scholarly journals Delay of gratification is associated with white matter connectivity in the dorsal prefrontal cortex: a diffusion tensor imaging study in chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes )

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1809) ◽  
pp. 20150764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Latzman ◽  
Jared P. Taglialatela ◽  
William D. Hopkins

Individual variability in delay of gratification (DG) is associated with a number of important outcomes in both non-human and human primates. Using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), this study describes the relationship between probabilistic estimates of white matter tracts projecting from the caudate to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and DG abilities in a sample of 49 captive chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ). After accounting for time between collection of DTI scans and DG measurement, age and sex, higher white matter connectivity between the caudate and right dorsal PFC was found to be significantly associated with the acquisition (i.e. training phase) but not the maintenance of DG abilities. No other associations were found to be significant. The integrity of white matter connectivity between regions of the striatum and the PFC appear to be associated with inhibitory control in chimpanzees, with perturbations on this circuit potentially leading to a variety of maladaptive outcomes. Additionally, results have potential translational implications for understanding the pathophysiology of a number of psychiatric and clinical outcomes in humans.

2013 ◽  
Vol 43 (12) ◽  
pp. 2513-2521 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. G. Buchanan ◽  
S. L. Rossell ◽  
J. J. Maller ◽  
W. L. Toh ◽  
S. Brennan ◽  
...  

BackgroundSeveral neuroimaging studies have investigated brain grey matter in people with body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), showing possible abnormalities in the limbic system, orbitofrontal cortex, caudate nuclei and temporal lobes. This study takes these findings forward by investigating white matter properties in BDD compared with controls using diffusion tensor imaging. It was hypothesized that the BDD sample would have widespread significantly reduced white matter connectivity as characterized by fractional anisotropy (FA).MethodA total of 20 participants with BDD and 20 healthy controls matched on age, gender and handedness underwent diffusion tensor imaging. FA, a measure of water diffusion within a voxel, was compared between groups on a voxel-by-voxel basis across the brain using tract-based spatial statistics within the FSL package.ResultsResults showed that, compared with healthy controls, BDD patients demonstrated significantly lower FA (p < 0.05) in most major white matter tracts throughout the brain, including in the superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corpus callosum. Lower FA levels could be accounted for by increased radial diffusivity as characterized by eigenvalues 2 and 3. No area of higher FA was found in BDD.ConclusionsThis study provided the first evidence of compromised white matter integrity within BDD patients. This suggests that there are inefficient connections between different brain areas, which may explain the cognitive and emotion regulation deficits within BDD patients.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 101963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari K. Gool ◽  
Rolf Fronczek ◽  
Alexander Leemans ◽  
Dennis A. Kies ◽  
Gert Jan Lammers ◽  
...  

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 1406-1421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Olson ◽  
Paul F. Collins ◽  
Catalina J. Hooper ◽  
Ryan Muetzel ◽  
Kelvin O. Lim ◽  
...  

Healthy participants (n = 79), ages 9–23, completed a delay discounting task assessing the extent to which the value of a monetary reward declines as the delay to its receipt increases. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to evaluate how individual differences in delay discounting relate to variation in fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) within whole-brain white matter using voxel-based regressions. Given that rapid prefrontal lobe development is occurring during this age range and that functional imaging studies have implicated the prefrontal cortex in discounting behavior, we hypothesized that differences in FA and MD would be associated with alterations in the discounting rate. The analyses revealed a number of clusters where less impulsive performance on the delay discounting task was associated with higher FA and lower MD. The clusters were located primarily in bilateral frontal and temporal lobes and were localized within white matter tracts, including portions of the inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculi, anterior thalamic radiation, uncinate fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, corticospinal tract, and splenium of the corpus callosum. FA increased and MD decreased with age in the majority of these regions. Some, but not all, of the discounting/DTI associations remained significant after controlling for age. Findings are discussed in terms of both developmental and age-independent effects of white matter organization on discounting behavior.


NeuroImage ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. S128
Author(s):  
H Lemaitre ◽  
S Marenco ◽  
M Emery ◽  
T Alam ◽  
M Geramita ◽  
...  

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