Functional connectivity during a risky decision-making task in youth across the anxiety spectrum
Poster No:
720
Submission Type:
Late-Breaking Abstract Submission
Authors:
Charles Smith1, Tara Peris1, Adriana Galván2, Lucina Uddin2
Institutions:
1Department of Psychiatry, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA, 2Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA
First Author:
Co-Author(s):
Adriana Galván, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, USA
Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles
Los Angeles, USA
Introduction:
Adolescence is a critical period of brain development marked by substantial reorganization, improved cognitive control, and increased reward-seeking behavior. However, the brain also becomes highly sensitive to internal and external factors (e.g., stressors, psychological conditions), which can lead to deviations from typical development (TD). One significant factor influencing development is anxiety disorders (ADs). ADs are one of the major factors influencing adolescent development and is one of the most prevalent mental health conditions affecting youth.1,2 Prior functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated the role of frontal and limbic regions in youth with anxiety.3,4 Regions within the salience network (SN) such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI) are also implicated in how adolescents process risk and regulate emotions under stress. In this study, we examined brain activation and connectivity in youth with varying anxiety levels during a risky decision-making task. Participants completed a longitudinal neuroimaging study with three time points, approximately one year apart.
Methods:
A total of 125 participants (Year 1: Avg=11.29 years, SD=1.40), 105 (Year 2: Avg=12.45, SD=1.44), and 77 (Year 3: Avg=13.90, SD=1.50) were recruited from Los Angeles County and underwent MRI scanning. During scanning, participants completed a driving game where they moved a car along a computerized track with the goal of reaching the end as quickly as possible.5,6 When participants approach a traffic light, the light turns yellow. Participants then have the choice to be cautious, stopping at the light and adding a 3 second delay, or choose to be risky and go through the intersection. If the light turns red while they are in the intersection (50% chance), the car crashes adding a longer delay (e.g., 6 seconds) to their route.
Results:
Behavioral results showed reaction times (RT) for GoOnGreen, StopOnRed, and CautiousYellow trials differed significantly across years, with the fastest RTs in Year 3. RiskyYellow trials however, differed significantly only between Years 1 & 3 (uncorrected). Examining functional activation during cautious trials showed significant engagement of the dACC, left AI, and precuneus across all years, with right AI also engaged in Years 1 & 3 (Figure 1a). Risky trials also activated the dACC, with additional posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) activation at Year 2 and right AI at Year 3 (Figure 1b). Whole-brain psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses revealed increased left AI-dACC and left AI-right AI connectivity during cautious trials (Figure 2).
·Figures 1: A) CautiousYellow and B) RiskyYellow vs Baseline ; Year 1: Yellow; Year 2: Blue; Year 3: Green
·Figure 2: PPI results of whole brain functional connectivity during cautious trials using the left ventral AI as the seed
Conclusions:
These findings demonstrate that cautious responses (and risky responses to a lesser degree) involving risk assessment and cognitive control are associated with activation within the SN (dACC and AI). The persistent but lower engagement of the dACC during risky trials compared to cautious may reflect greater impulsive approach behavior rather than calculated behavior, which may flip as participants age, as is seen by engagement of the right AI at year 3. Additionally, the increased functional connectivity between the left AI and dACC during cautious trials suggests that the left AI is coordinating with the dACC to enhance cognitive control processes, supporting the hypothesis that subjects are engaging in deliberate, cautious decision making rather than risk avoidance. Future work examining how specific regions interact with other areas of the brain during risky trials, and the impact of anxiety severity would aid in our understanding of the neurodevelopmental trajectories between TD and anxious youth.
Higher Cognitive Functions:
Decision Making 1
Lifespan Development:
Early life, Adolescence, Aging
Modeling and Analysis Methods:
Activation (eg. BOLD task-fMRI)
Connectivity (eg. functional, effective, structural) 2
Novel Imaging Acquisition Methods:
BOLD fMRI
Keywords:
Anxiety
Development
FUNCTIONAL MRI
1|2Indicates the priority used for review
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?
Are you Internal Review Board (IRB) certified? Please note: Failure to have IRB, if applicable will lead to automatic rejection of abstract.
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.
2. Bui, É., Charney, M. E., & Baker, A. W. (2020). Clinical handbook of anxiety disorders: From theory to practice. Humana Press.
3. Britton, J. C., Grillon, C., Lissek, S., Norcross, M. A., Szuhany, K. L., Chen, G., Ernst, M., et al. (2013). Response to learned threat: An fMRI study in adolescent and adult anxiety. American Journal of Psychiatry, 170(10), 1195–1204. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2013.12050651
4. Swartz, J. R., Phan, K. L., Angstadt, M., Fitzgerald, K. D., & Monk, C. S. (2014). Dynamic changes in amygdala activation and functional connectivity in children and adolescents with anxiety disorders. Development and Psychopathology, 26(4pt2), 1305–1319. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579414001047
5. Baker, A. E., Padgaonkar, N. T., Galván, A., & Peris, T. S. (2024). Anxiety may alter the role of fronto-striatal circuitry in adolescent risky decision-making. Journal of Affective Disorders, 348, 238–247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.12.063
6. Baker, A. E., Padgaonkar, N. T., Peris, T., & Galván, A. (2022). Anxiety symptoms interact with approach motivations in adolescent risk-taking. PsyArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/nqdxc