TOWARDS TRANSLATIONAL CROSS-VALIDATION OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS AND FMRI: EXPERIMENTAL IMPLEMENTATION

The Validation theory as exposed elsewhere, aims at establishment of novel, non-conventional approaches for validation in clinical psychology, capable to integrate data ranging from self-reports to neuroimaging biomarkers. This paper will deliver the initial results in a pilot study to test the feasibility of our model. The study includes administration of a state dependent clinical inventory (Depression Scale by Von Zerssen) simultaneously with measurement of blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signals which are supposed to correspond to brain activations as detected by means of functional MRI. The feasibility study has been performed at the Medical University of Plovdiv Research Complex for Translational Neuroscience from 2016 to 2017. Block design has been considered more appropriate given the purpose. Control item blocks with diagnostically neutral items have been introduced. The item response on a depression scale was found to correspond to the brain activations in middle frontal gyrus, parahyppocampal gyrus, hippocampus and anterior thalamus. Those areas are strongly implicated in the pathophysiological mechanisms of depressive disorder. The established translational validity can thereby endorse the diagnostic as well as treatment procedures in neuropsychiatry.