Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York; Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, New York.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2018 Feb;3(2):133-140. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2017.09.003. Epub 2017 Sep 14.
Externalizing behaviors are negative behaviors expressed outwardly, including rule breaking, aggression, and risk taking; internalizing behaviors are expressed inwardly, including depression, withdrawal, and anxiety. Such behavior can cause problems in early life and predict difficulties across the lifespan. There is evidence for a relationship between executive function and both externalizing and internalizing. However, although these behaviors occur along a spectrum, there is little neuroimaging research on this relationship in typically developing youth.
We assessed 41 youth (10-19 years of age) using the Multi-Source Interference Task during functional magnetic resonance imaging and related the findings to self-reported externalizing and internalizing scores as measured by the Youth Self-Report. We performed a general linear model using FSL software; externalizing, internalizing, age, and sex were included in the model.
Compared to the control condition, the more difficult Multi-Source Interference Task interference condition was associated with greater engagement of the frontoparietal cognitive control system and decreased engagement of regions in the default mode network, based on a cluster threshold of Z > 3.1 (p = .01). When we examined regions uniquely associated with either internalizing or externalizing, we found that within the same group of subjects, higher externalizing behavior was associated with hyperactivity in the parietal lobe; in contrast, higher internalizing behavior was associated with increased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex.
These findings suggest that externalizing and internalizing may be associated with altered, but different, patterns of activation during cognitive control. This has implications for our understanding of the relationship between cognitive control and behavioral problems in youth.
外化行为是向外表现出的负面行为，包括违反规则、攻击和冒险；内化行为是向内表现出的，包括抑郁、退缩和焦虑。这些行为会在早期生活中引发问题，并预测整个生命周期的困难。有证据表明，执行功能与外化和内化行为都有关。然而，尽管这些行为存在于一个连续体上，但在典型的发展青少年中，针对这种关系的神经影像学研究很少。
我们使用多源干扰任务在功能磁共振成像中评估了 41 名青少年（10-19 岁），并将这些发现与自我报告的外化和内化评分相关联，这些评分是通过青少年自我报告测量的。我们使用 FSL 软件进行了一般线性模型分析；将外部化、内化、年龄和性别纳入模型。
与对照条件相比，更困难的多源干扰任务干扰条件与额顶叶认知控制系统的更大参与以及默认模式网络中的区域参与减少相关，基于 Z > 3.1 的簇阈值（p =.01）。当我们检查与内化或外化唯一相关的区域时，我们发现，在同一组受试者中，较高的外化行为与顶叶的过度活跃有关；相比之下，较高的内化行为与内侧前额叶皮层的激活增加有关。
这些发现表明，外化和内化可能与认知控制期间改变但不同的激活模式有关。这对我们理解认知控制与青少年行为问题之间的关系具有启示意义。
