Prefrontal cortical function and anxiety: controlling attention to threat-related stimuli - PubMed (original) (raw)
doi: 10.1038/nn1173. Epub 2004 Jan 4.
Affiliations
- PMID: 14703573
- DOI: 10.1038/nn1173
Prefrontal cortical function and anxiety: controlling attention to threat-related stimuli
Sonia Bishop et al. Nat Neurosci. 2004 Feb.
Abstract
Threat-related stimuli are strong competitors for attention, particularly in anxious individuals. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with healthy human volunteers to study how the processing of threat-related distractors is controlled and whether this alters as anxiety levels increase. Our work builds upon prior analyses of the cognitive control functions of lateral prefrontal cortex (lateral PFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). We found that rostral ACC was strongly activated by infrequent threat-related distractors, consistent with a role for this area in responding to unexpected processing conflict caused by salient emotional stimuli. Participants with higher anxiety levels showed both less rostral ACC activity overall and reduced recruitment of lateral PFC as expectancy of threat-related distractors was established. This supports the proposal that anxiety is associated with reduced top-down control over threat-related distractors. Our results suggest distinct roles for rostral ACC and lateral PFC in governing the processing of task-irrelevant, threat-related stimuli, and indicate reduced recruitment of this circuitry in anxiety.
Similar articles
- Trait anxiety modulates anterior cingulate activation to threat interference.
Klumpp H, Ho SS, Taylor SF, Phan KL, Abelson JL, Liberzon I. Klumpp H, et al. Depress Anxiety. 2011 Mar;28(3):194-201. doi: 10.1002/da.20802. Depress Anxiety. 2011. PMID: 21394852 Free PMC article. - Effect of trait anxiety on prefrontal control mechanisms during emotional conflict.
Comte M, Cancel A, Coull JT, Schön D, Reynaud E, Boukezzi S, Rousseau PF, Robert G, Khalfa S, Guedj E, Blin O, Weinberger DR, Fakra E. Comte M, et al. Hum Brain Mapp. 2015 Jun;36(6):2207-14. doi: 10.1002/hbm.22765. Epub 2015 Feb 9. Hum Brain Mapp. 2015. PMID: 25664956 Free PMC article. - The neural mechanisms for minimizing cross-modal distraction.
Weissman DH, Warner LM, Woldorff MG. Weissman DH, et al. J Neurosci. 2004 Dec 1;24(48):10941-9. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3669-04.2004. J Neurosci. 2004. PMID: 15574744 Free PMC article. - Emotional processing in anterior cingulate and medial prefrontal cortex.
Etkin A, Egner T, Kalisch R. Etkin A, et al. Trends Cogn Sci. 2011 Feb;15(2):85-93. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2010.11.004. Epub 2010 Dec 16. Trends Cogn Sci. 2011. PMID: 21167765 Free PMC article. Review. - Anxiety and depression: A top-down, bottom-up model of circuit function.
LeDuke DO, Borio M, Miranda R, Tye KM. LeDuke DO, et al. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2023 Jul;1525(1):70-87. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14997. Epub 2023 May 2. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2023. PMID: 37129246 Free PMC article. Review.
Cited by
- Nucleus reuniens: Modulating emotional overgeneralization in peri-adolescents with anxiety.
Rivera Núñez MV, McMakin DL, Mattfeld AT. Rivera Núñez MV, et al. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2024 Oct 10. doi: 10.3758/s13415-024-01226-4. Online ahead of print. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2024. PMID: 39390288 - Immediate and long-term efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tCDS) in obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder and anxiety disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Xie L, Hu P, Guo Z, Chen M, Wang X, Du X, Li Y, Chen B, Zhang J, Zhao W, Liu S. Xie L, et al. Transl Psychiatry. 2024 Aug 25;14(1):343. doi: 10.1038/s41398-024-03053-0. Transl Psychiatry. 2024. PMID: 39183315 Free PMC article. - The relationship between growth mindset and cognitive fusion in college students is mediated by bias towards negative information.
Zhao D, Tao W, Shen Q, Zuo Q, Zhang J, Horton I, Xu Z, Sun HJ. Zhao D, et al. Heliyon. 2024 Jul 11;10(14):e34445. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34445. eCollection 2024 Jul 30. Heliyon. 2024. PMID: 39113989 Free PMC article. - Information-based TMS to mid-lateral prefrontal cortex disrupts action goals during emotional processing.
Lapate RC, Heckner MK, Phan AT, Tambini A, D'Esposito M. Lapate RC, et al. Nat Commun. 2024 May 20;15(1):4294. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48015-8. Nat Commun. 2024. PMID: 38769359 Free PMC article. - Mendelian randomization analyses reveal causal relationships between brain functional networks and risk of psychiatric disorders.
Mu C, Dang X, Luo XJ. Mu C, et al. Nat Hum Behav. 2024 Jul;8(7):1417-1428. doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-01879-8. Epub 2024 May 9. Nat Hum Behav. 2024. PMID: 38724650
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical
Miscellaneous