title: Patterns of neural connectivity during an attention bias task moderate associations between early childhood temperament and internalizing symptoms in young adulthood.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Biased attention to threat is found in both individuals with anxiety symptoms and children with the childhood temperament of behavioral inhibition (BI). Although perturbed fronto-amygdala function is implicated in biased attention among anxious individuals, no work has examined the neural correlates of attention biases in BI. Work in this area might clarify underlying mechanisms for anxiety in a sample at risk for internalizing disorders. We examined the relations among early childhood BI, fronto-amygdala connectivity during an attention bias task in young adulthood, and internalizing symptoms, assessed in young adulthood.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children were assessed for BI at multiple age points from infancy through age seven. On the basis of a composite of observational and maternal report data, we selected 21 young adults classified as having a history of BI and 23 classified as non-BI for this study (n = 44). Participants completed an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging attention-bias task involving threat (angry faces) and neutral trials. Internalizing symptoms were assessed by self-report and diagnostic interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The young adults characterized in childhood with BI exhibited greater strength in threat-related connectivity than non-behaviorally inhibited young adults. Between-group differences manifested in connections between the amygdala and two frontal regions: dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior insula. Amygdala-insula connectivity also interacted with childhood BI to predict young adult internalizing symptoms.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Behavioral inhibition during early childhood predicts differences as young adults in threat and attention-related fronto-amygdala connectivity. Connectivity strength, in turn, moderated the relations between early BI and later psychopathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
authors.forename: Jillian E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Hardee
authors.forename: Brenda E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.forename: Yair
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bar-Haim
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mogg
authors.forename: Brendan P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Jennifer C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Britton
authors.forename: Monique
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ernst
authors.forename: Nathan A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Pine
authors.forename: Koraly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pérez-Edgar
mesh_terms: D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007439:Introversion, Psychological; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D013694:Temperament; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Attention bias; Granger causality; functional connectivity; imaging; internalizing problems; temperament