Empirically validate cognitive abilities as an RDoC transdiagnostic domain for mental health across neural and genetic units of analysis

A leading transdiagnostic framework, RDoC, posits that cognitive abilities are a major functional domain underlying mental health. Specifically, RDoC assumes the relationship between cognitive abilities and mental health to be 1) manifested across neural and genetic units of analysis, 2) environmentally situated, and 3) reliable. To test these assumptions, we applied machine learning and commonality analyses to the ABCD dataset (n=11,876). Mental health predicted cognitive abilities of unseen children at out-of-sample r =.39. At baseline, this cognitive-abilities-mental-health relationship was accounted for by neuroimaging (including 45 types of brain MRI; 71%), by polygenic scores (18%) and by socio-demographics, lifestyles and developments (70%). Moreover, the variance in the cognitive-abilities-mental-health that was captured by socio-demographics, lifestyles and developments was explained by neuroimaging (68%) and polygenic scores (28%). These patterns were similar across two years. Consistent with RDoC, the cognitive-abilities-mental-health relationship was 1) manifested in both neuroimaging and polygenic scores, 2) explained by socio-demographics, lifestyles and developments and 3) reliable across two years. This supports RDoC’s view of cognitive abilities as an integrative-functional domain for the aetiology of mental health.