Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Chongqing, 400715, China.
Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, No. 2, Tiansheng Road, Beibei District, Chongqing, 400715, China.
Brain Imaging Behav. 2023 Oct;17(5):481-493. doi: 10.1007/s11682-023-00776-4. Epub 2023 Jun 6.
As a social and public health concern, loneliness is associated with an abundance of negative life outcomes such as depressive symptomatology, mortality, and sleep disturbance. Nevertheless, the neural basis underlying loneliness remains elusive; in addition, previous neuroimaging studies about loneliness mainly focused on the elderly and were limited by small sample sizes. Here, utilizing the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) approach via structural magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the association between brain GMV and loneliness in 462 young adults (67.7% females, age = 18.59 ± 1.14 years). Results from whole-brain VBM analyses revealed that individuals with higher loneliness tended to have greater GMV in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which was thought to be associated with emotional regulation deficits and executive dysfunction. Importantly, the GMV-based predictive models (a machine-learning method) demonstrated that the correlation between loneliness and GMV in the DLPFC was robust. Further, interpersonal self-support traits (ISS), a Chinese indigenous personality construct and pivotal personality factor for resisting negative life outcomes, mediated the relationship between the GMV in the right DLPFC and loneliness. Taken together, the present study reveals that the GMV in right DLPFC acts as an underlying neurostructural correlate of loneliness in the healthy brain, and further provides a brain-personality-symptom pathway for protection against loneliness in which GMV of DLPFC affects loneliness through ISS traits. Future intervention procedures aiming to decrease loneliness and enhance mental health levels among young adults should be developed through improving interpersonal relationships such as social skills training.
作为一个社会和公共卫生问题，孤独与许多负面的生活结果有关，如抑郁症状、死亡率和睡眠障碍。然而，孤独的神经基础仍然难以捉摸；此外，以前关于孤独的神经影像学研究主要集中在老年人身上，并且受到样本量小的限制。在这里，我们利用基于体素的形态测量学（VBM）方法，通过结构磁共振成像，研究了 462 名年轻成年人（67.7%为女性，年龄=18.59±1.14 岁）的大脑 GMV 与孤独感之间的关系。全脑 VBM 分析的结果表明，孤独感较高的个体右背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）的 GMV 较大，这被认为与情绪调节缺陷和执行功能障碍有关。重要的是，基于 GMV 的预测模型（一种机器学习方法）表明，DLPFC 中的孤独感和 GMV 之间的相关性是稳健的。此外，人际自我支持特质（ISS），一个中国本土的人格结构和抵抗负面生活结果的关键人格因素，介导了右 DLPFC 的 GMV 与孤独感之间的关系。总之，本研究揭示了右 DLPFC 的 GMV 是健康大脑中孤独感的潜在神经结构相关性，并进一步提供了一个大脑-人格-症状的途径，以保护年轻人免受孤独感的影响，其中 DLPFC 的 GMV 通过 ISS 特质影响孤独感。未来应通过改善社交技能培训等人际关系来制定旨在降低年轻人孤独感和提高心理健康水平的干预措施。
