title: Vigilance in the laboratory predicts avoidance in the real world: A dimensional analysis of neural, behavioral, and ecological momentary data in anxious youth.
abstract: Vigilance and avoidance of threat are observed in anxious adults during laboratory tasks, and are posited to have real-world clinical relevance, but data are mixed in anxious youth. We propose that vigilance-avoidance patterns will become evident in anxious youth through a focus on individual differences and real-world strategic avoidance. Decreased functional connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC) could play a mechanistic role in this link. 78 clinically anxious youth completed a dot-probe task to assess vigilance to threat while undergoing fMRI. Real-world avoidance was assessed using Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) of self-reported suppression and distraction during negative life events. Vigilance toward threat was positively associated with EMA distraction and suppression. Functional connectivity between a right amygdala seed region and dorsomedial and right dorsolateral PFC regions was inversely related to EMA distraction. Dorsolateral PFC-amygdalar connectivity statistically mediated the relationship between attentional vigilance and real-world distraction. Findings suggest anxious youth showing attentional vigilance toward threat are more likely to use suppression and distraction to regulate negative emotions. Reduced PFC control over limbic reactivity is a possible neural substrate of this pattern. These findings lend ecological validity to laboratory vigilance assessments and suggest PFC-amygdalar connectivity is a neural mechanism bridging laboratory and naturalistic contexts.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
authors.forename: Rebecca B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
authors.forename: Kristy Benoit
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, 210 S. Bouquet St., Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Silk
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
authors.forename: Cecile D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Ladouceur
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
authors.forename: Neal D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.affiliation: Division of Community Health and Human Development, Berkeley School of Public Health, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Ronald E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Dahl
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
authors.forename: Erika E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Forbes
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, 3811 O'Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA.
authors.forename: Greg J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Siegle
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D000072860:Ecological Momentary Assessment; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology
keywords: Anxiety; Attention; Emotion regulation; Imaging; Information processing