Open AccessThreat vigilance and intrinsic amygdala connectivity
Author(s) -
Kirk Peter A.,
Holmes Avram J.,
Robinson Oliver J.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.25851
Subject(s) - vigilance (psychology) , anxiogenic , psychology , amygdala , anxiety , neuroscience , periaqueductal gray , arousal , ventromedial prefrontal cortex , cognitive psychology , prefrontal cortex , midbrain , cognition , anxiolytic , psychiatry , central nervous system
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.