Mapping and Modeling Threat-Evoked Brain States after Early Life Adversity

Author

• Taylor W. Uselman, The University of New Mexico, School of MedicineFollow

Publication Date

Summer 7-28-2026

Abstract

Early life adversity (ELA) increases lifelong neuropsychiatric vulnerability. Yet how ELA reorganizes brain-wide activity and circuit coordination across later experience remains unclear. This dissertation tests the hypothesis that ELA alters adult brain-wide activity and responses to threat through disrupted coordination among neural systems that regulate emotional experience, including prefrontal-limbic and monoaminergic systems. Longitudinal manganese-enhanced MRI of adult mice exposed to standard or fragmented early care, combined with computational processing and statistical modeling, quantified brain states before, during, and long after innate predator threat. These studies established that acute threat evokes large-scale, distributed brain activity that evolves over time. ELA potentiates this activity, influences its trajectory, and perturbs its coordination across neural circuits. This work provides critical insight into brain-state dynamics after ELA and demonstrates the value of preclinical neuroimaging to elucidate the neural mechanisms of ELA-associated vulnerability.

Keywords

Longitudinal Manganese-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MEMRI), Early Life Adversity, Acute Threat, Brain States, Computational Modeling, Prefrontal-Limbic Circuits

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Biomedical Sciences

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program

First Committee Member (Chair)

Elaine L. Bearer

Second Committee Member

Jonathan L. Brigman

Third Committee Member

Erik B. Erhardt

Fourth Committee Member

Natalie L. Adolphi

Fifth Committee Member

Russell E. Jacobs

Recommended Citation

Uselman, Taylor W.. "Mapping and Modeling Threat-Evoked Brain States after Early Life Adversity." (2026). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/biom_etds/325