Children’s Pre-Scanning State Anxiety and Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Salience and Default Mode Networks: A Cross-Site Study
Purnima Qamar, Dana Diaz, Brenda Benson, Daniel S. Pine, Peter Alexander Kirk, Kalina Julia Michalska
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study |
|---|---|
| Population | Community sample of Latina girls (8-13 years) and a companion sample of mixed treatment-seeking and healthy youth (8-18 years) of predominantly white background |
| Topics | Anxiety Default mode network |
| Key findings | Pre-scanning state anxiety was associated with reduced resting-state functional connectivity within the default mode network (r = -.32) in the community sample of Latina girls, but this association did not replicate in the companion sample. The authors suggest that individual differences in MRI scanning experiences may relate to brain activity, but sample characteristics should be considered and replication is needed. |
Abstract
Introduction: Even though resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) is conceptualized asmeasuring ‘intrinsic connectivity’, in-scanner experiences undoubtedly influence rs-FC. Themajority of work on anxiety and rs-FC does not consider the subjective state of the participantduring the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure. Heightened anxiety before an MRI(i.e., pre-scanning state anxiety), common in diverse samples, may be uniquely associated withindividual differences in brain activity. The current study assessed associations betweenpre-scanning state anxiety and rs-FC within and between the default mode network (DMN) andsalience network in a community sample of Latina girls (8-13 years) and a companion sample ofmixed treatment-seeking and healthy youth (8-18 years) of predominantly white background.Methods: A constrained network-based statistical approach calculated the average ofun-thresholded correlation coefficients from edge-level partial Spearman correlations to producenetwork-level measures. Statistics were compared against a null distribution based on averagedcorrelations from edge-level permutations to assess significance. Our hypothesis testing used athreshold of p < .05, which was then Bonferroni corrected (p < .00139).Results: We observed significant reductions in rs-FC within the DMN (r = -.32, p < .00139) as afunction of pre-scanning state anxiety in the community sample, but this did not replicate in ourcompanion sample.Discussion: Pre-scanning state anxiety is associated with rs-FC within the DMN, but onlyamong a community sample with elevated trait anxiety. This suggests that individual differencesin MRI scanning experiences may be associated with brain activity, but sample characteristicsshould be considered, and replication is needed.Keywords: pediatric anxiety, resting-state functional connectivity, default mode network,salience network, community samples
Comparable studies
Other observational and cohort studies on default mode network, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| A default mode of brain function Normal adult human brain | 2001 | Observational study | |
| Resting-State Functional Connectivity Reflects Structural Connectivity in the Default Mode Network Healthy subjects | 2008 | Observational cohort | |
| Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness Participants with extensive Insight meditation experience and matched controls | 2005 | Observational cohort | n = 20 |
| Meditation experience is associated with differences in default mode network activity and connectivity Experienced meditators and matched meditation-naive controls | 2011 | Observational cohort | |
| The precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex plays a pivotal role in the default mode network: Evidence from a partial correlation network analysis Healthy subjects | 2008 | Observational study |