title: Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition Predicts Cortical Thickness in Adulthood.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Behavioral inhibition (BI) during early childhood predicts risk for anxiety disorders and altered cognitive control in adolescence. Although BI has been linked to variation in brain function through adulthood, few studies have examined relations between early childhood BI and adult brain structure.
  
  
  METHODS
  The relation between early childhood BI and cortical thickness in adulthood was examined in a cohort of individuals followed since early childhood (N = 53, mean age 20.5 years). Analyses tested whether anxiety and/or cognitive control during adolescence moderated relations between BI and cortical thickness. Cognitive control was measured with the Eriksen Flanker Task. Initial analyses examined cortical thickness in regions of interest previously implicated in BI, anxiety disorders, and cognitive control: dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC), anterior insula (aI), and subgenual anterior cingulate (sgACC); and volumes of the amygdala and hippocampus. Exploratory analyses examined relations across the prefrontal cortex.
  
  
  RESULTS
  BI during early childhood related to thinner dACC in adulthood. Neither anxiety nor cognitive control moderated this relation. A stronger congruency effect on the Eriksen Flanker Task during adolescence independently related to thinner dACC in adulthood. Higher anxiety during adolescence related to thicker cortex in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) in adulthood among those with low BI as children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Temperament in early childhood and the interaction between temperament and later anxiety relate to adult brain structure. These results are consistent with prior work associating BI and anxiety with functional brain variability in the dACC and VLPFC.
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis. Electronic address: sylvestc@psychiatry.wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Chad M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Sylvester
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.
authors.forename: Deanna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Barch
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.
authors.forename: Michael P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.
authors.forename: Andy C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Belden
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado Denver.
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Oakberg
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Gold
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Lauren K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Brenda E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, College Park.
authors.forename: Sonya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Troller-Renfree
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, College Park.
authors.forename: Kathryn A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Degnan
authors.affiliation: University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Heather A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Henderson
authors.affiliation: Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis.
authors.forename: Joan L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Luby
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland, College Park.
authors.forename: Nathan A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Fox
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, MD.
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Pine
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D013694:Temperament / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anxiety; behavioral inhibition; cingulate; cortical thickness; structural MRI