Anxiety dissociates dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex functional connectivity with the amygdala at rest

Cereb Cortex. 2011 Jul;21(7):1667-73. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhq237. Epub 2010 Dec 1.

Abstract

Anxiety is linked to compromised interactions between the amygdala and the dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). While numerous task-based neuroimaging studies show that anxiety levels predict amygdala-mPFC connectivity and response magnitude, here we tested the hypothesis that anxiety would predict functional connectivity between these brain regions even during rest. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans and self-reported measures of anxiety were acquired from healthy subjects. At rest, individuals with high anxiety were characterized by negatively correlated amygdala-ventral mPFC functional connectivity, while low anxious subjects showed positively correlated activity. Further, high anxious subjects showed amygdala-dorsal mPFC activity that was uncorrelated, while low anxious subjects showed negatively correlated activity. These data show that amygdala-mPFC connectivity at rest indexes normal individual differences in anxiety.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Amygdala / physiology*
  • Anxiety / physiopathology*
  • Anxiety / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Nerve Net / physiology*
  • Prefrontal Cortex / physiology*
  • Psychomotor Performance / physiology*
  • Rest / physiology*
  • Rest / psychology
  • Young Adult