Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

Intergenerational transmission is a crucial aspect of human development. Although prior studies have demonstrated the continuity of psychopathology between parents and offspring, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. Neuroimaging studies have suggested that parent-offspring brain similarities should explain the mechanism of intergenerational transmission of psychopathology. However, what factors predict parent-offspring brain similarities are unknown. In this study, we will challenge to investigate the causal relationship among shared environments, early life experiences, age of both parent and offspring, and parent-offspring brain similarities, using statistical causal discovery.

Principal investigator Izumi Matsudaira (Assistant professor, FRIS) and co-investigator Ryo Yamaguchi (Graduate student, Graduate School of Medicine) have explored the gender specificity of parent-offspring similarities in brain structural features using neuroimaging data of biological father, mother, and offspring (parent-offspring trios). Co-investigator Yuka Fujiki (Assistant professor, FRIS) is an expert of complex networks and has an experience of statistical causal discovery. This interdisciplinary research will pave the way for the break of the intergenerational chain of mental illness.