Anxiety dissociates dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex functional connectivity with the amygdala at rest.
Anxiety is linked to compromised interactions between the amygdala and the dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). While numerous task-based neuroimaging studies show that anxiety levels predict amygdala-mPFC connectivity and response magnitude, here we tested the hypothesis that anxiety would predict functional connectivity between these brain regions even during rest. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans and self-reported measures of anxiety were acquired from healthy subjects. At rest, individuals with high anxiety were characterized by negatively correlated amygdala-ventral mPFC functional connectivity, while low anxious subjects showed positively correlated activity. Further, high anxious subjects showed amygdala-dorsal mPFC activity that was uncorrelated, while low anxious subjects showed negatively correlated activity. These data show that amygdala-mPFC connectivity at rest indexes normal individual differences in anxiety.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
M Justin
MJ
Kim
Dylan G
DG
Gee
Rebecca A
RA
Loucks
F Caroline
FC
Davis
Paul J
PJ
Whalen
D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012146:Rest / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult