Intrinsic Functional Network of Phobic Anxiety and Associations with Rumination
Poster No:
1472
Submission Type:
Abstract Submission
Authors:
Xinkai Wang1, Junmei Wang1, Xiaoxiao Zheng2, Keith Kendrick2, Lizhu Luo1, Junhong Yu1
Institutions:
1Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore, 2University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Introduction:
The prevalence of phobia anxiety ranges from 3 to 15%, and 10-30% of cases last seven years or more. Phobia anxiety combines both phobia of excessive fear and anxiety of future-oriented worry that involves persistent fear and avoidance behaviors triggered by specific objects, situations, or environments (Eaton, 2018), different from social anxiety disorder (SAD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Therefore, the current study aims to explore the brain network associated with phobic anxiety. While many studies have explored the relationship between GAD/SAD and rumination (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2020; Penney & Abbott, 2014), the connection between phobic anxiety and rumination remains underexplored. In the current study, we also aim to explore whether the network associated with phobic anxiety is correlated with rumination.
Methods:
A total of 90 young adults (47 males, age range = 18-27 years) underwent resting-state fMRI scans and completed assessments of phobic anxiety and rumination using the Symptom Check List-90 and the Responses Styles Questionnaire.
fMRI data preprocessing and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis were conducted using DPABI (Yan et al., 2016) with the Brainnetome Atlas (Fan et al., 2016). Network-based analysis was performed using the 'NBR' R package to identify the positively and negatively associated networks with phobic anxiety. Statistical significance was set at the threshold of uncorrected p<0.001 (individual edges) and p<0.05 (network) with 1000 permutations. The network strengths were calculated by summing up the relative edges and were then used to explore the relationship with rumination.
fMRI data preprocessing and resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis were conducted using DPABI (Yan et al., 2016) with the Brainnetome Atlas (Fan et al., 2016). Network-based analysis was performed using the 'NBR' R package to identify the positively and negatively associated networks with phobic anxiety. Statistical significance was set at the threshold of uncorrected p<0.001 (individual edges) and p<0.05 (network) with 1000 permutations. The network strengths were calculated by summing up the relative edges and were then used to explore the relationship with rumination.
Results:
There was a significant correlation between phobic anxiety and rumination scores (r=0.36, p<0.001). Network-based analysis observed one positive edge and 114 negative edges in the phobic anxiety network (p=0.036). It was characterized by hyperconnectivity between thalamus and middle temporal gyrus, and hypoconnectivity between regions involving amygdala, ventral caudate, precuneus, fusiform gyrus, hippocampus, globus pallidum, etc. The strength of the network that was negatively associated with phobic anxiety network was also significantly negatively correlated with rumination (r=-0.22, p=0.037).
Conclusions:
The findings on positively associated network suggest that individuals with phobic anxiety may show heightened sensitivity during initial processing of sensory and emotional stimuli. The negatively associated network with phobic anxiety then further indicates their difficulties in emotional regulation and rumination.
Disorders of the Nervous System:
Psychiatric (eg. Depression, Anxiety, Schizophrenia) 2
Emotion, Motivation and Social Neuroscience:
Self Processes
Social Cognition
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
fMRI Connectivity and Network Modeling 1
Keywords:
Anxiety
DISORDERS
FUNCTIONAL MRI
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
·Phobic Anxiety Network
Abstract Information
By submitting your proposal, you grant permission for the Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) to distribute your work in any format, including video, audio print and electronic text through OHBM OnDemand, social media channels, the OHBM website, or other electronic publications and media.
The Open Science Special Interest Group (OSSIG) is introducing a reproducibility challenge for OHBM 2025. This new initiative aims to enhance the reproducibility of scientific results and foster collaborations between labs. Teams will consist of a “source” party and a “reproducing” party, and will be evaluated on the success of their replication, the openness of the source work, and additional deliverables. Click here for more information. Propose your OHBM abstract(s) as source work for future OHBM meetings by selecting one of the following options:
Please indicate below if your study was a "resting state" or "task-activation” study.
Healthy subjects only or patients (note that patient studies may also involve healthy subjects):
Was this research conducted in the United States?
Were any human subjects research approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board or ethics panel? NOTE: Any human subjects studies without IRB approval will be automatically rejected.
Were any animal research approved by the relevant IACUC or other animal research panel? NOTE: Any animal studies without IACUC approval will be automatically rejected.
Please indicate which methods were used in your research:
For human MRI, what field strength scanner do you use?
Which processing packages did you use for your study?
Provide references using APA citation style.
I/We wish to acknowledge the funding support for this project from Nanyang Technological University under the URECA Undergraduate Research Programme.
Thanks for the training in the undergraduate course HP4273 “Introduction to Functional Neuroimaging” in NTU Psychology.
Eaton, W. W., Bienvenu, O. J., & Miloyan, B. (2018). Specific phobias. The Lancet Psychiatry, 5(8), 678-686. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30169-X
Fan, L., Li, H., Zhuo, J., Zhang, Y., Wang, J., Chen, L., Yang, Z., Chu, C., Xie, S., Laird, A. R., Fox, P. T., Eickhoff, S. B., Yu, C., & Jiang, T. (2016). The Human Brainnetome Atlas: A New Brain Atlas Based on Connectional Architecture. Cerebral Cortex (New York, NY), 26(8), 3508–3526. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhw157
Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2000). The role of rumination in depressive disorders and mixed anxiety/depressive symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109(3), 504–511. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.109.3.504
Penney, E. S., & Abbott, M. J. (2014). Anticipatory and post-event rumination in social anxiety disorder: A review of the theoretical and empirical literature. Behaviour Change, 31(2), 79-101. https://doi.org/10.1017/bec.2014.3
Yan, C.-G., Wang, X.-D., Zuo, X.-N., & Zang, Y.-F. (2016). DPABI: Data Processing & Analysis for (Resting-State) Brain Imaging. Neuroinformatics, 14(3), 339–351. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12021-016-9299-4