White Lauren K, Britton Jennifer C, Sequeira Stefanie, Ronkin Emily G, Chen Gang, Bar-Haim Yair, Shechner Tomer, Ernst Monique, Fox Nathan A, Leibenluft Ellen, Pine Daniel S
National Institute of Mental Health, United States.
University of Miami, United States.
Neuroimage. 2016 Aug 1;136:84-93. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.058. Epub 2016 Apr 27.
Considerable translational research on anxiety examines attention bias to threat and the efficacy of attention training in reducing symptoms. Imaging research on the stability of brain functions engaged by attention bias tasks could inform such research. Perturbed fronto-amygdala function consistently arises in attention bias research on adolescent anxiety. The current report examines the stability of the activation and functional connectivity of these regions on the dot-probe task. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation and connectivity data were acquired with the dot-probe task in 39 healthy youth (f=18, Mean Age=13.71years, SD=2.31) at two time points, separated by approximately nine weeks. Intraclass-correlations demonstrate good reliability in both neural activation for the ventrolateral PFC and task-specific connectivity for fronto-amygdala circuitry. Behavioral measures showed generally poor test-retest reliability. These findings suggest potential avenues for future brain imaging work by highlighting brain circuitry manifesting stable functioning on the dot-probe attention bias task.
大量关于焦虑的转化研究考察了对威胁的注意偏向以及注意训练在减轻症状方面的效果。关于注意偏向任务所涉及的脑功能稳定性的成像研究可为这类研究提供信息。在青少年焦虑的注意偏向研究中，额叶 - 杏仁核功能紊乱持续出现。本报告考察了这些区域在点探测任务中的激活稳定性和功能连接性。通过点探测任务，在39名健康青少年（女性 = 18名，平均年龄 = 13.71岁，标准差 = 2.31）中，于两个时间点采集了功能磁共振成像（fMRI）激活和连接性数据，两个时间点相隔约九周。组内相关性表明，腹外侧前额叶皮质的神经激活以及额叶 - 杏仁核回路的任务特异性连接性均具有良好的可靠性。行为测量结果显示，重测信度总体较差。这些发现通过突出在点探测注意偏向任务中表现出稳定功能的脑回路，为未来的脑成像工作指明了潜在途径。
