PMBC Home Page . . .
Overview, Common Pathways Model, Administrative structureLink to PMBC Members and Contact InfoUpcoming and past Lectures, Workshops, Journal Clubs, etc.Pilot research and other PMBC research projects, PMBC publicationsReviews of assessment tools, Consultation, Equipment referralsClinical Scholars Program, Workshops, Lectures, Summer InstituteMeasurement Resources . . .Request consult on Biological, Psychosocial, Health Behavior, or Sleep research		 The Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center supports two projects that use functional neuroimaging to
understand how the brain regulates cardiovascular reactions to stress (e.g., increases in blood
pressure). More broadly, these neuroimaging projects represent a line of research on how the
brain mediates the relationship between psychosocial risk factors for chronic disease (e.g., lower
socioeconomic status, poor sleep quality, and chronic stress) and physiological reactions to
stress (e.g., large increases in blood pressure) that may lead to adverse health outcomes,
such as atherosclerosis.

In the first project, called the Hearts and Minds Study, women who are participating in a
long-term longitudinal study of cardiovascular risk (The Healthy Women Study), complete a
laboratory stress reactivity protocol, a one-week sleep and physical activity assessment protocol,
and then a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) stress reactivity protocol.

A central goal of the Hearts and Minds Study is to characterize the brain areas that may be
involved in mediating blood pressure reactions to stress that may ncrease a woman's risk for
cardiovascular disease. Another goal is to understand how other psychosocial risk factors for
cardiovascular disease relate to patterns of brain morphology and activity during stress.
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In the second project, called the Functional Imaging of Economic Status (FIESTA) project,
individuals from varying socioeconomic backgrounds are being tested in an fMRI study to
understand how social, economic, and environmental factors in childhood affect how the brain
processes emotional information and regulates physiological reactions to stress.
This project is supported by PMBC pilot funds.

A collaborative team of investigators from the Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center, including
Peter J. Gianaros, J. Richard Jennings, Karen A. Matthews, Jeffrey Horenstein, Sheldon Cohen,
Steve Manuck, and Ahmad Hariri are leading these studies. 

Students and trainees who wish to pursue training opportunities in the application of functional
neuroimaging methods to issues in biobehavioral health should contact Dr. Gianaros or Dr. Jennings.

Publications
Gianaros PJ, Jennings JR, Sheu LK, Derbyshire SWG, & Matthews KA (2007). Heightened
functional neural reactivity to psychological stress covaries with exaggerated blood pressure
reactivity. Hypertension, 49, 134-140.
Gianaros PJ, Jennings JR, Sheu LK, Greer PJ, Kuller LH, & Matthews KA (2007).
Prospective reports of chronic life stress predict decreased grey matter volume in the
hippocampus. NeuroImage, 35, 795-803.
Gianaros PJ, Horenstein JA, Cohen S, Matthews KA, Brown SM, Flory JD, Critchley HD,
Manuck SB, Hariri AR (2007). Perigenual anterior cingulate morphology covaries with
perceived social standing. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience.
Available at http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/2/3/161
Gianaros PJ, Horenstein JA, Hariri AR, Sheu LK, Manuck SB, Matthews KA, Cohen S.
(2008). Potential neural embedding of parental social standing. Social, Cognitive, and
Affective Neuroscience.
Available at http://scan.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/nsn003v1
Gianaros PJ, Matthews KA, Jennings JR, Sheu LK, Manuck SB, Hariri AR (2008). Individual
differences in stressor-evoked blood pressure reactivity vary activation, volume, and functional
connectivity of the amygdala. Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 990-999.
Egizio VB, Jennings JR, Christie IC, Sheu LK, Matthews KA, Gianaros PJ (in press).
Cardiac-vagal activity during psychological stress varies with social functioning in older
women. Psychophysiology.
 
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Revised 3/4/2008  la/tc

 

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