Dr. Alvarez has received the Young Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation. His study aims to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the effects of mildly painful stimuli that are predictable or unpredictable on emotion and pain reactivity in depressed individuals compared to healthy controls. Major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly co-morbid with anxiety disorders and chronic pain conditions suggesting that common brain systems may underlie these illnesses. Studies in humans and animals suggest that increased anxiety during the anticipation of unpredictable or uncertain threats may rely on a different brain system than that which is engaged during the anticipation of predictable or imminent threats. Fear responses to predictable threats appear to involve a brain system centered on the amygdala, whereas anxiety responses to temporally unpredictable threats are hypothesized to involve a system that includes the amygdala and a neighboring brain structure called the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Both of these brain regions are capable of influencing emotion and pain processing, and are subject to the influence of brain activity in other areas such as medial prefrontal cortex. Knowledge concerning the specific brain pathways involved in pain and emotional responsivity in MDD will aid in the understanding of how these pathways are altered in the illness and may be reversed with proper treatment.
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