety, 36(5), 453-464. PDF
Klumpp, H., Kinney, K.L., Bhaumik, R., Fitzgerald, J.M. (2019). Principal component analysis and brainbased predictors of emotion regulation in anxiety and depression. Psychological Medicine. PDF
2018
MacNamara, A., Jackson, B.T., Fitzgerald, J.M., Hajcak, G., Phan, K.L. (2018). Working memory load and negative picture processing: neural and behavioral associations with panic, social anxiety, and positive affect. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging, Epub ahead of print. PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., Kinney, K., Phan, K.L., Klumpp, H. (2018). Distinct neural engagement during implicit and explicit regulation of negative stimuli. Neuropsychologia, Epub ahead of print.
Fitzgerald, J.M., DiGangi, J., Phan, K.L. (2018). Functional neuroanatomy of emotion and its regulation in PTSD. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 26(3), 116-128. PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., Gorka, S.M., Kujawa, A., DiGangi, J., Proescher, E., Greenstein, J.E., Aase, D., Schroth, C., Afshar, K., Kennedy, A., Hajcak, G., Phan, K.L. (2018). Neural indices of emotional reactivity and regulation predict course of PTSD symptoms in combat-exposed veterans. Progress in NeuroPsychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 2(82), 255-262. PDF
Klumpp, H. Bhaumik, R., Kinney, K.L., Fitzgerald, J.M. (2018). Principle component analysis and neural predictors of emotion regulation. Behavioural Brain Research, 338, 128-133. PDF
2017
Fitzgerald, J.M., Kennedy, A.E., Shankman, S.A., Langenecker, S.A., Phan, K.L., Klumpp, H. (2017). Prefrontal and amygdala engagement during emotion regulation in generalized anxiety disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 218, 398-406. PDF
Fitzgerald, J.M., MacNamara, A., Kennedy, A.E., Rabinak, C., Rauch, S.A.M., Liberzon, I., Phan, K.L. (2017). Individual differences in cognitive reappraisal and emotion regulatory brain function in combatexposed veterans with and without PTSD. Depression and Anxiety, 34(1), 79-88. PDF
Klumpp, H., Fitzgerald, J.M., Kerry, K., Fitzgerald, D.A., Piejko, K., Roberts, J., Kennedy, A.E., Phan, K.L. (2017). Prefrontal control and predictors of cognitive behavioral therapy response in social and generalized anxiety disorders. NeuroImage: Clinical, 15, 25-34. PDF
2016
Fitzgerald, J.M., MacNamara, A., DiGangi, J.A., Kennedy, A.E., Rabinak, C.A., Patwell, R.S., Greenstein, J.E., Proescher, E., Rauch, S.A.M., Hajcak, G., Phan, K.L. (2016). An electrocortical investigation of voluntary emotion regulation in combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 249, 113-121. PDF