scholarly journals Functional Connectivity under Anticipation of Shock: Correlates of Trait Anxious Affect versus Induced Anxiety

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1840-1853 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Bijsterbosch ◽  
Stephen Smith ◽  
Sonia J. Bishop
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Intervention Studies ◽  
Cognitive Intervention ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Negative Events ◽  
Aversive Stimuli ◽  
Latent Dimension ◽  
Complementary Mechanism ◽  
Threat Of Shock

Sustained anxiety about potential future negative events is an important feature of anxiety disorders. In this study, we used a novel anticipation of shock paradigm to investigate individual differences in functional connectivity during prolonged threat of shock. We examined the correlates of between-participant differences in trait anxious affect and induced anxiety, where the latter reflects changes in self-reported anxiety resulting from the shock manipulation. Dissociable effects of trait anxious affect and induced anxiety were observed. Participants with high scores on a latent dimension of anxious affect showed less increase in ventromedial pFC–amygdala connectivity between periods of safety and shock anticipation. Meanwhile, lower levels of induced anxiety were linked to greater augmentation of dorsolateral pFC–anterior insula connectivity during shock anticipation. These findings suggest that ventromedial pFC–amygdala and dorsolateral pFC–insula networks might both contribute to regulation of sustained fear responses, with their recruitment varying independently across participants. The former might reflect an evolutionarily old mechanism for reducing fear or anxiety, whereas the latter might reflect a complementary mechanism by which cognitive control can be implemented to diminish fear responses generated due to anticipation of aversive stimuli or events. These two circuits might provide complementary, alternate targets for exploration in future pharmacological and cognitive intervention studies.

scholarly journals Computational and neural mechanisms of affected beliefs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Müller-Pinzler ◽  
Nora Czekalla ◽  
Annalina V Mayer ◽  
Alexander Schröder ◽  
David S Stolz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Neural Activity ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Efficacy Beliefs ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Neural Mechanisms ◽  
Belief Formation ◽  
Prediction Errors ◽  
Subjective Value

The feedback people receive on their behavior shapes the process of belief formation and self-efficacy in mastering a given task. The neural and computational mechanisms of how the subjective value of these beliefs and corresponding affect bias the learning process are yet unclear. Here we investigate this question during learning of self-efficacy beliefs using fMRI, pupillometry, computational modeling and individual differences in affective experience. Biases in the formation of self-efficacy beliefs were associated with affect, pupil dilation and neural activity within the anterior insula, amygdala, VTA/SN, and mPFC. Specifically, neural and pupil responses map the valence of the prediction errors in correspondence to the experienced affect and learning bias people show during belief formation. Together with the functional connectivity dynamics of the anterior insula within this network our results hint towards neural and computational mechanisms that integrate affect in the process of belief formation.

scholarly journals Human Plasma BDNF Is Associated With Amygdala-Prefrontal Cortex Functional Connectivity and Problem Drinking Behaviors

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Stephanie M Gorka ◽  
Tara Teppen ◽  
Milena Radoman ◽  
K Luan Phan ◽  
Subhash C Pandey
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Alcohol Use ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Alcohol Use Disorder ◽  
Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor ◽  
Drinking Behaviors ◽  
Threat Of Shock

Abstract Background Preclinical studies suggest that decreased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the amygdala play a role in anxiety and alcohol use disorder. The association between brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and amygdala function in humans with alcohol use disorder is still unclear, although neuroimaging studies have also implicated the amygdala in alcohol use disorder and suggest that alcohol use disorder is associated with disrupted functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex during aversive states. Methods The current study investigated whether plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels in individuals with and without alcohol use disorder (n = 57) were associated with individual differences in amygdala reactivity and amygdala-prefrontal cortex functional connectivity during 2 forms of aversive responding captured via functional magnetic resonance imaging: anxiety elicited by unpredictable threat of shock and fear elicited by predictable threat of shock. We also examined whether brain-derived neurotrophic factor and brain function were associated with binge drinking episodes and alcohol use disorder age of onset. Results During anxiety, but not fear, lower levels of plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor were associated with less connectivity between the left amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus. In addition, within individuals with alcohol use disorder (only), lower levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and amygdala-medial prefrontal cortex functional connectivity during anxiety were associated with more binge episodes within the past 60 days and a lower age of alcohol use disorder onset. There were no associations between brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and focal amygdala task reactivity. Conclusions Together, the results indicate that plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels are related to amygdala circuit functioning in humans, particularly during anxiety, and these individual differences may relate to drinking behaviors.

scholarly journals Comparison of structural covariance with functional connectivity approaches exemplified by an investigation of the left anterior insula

NeuroImage ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 269-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mareike Clos ◽  
Claudia Rottschy ◽  
Angela R. Laird ◽  
Peter T. Fox ◽  
Simon B. Eickhoff
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Structural Covariance

Anesthesia-induced Suppression of Human Dorsal Anterior Insula Responsivity at Loss of Volitional Behavioral Response

2016 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 766-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Elizabeth Warnaby ◽  
Marta Seretny ◽  
Roísín Ní Mhuircheartaigh ◽  
Richard Rogers ◽  
Saad Jbabdi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Behavioral Responsiveness ◽  
Insula Cortex ◽  
Evoked Activity ◽  
The Right ◽  
Conjunction Analysis ◽  
External Stimuli

Abstract Background It has been postulated that a small cortical region could be responsible for the loss of behavioral responsiveness (LOBR) during general anesthesia. The authors hypothesize that any brain region demonstrating reduced activation to multisensory external stimuli around LOBR represents a key cortical gate underlying this transition. Furthermore, the authors hypothesize that this localized suppression is associated with breakdown in frontoparietal communication. Methods During both simultaneous electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) and electroencephalography data acquisition, 15 healthy volunteers experienced an ultraslow induction with propofol anesthesia while a paradigm of multisensory stimulation (i.e., auditory tones, words, and noxious pain stimuli) was presented. The authors performed separate analyses to identify changes in (1) stimulus-evoked activity, (2) functional connectivity, and (3) frontoparietal synchrony associated with LOBR. Results By using an FMRI conjunction analysis, the authors demonstrated that stimulus-evoked activity was suppressed in the right dorsal anterior insula cortex (dAIC) to all sensory modalities around LOBR. Furthermore, the authors found that the dAIC had reduced functional connectivity with the frontoparietal regions, specifically the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal lobule, after LOBR. Finally, reductions in the electroencephalography power synchrony between electrodes located in these frontoparietal regions were observed in the same subjects after LOBR. Conclusions The authors conclude that the dAIC is a potential cortical gate responsible for LOBR. Suppression of dAIC activity around LOBR was associated with disruption in the frontoparietal networks that was measurable using both electroencephalography synchrony and FMRI connectivity analyses.

Altered resting state functional connectivity of anterior insula in young smokers

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanzhi Bi ◽  
Kai Yuan ◽  
Yanyan Guan ◽  
Jiadong Cheng ◽  
Yajuan Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Young Smokers

scholarly journals Analyzing Individual Differences in Intervention-Related Changes

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 251524592097917
Author(s):  
Tanja Könen ◽  
Julia Karbach
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Measurement Invariance ◽  
Educational Psychology ◽  
Intervention Studies ◽  
Regression To The Mean ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Occupational Psychology ◽  
Average Group ◽  
The Mean

Intervention studies can be expensive and time-consuming, which is why it is important to extract as much knowledge as possible. We discuss benefits and limitations of analyzing individual differences in intervention studies in addition to traditional analyses of average group effects. First, we present a short introduction to latent change modeling and measurement invariance in the context of intervention studies. Then, we give an overview on options for analyzing individual differences in intervention-related changes with a focus on how substantive information can be distinguished from methodological artifacts (e.g., regression to the mean). The main topics are benefits and limitations of predicting changes with baseline data and of analyzing correlated change. Both approaches can offer descriptive correlational information about individuals in interventions, which can inform future variations of experimental conditions. Applications increasingly emerge in the literature—from clinical, developmental, and educational psychology to occupational psychology—and demonstrate their potential across all of psychology.

scholarly journals Resting State Functional Connectivity Predicts Future Changes in Sedentary Behavior

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Morris ◽  
Aaron Kucyi ◽  
Sheeba Arnold Anteraper ◽  
Maiya Rachel Geddes ◽  
Alfonso Nieto-Castañon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Exercise Intervention ◽  
Supplementary Motor Area ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Motor Area ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Sedentary Behaviors ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
The Right

AbstractInformation about a person’s available energy resources is integrated in daily behavioral choices that weigh motor costs against expected rewards. It has been posited that humans have an innate attraction towards effort minimization and that executive control is required to overcome this prepotent disposition. With sedentary behaviors increasing at the cost of millions of dollars spent in health care and productivity losses due to physical inactivity-related deaths, understanding the predictors of sedentary behaviors will improve future intervention development and precision medicine approaches. In 64 healthy older adults participating in a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention, we use neuroimaging (resting state functional connectivity), baseline measures of executive function and accelerometer measures of time spent sedentary to predict future changes in objectively measured time spent sedentary in daily life. Using cross-validation and bootstrap resampling, our results demonstrate that functional connectivity between 1) the anterior cingulate cortex and the supplementary motor area and 2) the right anterior insula and the left temporoparietal/temporooccipital junction, predict changes in time spent sedentary, whereas baseline cognitive, behavioral and demographic measures do not. Previous research has shown activation in and between the anterior cingulate and supplementary motor area as well as in the right anterior insula during effort avoidance and tasks that integrate motor costs and reward benefits in effort-based decision making. Our results add important knowledge toward understanding mechanistic associations underlying complex sedentary behaviors.

scholarly journals A sub+ cortical fMRI-based surface parcellation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Lewis ◽  
Gleb Bezgin ◽  
Vladimir S. Fonov ◽  
D. Louis Collins ◽  
Alan C. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Life Span ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Subcortical Structures ◽  
Common Space ◽  
Cortical Parcellation ◽  
Connectivity Patterns ◽  
Deep Gray Matter ◽  
Volumetric Registration

AbstractBoth the cortex and the subcortical structures are organized into a large number of distinct areas reflecting functional and cytoarchitectonic differences. Mapping these areas is of fundamental importance to neuroscience. A central obstacle to this task is the inaccuracy associated with mapping results from individuals into a common space. The vast individual differences in morphology pose a serious problem for volumetric registration. Surface-based approaches fare substantially better, but have thus far been used only for cortical parcellation. We extend this surface-based approach to include also the subcortical deep gray-matter structures. Using the life-span data from the Enhanced Nathan Klein Institute - Rockland Sample, comprised of data from 590 individuals from 6 to 85 years of age, we generate a functional parcellation of both the cortical and subcortical surfaces. To assess this extended parcellation, we show that our extended functional parcellation provides greater homogeneity of functional connectivity patterns than do arbitrary parcellations matching in the number and size of parcels. We also show that our subcortical parcels align with known subnuclei. Further, we show that this parcellation is appropriate for use with data from other modalities; we generate cortical and subcortical white/gray contrast measures for this same dataset, and draw on the fact that areal differences are evident in the relation of white/gray contrast to age, to sex, to brain volume, and to interactions of these terms; we show that our extended functional parcellation provides an improved fit to the complexity of the life-span changes in the white/gray contrast data compared to arbitrary parcellations matching in the number and size of parcels. We provide our extended functional parcellation for the use of the neuroimaging community.

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