Threat vigilance and intrinsic amygdala connectivity

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 43; no. 10; pp. 3283 - 3292
• Main Authors: Kirk, Peter A., Holmes, Avram J., Robinson, Oliver J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2022
• Subjects: Amygdala; Amygdala - diagnostic imaging; Anxiety; Anxiety - diagnostic imaging; Anxiety Disorders; Behavior; Circuits; Cognition & reasoning; Fear - physiology; fMRI; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Humans; Hypotheses; Individuality; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Open access; Periaqueductal gray area; Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging; Stimuli; subcortex; Threats; Vigilance; anxiety; fMRI; amygdala; subcortex
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25851

A well‐documented amygdala‐dorsomedial prefrontal circuit is theorized to promote attention to threat (“threat vigilance”). Prior research has implicated a relationship between individual differences in trait anxiety/vigilance, engagement of this circuitry, and anxiogenic features of the environment (e.g., through threat‐of‐shock and movie‐watching). In the present study, we predicted that—for those scoring high in self‐reported anxiety and a behavioral measure of threat vigilance—this circuitry is chronically engaged, even in the absence of anxiogenic stimuli. Our analyses of resting‐state fMRI data (N = 639) did not, however, provide evidence for such a relationship. Nevertheless, in our planned exploratory analyses, we saw a relationship between threat vigilance behavior (but not self‐reported anxiety) and intrinsic amygdala‐periaqueductal gray connectivity. Here, we suggest this subcortical circuitry may be chronically engaged in hypervigilant individuals, but that amygdala‐prefrontal circuitry may only be engaged in response to anxiogenic stimuli.