Brain Connectivity Variability Influences Anxiety Through the Behavioral Inhibition System

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• The behavioral inhibition system (BIS) is crucial for processing punishment cues and avoidance behaviors, and is linked to anxiety.
• Neural dynamics, especially temporal variability in brain network interactions, underlying BIS function are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between BIS sensitivity and the temporal variability of functional connectivity in brain networks.
• To explore the neural basis of BIS function and its relationship with anxiety.

Main Methods:

• Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was used on 181 healthy adults.
• Analyzed temporal variability of functional connectivity within and between brain networks.
• Correlated BIS sensitivity scores with network variability measures.

Main Results:

• A significant positive correlation was found between BIS scores and temporal variability in connectivity between the sensory somatomotor hand network (SSHN)-ventral attention network (VAN) and sensory somatomotor mouth network (SSMN)-VAN.
• Individuals with high BIS sensitivity showed greater temporal variability between VAN and SSMN/SSHN compared to those with low BIS sensitivity.
• Predicted BIS scores based on network variability strongly correlated with actual BIS scores, and BIS scores mediated the relationship between network variability and anxiety.

Conclusions:

• Temporal variability in specific brain network interactions is associated with BIS sensitivity.
• These findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying BIS and anxiety.
• This research contributes to understanding the pathogenesis of anxiety disorders.