Department of Psychological Science, Northern Michigan University, 1401 Presque Isle Avenue, Marquette, MI, 49855, USA.
Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2022 Jun;22(3):600-609. doi: 10.3758/s13415-021-00968-9. Epub 2021 Nov 9.
In a sample of highly anxious individuals, the relationship between gray matter volume brain morphology and attentional bias to threat was assessed. Participants performed a dot-probe task of attentional bias to threat and gray matter volume was acquired from whole brain structural T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans. The results replicate previous findings in unselected samples that elevated attentional bias to threat is linked to greater gray matter volume in the middle frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus. In addition, we provide novel evidence that elevated attentional bias to threat is associated with greater gray matter volume in the inferior frontal gyrus, insula, cerebellum, and other distributed regions. Lastly, exploratory analyses provide initial evidence that distinct subregions of the right posterior parietal cortex may contribute to attentional bias in a sex-specific manner. Our results illuminate how differences in gray matter volume morphology relate to attentional bias to threat in anxious individuals. This knowledge could inform neurocognitive models of anxiety-related attentional bias to threat.
在一组高度焦虑的个体中，评估了大脑形态学与对威胁的注意力偏向之间的灰质体积关系。参与者执行了威胁注意偏向的点探测任务，并且从全脑结构 T1 加权磁共振成像扫描中获得了灰质体积。研究结果复制了以前在未选择样本中的发现，即升高的对威胁的注意力偏向与额中回和额上回的灰质体积增加有关。此外，我们提供了新的证据表明，升高的对威胁的注意力偏向与下额叶回、脑岛、小脑和其他分布式区域的灰质体积增加有关。最后，探索性分析初步提供了证据，表明右后顶叶皮层的不同亚区可能以性别特异性的方式对注意力偏向产生影响。我们的研究结果阐明了灰质体积形态的差异如何与焦虑个体对威胁的注意力偏向相关。这些知识可以为焦虑相关的对威胁的注意力偏向的神经认知模型提供信息。
