Relations Between Executive Functioning and Internalizing Symptoms Vary as a Function of Frontoparietal-amygdala...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Developmental Psychology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• The prefrontal cortex and frontoparietal network regulate behaviors and executive functions.
• Functional connectivity between these networks and the amygdala is linked to anxiety disorder risk.
• While under-controlled behavior is studied, over-controlled behavior may also pose risks for internalizing problems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interaction between frontoparietal network-amygdala functional connectivity and executive functions on longitudinal changes in internalizing symptoms.
• To examine how attention shifting and inhibitory control relate to internalizing behaviors in children aged 10-12.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study dataset for large sample sizes and sociodemographic diversity.
• Analyzed resting-state functional connectivity between the frontoparietal network and amygdala.
• Assessed longitudinal changes in internalizing symptoms and executive functioning behaviors (attention shifting, inhibitory control).

Main Results:

• Higher proficiency in attention shifting predicted fewer internalizing behaviors over time.
• Higher proficiency in inhibitory control predicted fewer internalizing symptoms, but only in children with moderately above-average frontoparietal network-amygdala connectivity.
• These findings suggest that the adaptive nature of top-down control varies across individuals.

Conclusions:

• Executive functioning's relationship with anxiety risk is moderated by trait-level neural regulation.
• Top-down control, specifically inhibitory control, may not be universally adaptive for all children's socioemotional development.
• Individual differences in neural connectivity influence how executive functions impact internalizing symptoms.