A Multi-Modal Investigation of the Neurobiology of Psychomotor Alterations in Mania and Depression

The proposed study aims to investigate the neural basis of psychomotor alterations across the various phases (mania, depression, and euthymia) of bipolar disorder (BD), by using a dimensional Research Domain Criteria (RDoC)-like and multimodal approach. In particular, we will characterize, for the first time, the specific relationships between psychomotor changes (as measured by objective methods with actigraphy) and intrinsic brain activity, from neuronal oscillations in the high-frequency range (as measured by electroencephalography) to large-scale network balancing and its subcortical modulation in the low-frequency range (as measured by resting-state functional magnetic imaging). The results from this study will allow us to parse the clinical heterogeneity of BD by focusing on one of its core clinical feature, such as psychomotor changes, and comprehensively map such behavioral alterations onto specific neural circuits across the full range of intrinsic neuronal oscillations. Moreover, this model may be generalized and applied trans-diagnostically to other major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and major depression, by using a dimensional approach. These results could even provide further information on the functional architecture of intrinsic brain activity underlying the psychomotor behavior in general. Our findings will be described in written papers and published in international Journals of neuroscience and psychiatry, as well as disseminated at conferences. Our study could also provide us with rich information to serve as a basis to translate into diagnostic and therapeutic applications. The individuation of different subgroups of patients characterized by specific and homogenous alterations at both behavioral and neural levels will assist in the diagnostic assessment and help to implement new, individualized, and more effective therapies that have a neuroscientific basis, such as non-invasive brain stimulation therapies specifically targeting the abnormal oscillation patterns in intrinsic brain activity.