Researchers link satellite data with brain scans to identify environmental impacts on brain development

ATLANTA — A pioneering new study links satellite and brain imaging data to identify how environmental factors can impact mental health, cognition and brain development in young people.

The research, published in the journal Nature Mental Health, is part of a collaboration involving a team of university researchers from around the world led by experts in the tri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science (TReNDS Center) based at Georgia State University and New Light Technologies.

The National Institutes of Health-funded study, “Urban-Satellite Estimates in the ABCD Study: Linking Neuroimaging and Mental Health to Satellite Imagery Measurements of Macro Environmental Factors,” represents an advance in understanding how specific environmental conditions may impact the brains of young people.

The study’s senior author and principal investigator, Vince Calhoun, is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Georgia State with faculty appointments at Georgia Tech and Emory University, and leads the collaborative TReNDS Center.

“The findings highlight the importance of the urban environment in mental health. We see a critical window during childhood and adolescence where environmental factors can shape future cognitive and behavioral development,” Calhoun said.

Researchers used a dataset from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, which is the largest ongoing study on child brain development in the U.S. For the study, the team analyzed data collected from 11,800 children across 21 U.S. cities.

Calhoun said by linking fMRI imaging with satellite data, including the location of study participants, researchers were able to more robustly identify how the physical environment influences cognition and mental health outcomes in children ages 9 to 10.

Collaborating closely with the ABCD team, the researchers released their results as part of ABCD Data Release 5.0. This enables the research community to address critical questions regarding the connection between the environment and mental health.

Lead author and New Light Technologies Chief Scientist Ran Goldblatt said researchers analyzed satellite-based observations, including different types of land cover and land use and the amount of light emitted at night as captured by satellites. These "UrbanSat" data can be coupled to neuroimaging and behavioral measures to provide insights.

“The ABCD dataset provides a unique opportunity for a much deeper understanding of associations between a range of indicators of the complex physical urban environment and their impacts on mental health,” Goldblatt said. “This dataset also allows us to observe dynamic environmental changes and their impact on mental health over time, pinpointing specific interventions to boost mental well-being in various communities.”

The study looked at how land is used, including factors like light pollution and the number of buildings in an area, as a way to understand the area’s social and economic status. The researchers found that places with more light at night and more buildings tended to have lower levels of parental education and household income, while areas with more trees and plants were linked to higher education and income.

“With the precise, objective measurements of environmental aspects such as greenspaces, the density of urban areas and water bodies, the ABCD dataset can enrich our understanding of how physical surroundings impact brain activity through diverse complex physiological, psychological and social processes,” Calhoun said. “In this new study, we see that unique environmental and physical features may impact the extent and patterns of the brain’s gray and white matter and its functional network connectivity.”

The international, interdisciplinary team of researchers included experts from Heidelberg University in Mannheim, Germany; Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.; New York Medical College School of Medicine in Valhalla, N.Y.; the University of California San Diego; the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Okla.; Tianjin Medical University General Hospital in Tianjin, China; and the Centre for Population Neuroscience and Stratified Medicine (PONS) in Berlin.

Based at Georgia State University, the TReNDS Center is a research collaboration among Georgia State University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University. It focuses on developing, applying and sharing advanced analytic approaches and neuroinformatic tools that leverage cutting-edge brain imaging and large-scale data analysis with a goal of translating these approaches into biomarkers that can help address relevant areas of brain health and disease.

To learn more about the TReNDS Center, visit https://trendscenter.org/.

For more information about Georgia State research, visit research.gsu.edu.

Featured Researcher

Vince Calhoun
Distinguished University Professor, TReNDS Center Founding Director

Vince Calhoun is a Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) Eminent Scholar and Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at Georgia State with faculty appointments at Georgia Tech and Emory University. He is the founding director of the tri-institutional Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science. He is the author of more than 1,100 full journal articles. His work includes the development of flexible methods to analyze neuroimaging data including blind source separation, deep learning, brain dynamics, multimodal fusion and neuroinformatics.