Hypoactivity of the Prefrontal Cortex During Go/No-Go Task in Patients With Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) significantly impacts cognitive functions, including response inhibition.
• The neural underpinnings of the relationship between inhibitory control and anxiety regulation in GAD are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate prefrontal cortex (PFC) alterations in patients with GAD during tasks requiring response inhibition.
• To explore how shared neural resources for anxiety regulation and response inhibition affect PFC activity.
• To examine the correlation between PFC activity, task performance, and anxiety levels in GAD.

Main Methods:

• Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) measured hemodynamic responses in the bihemispheric PFC of 19 GAD patients and 38 healthy controls.
• Participants completed a Go/No-Go task to assess response inhibition.
• Correlational analyses examined relationships between PFC activity, task accuracy, and anxiety scores.

Main Results:

• GAD patients showed reduced hemoglobin concentration and significant PFC hypoactivity, particularly in the dorsomedial PFC (DMPFC) and dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC), during the task.
• Higher baseline PFC activity correlated with poorer task accuracy and increased trait anxiety.
• Task-related accuracy improvements were linked to left DMPFC activation, while higher anxiety correlated with reduced DMPFC activation.

Conclusions:

• Patients with GAD exhibit notable PFC hypoactivity during response inhibition, which is associated with both cognitive performance and anxiety severity.
• These findings highlight the significance of PFC dysfunction in GAD and suggest targeting PFC activity for improved diagnostics and treatments.