Poster #12 - Negative fMRI Experience as a Predictor of Salience Network Functional Connectivity Among Preadolescent Latina Girls

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

Individuals with anxiety disorder exhibit reduced functional connectivity in the salience network during rest, which may exacerbate anxiety-specific behaviors such as diminished cognitive control, elevated fear responses, and biased attention to threat (Perino et al., 2021; Xu et al., 2019). The salience network is a network of brain regions encompassing the anterior cingulate cortex [ACC], anterior insula, rostral prefrontal cortex [rPFC], and amygdala that plays a role in directing attention to salient events. Disruptions in salience network connectivity have been proposed as a possible etiological account of anxiety disorder beginning in childhood (Sylvester et al., 2012). However, the majority of this work does not account for individual differences in momentary state anxiety (Saviola et al., 2020). The experienced stress during an fMRI experiment can potentially profoundly influence baseline neural activity, and vary with demographic variables, which, depending upon the study population and design, can lead to inaccurate interpretations of the resulting fMRI data. For minoritized children, who have not previously been exposed to medical or research environments, experiencing such a novel and frightening procedure might prove particularly daunting. To address this confound, in the current study, we will test how state feelings of negativity during the fMRI scan influence functional connectivity in the salience network during rest in a community sample of Latina girls.

Forty-six Latina girls (Mage = 9.98 + 1.16) participated in an 8 minute resting-state fMRI scan. Following the scan, children completed the MRI Experience Questionnaire (Shechner et al., 2013), which probed negative and positive emotions during the MRI scan (e.g., fear, boredom, interest) via an eight-item 1-10 Likert scale. Positive items were reverse-scored so that the total score represented state feelings of negativity in the scanner (Mnegativity = 47.98 + 15.16). Children were categorized as high or low on in-scanner negativity via a median split.

We will examine ROI-to-ROI functional connectivity within the salience network during resting state using the CONN functional connectivity toolbox (Whitfield-Gabrieli & Nieto-Castanon, 2012). First-level analyses will test intra-network functional connectivity in five seed regions of interest in the salience network (bilateral ACC, anterior insula, amygdala, rPFC, and supramarginal gyrus). Our second-level analysis will test high versus low in-scanner negativity as a between-subjects contrast, controlling for participants’ age. We hypothesize that elevated in-scanner negativity will be associated with greater functional connectivity within the salience network due to greater sensitivity to unpleasant aspects of the scanning experience.

Without controlling for state negativity, differences in brain function elicited by reactions to the fMRI scanning environment may be misattributed to differences in trait anxiety. This may be especially important in pediatric anxiety research, whereby the effects of state anxiety need to be disentangled from stable trait anxiety levels (Saviola et al., 2020). Characterizing adverse in-scanner experiences such as stress or discomfort is especially relevant for groups historically underrepresented in research who may experience greater in-scanner negativity due to unfamiliarity with the scanning environment, and if so, such differences may be incorrectly interpreted as cultural or demographic differences in developmental psychopathology.

Authors

• Purnima Qamar, University of California - Riverside
  Presenting Author

• Matthew Shane Kersting, University of California - Riverside

• Dana Elizabeth Glenn, University of California - Riverside

• Kalina J Michalska, University of California - Riverside