Wang Difan, Lin Bingyan, Huang Ying, Chong Zh Yeng, Du Jiaxue, Yuan Qin, Tang Yinmayue, Xu Qiming, Xu Wei
Department of Internal Medicine, Psychological Counseling and Service Center, Graduate School of Medical College of Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Depress Anxiety. 2024 Jun 27;2024:8680134. doi: 10.1155/2024/8680134. eCollection 2024.
Cognitive control impairments in anxiety disorders are thought to be associated with deficiencies in the prefrontal network. However, a precise neural explanation for these impairments is still lacking. This study seeks to compare inhibitory ability between individuals with anxiety and healthy controls, as well as to explore the neural correlates of anxiety-related inhibitory deficits within a clinical context.
A total of 118 participants were recruited, including 59 patients with anxiety and 59 matched healthy controls (HCs). Anxiety and inhibitory ability were evaluated using Zung's Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), the color word Stroop task, and verbal fluency task (VFT). Additionally, changes in oxyhemoglobin (Oxy-Hb) concentrations were measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).
Compared to HCs, the anxiety group exhibited reduced cortical activation in prefrontal cortex (PFC) channels, prolonged inhibitory speed and lower inhibitory accuracy during Stroop task, and diminished VFT performance (all < 0.05). Significant negative correlations were observed between SAS scores and inhibitory ability, as well as with PFC activation. Conversely, PFC activation showed positive correlations with inhibitory ability. Importantly, activation in the dorsolateral PFC during VFT partially mediated the association between anxiety and inhibitory performance.
This study reveals neural characteristics associated with inhibitory abilities in anxiety disorders and identifies neural correlations between anxiety and inhibitory performance. These findings illuminate the impact of anxiety on inhibitory abilities and propose intervention targets to enhance these abilities in individuals with anxiety disorders, thereby suggesting more effective therapeutic strategies.
焦虑症中的认知控制障碍被认为与前额叶网络功能缺陷有关。然而，对于这些障碍的精确神经学解释仍然缺乏。本研究旨在比较焦虑症患者与健康对照者之间的抑制能力，并在临床背景下探索与焦虑相关的抑制缺陷的神经相关性。
共招募了118名参与者，包括59名焦虑症患者和59名匹配的健康对照者（HCs）。使用zung氏自评焦虑量表（SAS）、颜色词Stroop任务和语言流畅性任务（VFT）评估焦虑和抑制能力。此外，使用功能近红外光谱（fNIRS）测量氧合血红蛋白（Oxy-Hb）浓度的变化。
与健康对照者相比，焦虑组在Stroop任务期间前额叶皮层（PFC）通道的皮质激活减少，抑制速度延长，抑制准确性降低，VFT表现下降（均P<0.05）。SAS评分与抑制能力以及PFC激活之间存在显著负相关。相反，PFC激活与抑制能力呈正相关。重要的是，VFT期间背外侧PFC的激活部分介导了焦虑与抑制表现之间的关联。
本研究揭示了焦虑症中与抑制能力相关的神经特征，并确定了焦虑与抑制表现之间的神经相关性。这些发现阐明了焦虑对抑制能力的影响，并提出了干预靶点以提高焦虑症患者的这些能力，从而提示了更有效的治疗策略。
