Mind-Wandering in Adolescents Predicts Worse Affect and Is Linked to Aberrant Default Mode Network-Salience Network Connectivity
Christian A. Webb, Elana S. Israel, Emily L. Belleau, L. Appleman, E. Forbes, D. Pizzagalli
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry June 12, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2020.03.010 (opens in new tab) via Semantic Scholar
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractAdolescents with anhedonia (AH) experience mind-wandering more frequently (70.0% of sampled moments) than typically developing (TD) peers (59.2%), and their mind-wandering tends toward unpleasant content. Mind-wandering is linked to higher concurrent negative affect, even after accounting for current activity, social context, and rumination. Bidirectional time-lagged analyses show mind-wandering and positive affect influence each other over time. Among AH adolescents, more mind-wandering is associated with stronger resting-state functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (a core Default Mode Network hub) and networks for attentional control and salience detection, suggesting heightened influence of affective and sensory salience on internally-oriented thought.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Observational cohort Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 65 |
| Population | Adolescents ages 12–18 years (36 typically developing, 29 with anhedonia) |
| Duration | 5 days of ecological momentary assessment (2–3 surveys per day) |
| Keywords | Psychology Medicine |
| Key finding | Adolescents with anhedonia mind-wander more frequently and to more unpleasant content than typically developing controls, and mind-wandering is associated with worse concurrent affect and altered brain connectivity. |
Abstract
Objective: Understanding the fluctuating emotional and cognitive states of adolescents with depressive symptoms requires fine-grained and naturalistic measurements. This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to investigate the affective correlates and consequences of mind-wandering in adolescents with anhedonia (AH) and typically developing (TD) controls. In addition, we examined the association between mind-wandering and resting state functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a core hub of the Default Mode Network (DMN) linked to internally-oriented mentation, and networks linked to attentional control (Dorsal Attention Network; DAN) and affect/salience detection (Salience Network; SN). Method: Sixty-five adolescents, ages 12–18 years (TD=36; AH=29) completed a resting state fMRI scan and subsequently used a smartphone application for EMA data collection (2–3 times/day for 5 days). Each survey (N=678) prompted adolescents to report on their current positive and negative affect (PA and NA), cognition and activity. Results: The frequency of mind-wandering was higher for AH (70.0% of EMA samples) relative to TD (59.2%) participants, and the AH participants were more likely to mind-wander to unpleasant content. Mind-wandering was associated with higher concurrent NA, even when controlling for plausible confounds (eg, current activity, social companion, rumination). Time-lagged analyses revealed a bidirectional association between mind-wandering and PA. Greater levels of mind-wandering within the AH group were associated with stronger mPFC-SN/DAN connectivity. Conclusion: Rates of mind-wandering were high, especially among adolescents with anhedonia, and predicted worse affect. The relation between mind-wandering and enhanced mPFC-SN coupling may reflect heightened bottom-up influence of affective and sensory salience on DMN-mediated internally-oriented thought.