About

Monica Luciana, PhD, is the Principal Investigator at the Brain and Behavioral Processes Laboratory at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on the neurobehavioral impacts of medical cannabis on pain, reward, motivation, and risk-taking in young adults. She is involved in studies examining the disrupted development of neural connections following alcohol use initiation in adolescents, as well as longitudinal brain and behavioral effects of marijuana use in adolescent-onset users. Her work also includes projects on adolescent brain and cognitive development, behavioral approach system dysregulation in adolescents with bipolar disorder, and the neurobehavioral impacts of medical cannabis on pain and other behavioral outcomes.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Developmental psychology
• Psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Pediatrics
• Audiology
• Neuroscience
• Pathology
• Radiology
• Family medicine
• Internal medicine
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• Leveraging Network Structure in Changepoint Detection for Dynamic Functional Connectivity in Resting-State fMRI Data

  Statistics and data science in imaging. · 2026-04-14

  articleOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• 126. Valence-Specific Links Between Emotional Interference, Neural Flexibility, and Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms

  Biological Psychiatry · 2026-04-25

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Reward and executive control imbalances in adolescence: measurement and implications for our understanding of alcohol use

  Frontiers in Adolescent Medicine · 2026-01-05

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Heuristic models of adolescent development posit that differences in the maturational trajectories of reward vs. executive control systems influence propensities toward adolescent risk-taking, including alcohol use engagement. However, most studies measure reward and control processes in isolation and do not consider their joint influences on outcomes of interest through the course of adolescent development. This theoretical review summarizes recent additive, interaction-based, and within-person models that have investigated the joint contributions of reward and executive control systems to adolescent alcohol use patterns. Importantly, based on theoretical and methodological grounds, longitudinal within-person assessments appear to provide the most valid assessment of the developmental imbalance between reward and executive control systems and its impacts on risk-taking behaviors. Findings indicate that developmental trajectories, in conjunction with individual variations in the extent and developmental change of imbalances, are associated with adolescent alcohol involvement. The literature is characterized by various limitations, including heterogeneity in construct conceptualization, measurement of predictors and outcomes, and age range of participants, which complicates interpretation. Moreover, there are numerous methodological constraints of additive and interaction models in the measurement of reward-control differences. Future research that carefully considers study design, construct measurement, and modeling approaches is needed. It is recommended that these studies use within-person designs to quantify developmental imbalances and their associations with concurrent and prospective alcohol use patterns and that special effort be given to teasing apart the influences of developmental vs. individual difference factors.

  PublisherDOI

• ABCD Study(R) Data Release 7.0

  Lasso NBDC Data Repository · 2026-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  The ABCD Curated Data Release 7.0 addresses data quality issues discovered after the Release 6.1. For a detailed description of these changes and all of the measures included in this release, visit the 7.0 release notes available at https://docs.abcdstudy.org/latest/. Release 7.0 includes high-quality baseline data (9-10 years of age) from 11,868 research participants and longitudinal data through the 6-year follow up (15-16 years of age), including raw and derivative MRI data (minimally processed brain image volumes and Freesurfer data), tabulated structural MRI, diffusion MRI, resting-state fMRI, and task fMRI results, as well as non-imaging assessment data from the genetics, mental health, physical health, neurocognition, substance use, novel technology, and culture environment domains, and linked external data. Item-level data are available for the neurocognitive and task fMRI studies, as well as selected file-based data from the genetics, novel technology, and substance use domains. For neuroimaging assessments, this release contains all baseline, 2-year, 4-year, and about half of the 6-year follow-up data. For non-imaging assessments, this release contains complete data from the baseline through the 4-year follow-up visits, most of the data from the 5-year follow-up visit, and about half of the data from the 6-year follow-up visit. Data from associated substudies are also included (Social Development, Endocannabinoids, Hurricane Irma, COVID-19, MR Spectroscopy).

  PublisherDOI

• Dynamic Functional Connectivity, Major Depression, and Suicidal Ideation in Children

  Human Brain Mapping · 2026-02-15

  articleOpen access

  There is an urgent need to advance understanding of the neural underpinnings of depression, especially early in the life span. Examination of neural dynamics using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data can provide indices of neural flexibility, which may provide important new insights for the neurobiology of pediatric depression. Here we applied Hidden Markov Modeling (HMM) to resting-state fMRI data to investigate neural flexibility in relation to depression and suicidal thinking in children. We utilized data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ Study (ABCD Study), and included data from 10,763 children (9-10 years) who completed two 5-min resting state fMRI scans at the baseline visit. After applying the NeuroMark framework to the data, HMM was applied with a varying number of states; a six-state model was selected from candidate models based on between-scan reliability. We applied linear mixed-effect modeling to test the relationship between two clinical predictors: current major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnosis and presence of suicidal ideation (SI) with our primary outcome for neural flexibility: the frequency of transitions between HMM-derived states ("state-switching"), while including sex, age, and other socio-demographic variables as covariates. Analyses were conducted both with and without correction for head motion. We also explored relationships with total time and dwell time in each state of the six states. Lower state-switching during rest was associated with both MDD and SI, although these findings were no longer significant after correcting for head motion. Notably, state-switching was inversely related to head motion and was higher in females than males. Exploratory analysis showed that MDD was associated with shorter dwell time in one state and longer dwell time in another, suggesting altered temporal persistence of specific neural configurations. Tentative evidence supported our hypothesis that lower state-switching in children with MDD and SI may reflect a reduction in brain flexibility, potentially contributing to a tendency to become "stuck" in negative patterns of thinking and feeling. However, the relatively low frequency of these problems in late childhood reduced statistical power after correcting for motion. Future research is needed to assess these relationships at later adolescent time points, when higher prevalence of depression and SI and lower prevalence of head motion will allow more powerful tests of these associations.

  PublisherDOI

• Social and clinical frailty indices in aging mice: a comparative analysis of longitudinal and cross-sectional designs

  The Journals of Gerontology Series A · 2026-02-12

  article

  Aging is a heterogeneous phenomenon provoked by biological processes that still need to be fully understood. Frailty is a relevant outcome of aging reflecting biological decline that can be quantified through indices measuring the accumulation of functional deficits. Age-related declines may occur across multiple domains of functioning, and longitudinal study designs may better characterize decline within aging individuals. Thus, it is imperative to characterize how frailty indices that capture different functional domains associate with one another over the natural lifespan and across study designs. Here, the clinical frailty index (CFI) and the mouse social frailty index (mSFI) were applied to male and female mice both longitudinally and cross-sectionally over the lifespan. An overall similar association with aging was apparent: within each cohort, both CFI and mSFI were strongly positively associated with age. The utility of the CFI and mSFI as age predictors within the longitudinal study was confirmed. Critically, a model developed within the longitudinal study based on CFI scores, mSFI scores, and sex was able to predict age better than alternative models using only one of the indices. This result suggests that the CFI and the mSFI capture intrinsically different elements of deficit accumulation with age. The same model also showed a good performance in predicting the age of mice in the cross-sectional study. Overall, these results demonstrate that the information captured by both frailty indices is relevant to aging, relationships between indices vary across study design, and both frailty domains are needed to produce better age predictions.

  PublisherDOI

• 584. Machine Learning and fMRI-Based Prediction of Craving in Methamphetamine Use Disorder

  Biological Psychiatry · 2025-04-09

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Neural Correlates of Psychopathology

  2025-03-28

  otherOpen accessSenior author

  This chapter provides an overview of the neural systems implicated in processing of health messaging that may be leveraged when tailoring messages for individuals with psychopathology. The first section includes a brief primer on human cognitive and affective neuroscience, with an emphasis on the salience, default mode, and executive control networks. These networks are then considered in the context of communication neuroscience to demonstrate how their recruitment may underpin information-processing biases when viewing persuasive messages. We then describe the structure of psychopathology by considering symptoms using a hierarchical and dimensional framework. Aligned with this transdiagnostic approach, the neural correlates of general psychopathology are reviewed, critically implicating disruption of the salience network as a mechanism driving alterations in executive functioning in this population. Finally, we integrate findings across clinical and communication neurosciences to show how salience network functioning in those with psychopathology may contribute to processing differences while viewing persuasive health messaging and provide opportunities for tailoring messages to better serve this population. Open questions and ethical implications are discussed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Prospective Predictors of Adolescent Screen Time and Problematic Screen Use

  JAACAP Open · 2025-07-03 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Objective: Adolescent digital media use is highly prevalent. However, potential harms are unclear, as prospective studies of outcomes of screen-naïve youth are sparse. This study assessed whether individual differences in 4 domains relevant to addiction, measured in late childhood, prospectively predicted average daily hours of screen time (ST) and problematic screen use (PSU), defined as screen use that is compulsive and distressing, of 3 screen activities in mid-adolescence. Method: Youth (N = 4,754) with available data at the baseline and year 4 waves of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) Study (data release 5.1) were included. Independent linear mixed-effects regression models tested whether facets of impulsivity, motivation, psychopathology, and cognitive ability at ages 9 to 10, when screen use was minimal, predicted ST and PSU of video games, social media, and smartphones at ages 12 to 15, controlling for demographics and nesting participants within families and study sites. Results: ST in mid-adolescence was positively predicted by baseline urgency, a facet of impulsivity, as well as reward sensitivity and externalizing. ST was negatively predicted by cognitive ability. Across all measured screen activities, PSU at ages 12 to 15 was positively predicted by urgency and punishment sensitivity, but not by cognitive abilities. PSU of video games and smartphones was predicted by externalizing. In mid-adolescence, ST and PSU of video games was predicted by internalizing. Conclusion: Engaging with digital media for many hours each day does not necessarily imply problematic use. Problematic screen use in mid-adolescence appears uniquely predicted by traits related to anxious distress. Comparisons with other addictive behaviors are discussed. Clinical guidance: • Routinely assess the healthiness of young patients' screen use behaviors in mental health contexts.• Initiate open-ended conversations with child and adolescent patients about their feelings about screen media.• Encourage parents of adolescents to consider monitoring the screen use of their children, especially children with pre-existing mental health challenges.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Within-person imbalance of reward sensitivity and executive functioning across adolescent development: A longitudinal examination of the dual systems model from childhood to adulthood.

  Developmental Psychology · 2025-05-05 · 7 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The dual systems model of adolescent development asserts that the neurobiological systems underlying reward/motivational processes and cognitive control mature at different rates, resulting in an "imbalance" during adolescence whereby adolescents are biased toward rewards but unable to exert sufficient executive control in risk-taking contexts. While a hypothesized imbalance between these systems is central to the dual systems model, few studies have investigated longitudinal trajectories within and between each system with age. Therefore, this validation study assessed the developmental trajectories of the reward and control systems, and directly quantified within-person differences between these systems using an accelerated longitudinal design, including up to five biennial assessments per participant. The sample included 166 predominately White individuals from middle-class to upper-middle-class backgrounds, aged 9-29 years, of which 54% were female at birth. Results indicate that both self-reported reward sensitivity and laboratory-based executive functions increase rapidly during early adolescence and plateau by early adulthood. Findings provide evidence for a unique period of developmental imbalance with heightened reward sensitivity relative to executive control present in early adolescence and imply that most adolescents demonstrate top-down regulatory control over incentive-reward motivation by mid-to-late adolescence. However, some individuals deviate from this mean-level trend, suggesting that individual differences in neurodevelopment must be considered as important determinants of decision-making in later adolescence. Further research into how developmental differences between reward and control systems relate to decision-making processes, including risk-taking tendencies, is an important future direction for this research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant T32MH017069

  NIH · $3.0M · 2013

• 3/21 ABCD-USA CONSORTIUM: RESEARCH PROJECT SITE AT U MINNESOTA

  NIH · $34.5M · 2015–2027

• NIH Grant M01RR000400

  NIH · $21.0M · 2010

• Disrupted development of neural connections by alcohol initiation in adolescence

  NIH · $2.7M · 2011–2018

• NIH Grant R01DA017843

  NIH · $2.8M · 2011

Frequent coauthors

• Paul F. Collins

  University of Minnesota

  50 shared

• Snežana Urošević

  Twin Cities Orthopedics

  31 shared

• Marie T. Banich

  University of Colorado Boulder

  21 shared

• Kelvin O. Lim

  University of Minnesota

  17 shared

• James M. Bjork

  17 shared

• Sandra Thijssen

  Radboud University Nijmegen

  17 shared

• Erin McGlade

  Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers

  16 shared

• Ryan L. Muetzel

  Erasmus MC - Sophia Children’s Hospital

  16 shared

Labs

• Brain and Behavioral Processes LaboratoryPI

  1-2 sentence research focus

Awards & honors

• McKnight Land-Grant Professorship (2001 - 2003)
• Distinguished McKnight University Professorship (2017 - pres…
• Award for Outstanding Contributions to Postbaccalaureate, Gr…