Zhuang Qian, Yao Shuxia, Xu Lei, Chen Shuaiyu, Li Jialin, Zheng Xiaoxiao, Fu Meina, Kendrick Keith M, Becker Benjamin
Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou Normal University, Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 311121, China.
The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, MOE Key Laboratory for Neuroinformation, Center for Information in Medicine, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, China.
Psychoradiology. 2025 Apr 28;5:kkaf009. doi: 10.1093/psyrad/kkaf009. eCollection 2025.
Emotion control represents a promising intervention target for mental disorders. In a recent study Bramson et al. (2023) demonstrate a functional-anatomical shift from the lateral frontal pole (FPl) to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in anxious individuals during emotional action control. However, findings of neuroimaging experiments are often limited regarding generalizability and reproducibility. The present study examined the robustness of the reported functional shift across samples, cultures and paradigms.
We capitalized on large-scale task fMRI data ( = 250 participants) using an affective linguistic Go/NoGo paradigm to examine the anxiety-related shift between FPl and DLPFC during emotional action control. Additionally, context-dependent functional connectivity analyses were employed to examine anxiety-related differences and associations on the network level.
Non-anxious individuals engaged the left FPl while highly anxious individuals specifically recruited the DLPFC, but non-significant between-group differences were found (see also Bramson et al.). The secondary analyses revealed moderate evidence for the absence of left FPl activation in the high-anxious as well as for left DLPFC activation in the non-anxious group. Additionally, trait anxiety scores were positively correlated with left DLPFC activity but negatively correlated with left FPl activity across groups. Furthermore, we found a context-specific connectivity shift between the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) with the FPl and DLPFC specifically in highly anxious individuals.
The results partially confirmed the anxiety-related shift as reported by Bramson and colleagues across paradigms and samples. The findings provide further support for the functional shift in anxiety and can inform target-based interventions of persistent emotional control deficits in anxiety disorders.
情绪控制是精神障碍一个很有前景的干预靶点。在最近的一项研究中，布拉姆森等人（2023年）证明，在情绪动作控制过程中，焦虑个体存在从外侧额极（FPl）到背外侧前额叶皮层（DLPFC）的功能-解剖学转变。然而，神经影像学实验的结果在普遍性和可重复性方面往往存在局限性。本研究考察了所报告的功能转变在不同样本、文化和范式中的稳健性。
我们利用大规模任务功能磁共振成像数据（n = 250名参与者），采用情感语言Go/NoGo范式，研究情绪动作控制过程中FPl和DLPFC之间与焦虑相关的转变。此外，还采用了上下文依赖性功能连接分析，以考察网络层面与焦虑相关的差异和关联。
非焦虑个体激活左侧FPl，而高度焦虑个体则特别激活DLPFC，但未发现组间差异具有统计学意义（另见布拉姆森等人的研究）。二次分析显示，有中等证据表明高焦虑组不存在左侧FPl激活，非焦虑组不存在左侧DLPFC激活。此外，特质焦虑得分与左侧DLPFC活动呈正相关，但与各组左侧FPl活动呈负相关。此外，我们发现，特别是在高度焦虑个体中，膝下前扣带回皮层（sgACC）与FPl和DLPFC之间存在上下文特定的连接转变。
结果部分证实了布拉姆森及其同事报告的跨范式和样本的与焦虑相关的转变。这些发现为焦虑中的功能转变提供了进一步支持，并可为焦虑症中持续情绪控制缺陷的基于靶点的干预提供参考。
