Trait anxiety mediates the link between inferior frontal cortex volume and negative affective bias in healthy adults.
Anxious individuals tend to show a negative affective bias in attention that likely reflects reduced executive control, a cognitive function associated with the inferior frontal cortex (IFC), particularly its posterior segment, pars opercularis. Here, we investigated the relations among gray matter volume in the pars opercularis of IFC, trait anxiety, and negative biases in attention, in healthy participants. Sixty-two adults underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging scanning, completed a trait anxiety measure, and performed an Affective Go/No-Go (AGN) task. IFC volumes were extracted using Freesurfer, and negative bias scores were calculated from AGN performance. Trait anxiety correlated negatively with left IFC volume, and positively with the negative bias in reaction time. Furthermore, trait anxiety mediated the negative relation between the IFC volume and the negative bias measure. Overall, the present findings extend previous understanding of the IFC involvement in anxiety at the structural level, and may inform the development of intervention programs targeting anxiety.
Psychology Department and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
Yifan
Y
Hu
Psychology Department and Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
Sanda
S
Dolcos
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology*; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
executive control; inferior frontal cortex; negative bias; trait anxiety; volumetric