Amygdala–Cortical Connectivity: Associations with Anxiety, Development, and Threat
Corresponding Author
Andrea L. Gold Ph.D.
Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Correspondence to: Andrea Gold, Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 15K, MSC 2670, Bethesda, MD 20892–2670. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorTomer Shechner Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorMadeline J. Farber B.A.
Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Search for more papers by this authorCarolyn N. Spiro B.A.
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Search for more papers by this authorEllen Leibenluft M.D.
Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Search for more papers by this authorDaniel S. Pine M.D.
Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Search for more papers by this authorJennifer C. Britton Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Andrea L. Gold Ph.D.
Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Correspondence to: Andrea Gold, Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bldg. 15K, MSC 2670, Bethesda, MD 20892–2670. E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorTomer Shechner Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Israel
Search for more papers by this authorMadeline J. Farber B.A.
Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Search for more papers by this authorCarolyn N. Spiro B.A.
Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Search for more papers by this authorEllen Leibenluft M.D.
Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Search for more papers by this authorDaniel S. Pine M.D.
Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
Search for more papers by this authorJennifer C. Britton Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida
Search for more papers by this authorContract grant sponsor: Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health; Contract grant number: K99/R00MH091183.
Abstract
Background
Amygdala–prefrontal cortex (PFC) functional connectivity may be influenced by anxiety and development. A prior study on anxiety found age-specific dysfunction in the ventromedial PFC (vmPFC), but not amygdala, associated with threat-safety discrimination during extinction recall (Britton et al.8). However, translational research suggests that amygdala–PFC circuitry mediates responses following learned extinction. Anxiety-related perturbations may emerge in functional connectivity within this circuit during extinction recall tasks. The current report uses data from the prior study to examine how anxiety and development relate to task-dependent amygdala–PFC connectivity.
Methods
Eighty-two subjects (14 anxious youths, 15 anxious adults, 25 healthy youths, 28 healthy adults) completed an extinction recall task, which directed attention to different aspects of stimuli. Generalized psychophysiological interaction analysis tested whether task-dependent functional connectivity with anatomically defined amygdala seed regions differed across anxiety and age groups.
Results
Whole-brain analyses showed significant interactions of anxiety, age, and attention task (i.e., threat appraisal, explicit threat memory, physical discrimination) on left amygdala functional connectivity with the vmPFC and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (Talairach XYZ coordinates: −16, 31, −6 and 1, 36, −4). During threat appraisal and explicit threat memory (vs. physical discrimination), anxious youth showed more negative amygdala–PFC coupling, whereas anxious adults showed more positive coupling.
Conclusions
In the context of extinction recall, anxious youths and adults manifested opposite directions of amygdala–vmPFC coupling, specifically when appraising and explicitly remembering previously learned threat. Future research on anxiety should consider associations of both development and attention to threat with functional connectivity perturbations.
Supporting Information
Disclaimer: Supplementary materials have been peer-reviewed but not copyedited.
| Filename | Description |
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| da22470-sup-0001-SupMat.docx123.2 KB | Supplemental Material: Amygdala-cortical connectivity: Associations with anxiety, development, and threat |
| da22470-sup-0002-figureS1.tiff1.5 MB | Supp Figure S1 |
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