The Relations Among Anxiety, Movie-Watching, and in-Scanner Motion.

Area of Science:

• Neuroimaging
• Developmental Psychology
• Clinical Neuroscience

Background:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a tool for studying brain activity.
• Movie-watching fMRI is a potential method for examining emotional states and disorders like anxiety.
• Increased head motion in fMRI scans, especially in children, can reduce data quality and statistical power.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess how anxiety-inducing movie clips affect in-scanner data quality (movement, censoring, DVARS) in children with and without anxiety disorders.
• To investigate the relationship between anxiety symptoms and motion during movie-watching in a large pediatric sample.

Main Methods:

• The study analyzed fMRI data from two pediatric samples.
• The first sample (n=78) compared data quality during anxiogenic movie clips versus resting-state in children with and without anxiety disorders.
• The second, larger sample (n=2058) examined interactions between anxiety symptoms and motion during movie clips.

Main Results:

• Contrary to expectations, anxiogenic movie-watching reduced in-scanner movement compared to resting-state scans.
• This reduction in motion led to improved data quantity and quality.
• A small effect was observed where pathological anxiety influenced movie-attenuated motion.

Conclusions:

• Anxiety-provoking movie clips can enhance, rather than degrade, fMRI data quality in pediatric samples.
• Movie paradigms may be beneficial for future developmental neuroimaging research on anxiety.
• The findings support the use of engaging stimuli like movies to improve data acquisition in vulnerable pediatric populations.