Habenula neural circuitry drives negative self-cognitions
Poster No:
1207
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Po-Han Kung1, Matthew Greaves2, Eva Guerrero-Hreins1, Ben Harrison1, Christopher Davey1, Kim Felmingham1, Holly Carey1, Priya Sumithran2, Robyn Brown1, Bradford Moffat1, Rebecca Glarin1, Trevor Steward1
Institutions:
1University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, 2Monash University, Clayton, VIC
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
Self-related cognitions are integral to personal identity and psychological wellbeing. Persistent engagement with negative self-cognitions can precipitate mental ill health; whereas the ability to restructure them is protective. Despite their significance to mental wellbeing, the brain mechanisms supporting the higher-order processing of self-cognitions remain largely unexplored.
Methods:
Using ultra-high field 7T fMRI and a cognitive restructuring task, we characterised a negative self-cognition network centred on the habenula – a small midbrain region linked to the encoding of punishment and negative outcomes. Habenula region-of-interest was defined using an automated multi-atlas segmentation algorithm (MAGeTBrain; Germann et al., 2020) and validated via resting-state functional connectivity analysis. Dynamic causal modelling (DCM) was used to elucidate habenula effective connectivity during the processing of negative self-cognitions in a discovery sample including 45 healthy young adults (Mean age = 25.84, Male/Female = 53/47%). The replicability of our obtained findings was then tested in an independent replication sample comprising 56 healthy participants (Mean age = 22.77, Male/Female = 59/41%). Bayesian model-averaged posterior distribution of the discovery model was used as empirical prior distribution over the effective connectivity parameters of the replication group-level model, allowing us to assess whether the same effective connectivity architecture is replicated in the independent dataset, given prior knowledge on the network dynamics derived from the discovery model. We further evaluated the degree to which our findings were impacted by individual variance via a randomised stratified 5-fold validation with the combined sample.
Results:
As illustrated in Figure 1b-d, the repetition of negative self-cognitions elicited heightened activity in the habenula compared to restructuring, alongside regions implicated in self-directed thinking (e.g., posterior cingulate cortex; PCC), outcome valuation (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex; OFC), and memory (e.g., hippocampus). DCM analyses in the discovery sample revealed that the habenula exerted an excitatory influence on the PCC during both the restructuring and repeating of negative cognitions (Figure 2). In contrast, restructuring negative self-cognitions was characterised by the habenula having an excitatory modulatory effect on the OFC. Our replication sample, as well as 4 out of the 5 validation subsamples, corroborated this excitatory effect from the habenula to the OFC during the restructuring of negative self-cognitions.
·Task-based neural activation and construction of the DCM model space
·Habenula effective connectivity in the discovery sample
Conclusions:
The excitatory connectivity from the habenula to the PCC may reflect the integration of negative valence signalled by the habenula into self-oriented cognitive processes subserved by the PCC. The habenula-to-OFC excitatory connectivity may support adaptive response to negative self-cognitions as a pathway through which habenula-encoded action outcome value is transmitted from the midbrain to the frontal cortex. These findings provide novel insights into the habenula's functional influence on key nodes of the default mode network and cognitive control network to support self-related higher-order cognitions in humans, thereby broadening our understanding of habenula function to encompass domains not limited to external primary reward or punishment.
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Self Processes
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Higher Cognitive Functions Other 2
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Bayesian Modeling
Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural) 1
fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling
Keywords:
Cognition
FUNCTIONAL MRI
HIGH FIELD MR
Other - habenula; dynamic causal modelling
1|2Indicates the priority used for review