Dataset Information

Imbalance of default mode and regulatory networks during externally focused processing in depression.

ABSTRACT: Attentional control difficulties likely underlie rumination, a core cognitive vulnerability in major depressive disorder (MDD). Abnormalities in the default mode, executive and salience networks are implicated in both rumination and attentional control difficulties in MDD. In the current study, individuals with MDD (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 16) completed tasks designed to elicit self-focused (ruminative) and externally-focused thinking during fMRI scanning. The MDD group showed greater default mode network connectivity and less executive and salience network connectivity during the external-focus condition. Contrary to our predictions, there were no differences in connectivity between the groups during the self-focus condition. Thus, it appears that when directed to engage in self-referential thinking, both depressed and non-depressed individuals similarly recruit networks supporting this process. In contrast, when instructed to engage in non-self-focused thought, non-depressed individuals show a pattern of network connectivity indicative of minimized self-referential processing, whereas depressed individuals fail to reallocate neural resources in a manner consistent with effective down regulation of self-focused thought. This is consistent with difficulties in regulating self-focused thinking in order to engage in more goal-directed behavior that is seen in individuals with MDD.

SUBMITTER: Belleau EL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4420753 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Imbalance of default mode and regulatory networks during externally focused processing in depression.

Belleau Emily L EL Taubitz Lauren E LE Larson Christine L CL

Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 20141001 5

Attentional control difficulties likely underlie rumination, a core cognitive vulnerability in major depressive disorder (MDD). Abnormalities in the default mode, executive and salience networks are implicated in both rumination and attentional control difficulties in MDD. In the current study, individuals with MDD (n = 16) and healthy controls (n = 16) completed tasks designed to elicit self-focused (ruminative) and externally-focused thinking during fMRI scanning. The MDD group showed greater ...[more]

PMID: 25274576

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Project description:BackgroundSocial anxiety has been associated with potentiated negative affect and, more recently, with diminished positive affect. It is unclear how these alterations in negative and positive affect are represented neurally in socially anxious individuals and, further, whether they generalize to non-social stimuli. To explore this, we used a monetary incentive paradigm to explore the association between social anxiety and both the anticipation and consumption of non-social incentives. Eighty-four individuals from a longitudinal community sample underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while participating in a monetary incentive delay (MID) task. The MID task consisted of alternating cues indicating the potential to win or prevent losing varying amounts of money based on the speed of the participant's response. We examined whether self-reported levels of social anxiety, averaged across approximately 7 years of data, moderated brain activity when contrasting gain or loss cues with neutral cues during the anticipation and outcome phases of incentive processing. Whole brain analyses and analyses restricted to the ventral striatum for the anticipation phase and the medial prefrontal cortex for the outcome phase were conducted.ResultsSocial anxiety did not associate with differences in hit rates or reaction times when responding to cues. Further, socially anxious individuals did not exhibit decreased ventral striatum activity during anticipation of gains or decreased MPFC activity during the outcome of gain trials, contrary to expectations based on literature indicating blunted positive affect in social anxiety. Instead, social anxiety showed positive associations with extensive regions implicated in default mode network activity (for example, precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and parietal lobe) during anticipation and receipt of monetary gain. Social anxiety was further linked with decreased activity in the ventral striatum during anticipation of monetary loss.ConclusionsSocially anxious individuals may increase default mode network activity during reward processing, suggesting high self-focused attention even in relation to potentially rewarding stimuli lacking explicit social connotations. Additionally, social anxiety may relate to decreased ventral striatum reactivity when anticipating potential losses.

Project description:ContextRecent neuroimaging studies have associated activity in the default mode network (DMN) with self-referential and pain processing, both of which are altered in borderline personality disorder (BPD). In patients with BPD, antinociception has been linked to altered activity in brain regions involved in the cognitive and affective evaluation of pain. Findings in healthy subjects indicate that painful stimulation leads to blood oxygenation level-dependent signal decreases and changes in the functional architecture of the DMN.ObjectivesTo connect the previously separate research areas of DMN connectivity and altered pain perception in BPD and to explore DMN connectivity during pain processing in patients with BPD.DesignCase-control study.SettingUniversity hospital.ParticipantsTwenty-five women with BPD, including 23 (92%) with a history of self-harm, and 22 age-matched control subjects.InterventionsPsychophysical assessment and functional magnetic resonance imaging during painful heat vs neutral temperature stimulation.Main outcome measureConnectivity of DMN as assessed via independent component analysis and psychophysiological interaction analysis.ResultsCompared with control subjects, patients with BPD showed less integration of the left retrosplenial cortex and left superior frontal gyrus into the DMN. Higher BPD symptom severity and trait dissociation were associated with an attenuated signal decrease of the DMN in response to painful stimulation. During pain vs neutral, patients with BPD exhibited less posterior cingulate cortex seed region connectivity with the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.ConclusionsPatients with BPD showed significant alterations in DMN connectivity, with differences in spatial integrity and temporal characteristics. These alterations may reflect a different cognitive and affective appraisal of pain as less self-relevant and aversive as well as a deficiency in the switching between baseline and task-related processing. This deficiency may be related to everyday difficulties of patients with BPD in regulating their emotions, focusing mindfully on 1 task at a time, and efficiently shifting their attention from one task to another.

Dataset Information

Imbalance of default mode and regulatory networks during externally focused processing in depression.

Publications

Imbalance of default mode and regulatory networks during externally focused processing in depression.

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