TY - JOUR
T1 - Attentional bias modification alters intrinsic functional network of attentional control
T2 - A randomized controlled trial
AU - Hakamata, Yuko
AU - Mizukami, Shinya
AU - Komi, Shotaro
AU - Sato, Eisuke
AU - Moriguchi, Yoshiya
AU - Motomura, Yuki
AU - Maruo, Kazushi
AU - Izawa, Shuhei
AU - Kim, Yoshiharu
AU - Hanakawa, Takashi
AU - Inoue, Yusuke
AU - Tagaya, Hirokuni
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Investigators (Rank A) by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (grant number: 24683025 to Y.H.), by the Mental Health Okamoto Memorial Foundation (to Y.H.), and by Astellas Pharma, Inc. and the Sanofi-Aventis Corp. (to H.T.). Y.H. is a research fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. Funding sources did not influence any aspect of the work detailed in the current manuscript (design, data collection, analyses, interpretation, writing, or submission).
Funding Information:
Author H.T. received grants support from Astellas Pharma, Inc., MSD Inc., the Sanofi-Aventis Corp, and Otsuka Pharmaceutical Inc. All the authors except H.T. declare no conflict of interest associated with this manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - Introduction: Attentional bias modification (ABM) alleviates anxiety by moderating biased attentional processing toward threat; however, its neural mechanisms remain unclear. We examined how ABM changes functional connectivity (FC) and functional network measures, leading to anxiety reduction. Methods: Fifty-four healthy anxious individuals received either ABM or sham training for 1 month in a double-blind randomized controlled trial. Anxious traits, attentional control, and attentional bias were assessed. Thirty-five participants completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans before and after training. Results: ABM significantly mitigated an anxious traits regarding physical stress vulnerability (η2 = 0.12, p = 0.009). As compared to sham training, ABM significantly strengthened FC between the pulvinar and transverse gyrus along the temporoparietal junction (T = 3.90, FDR-corrected p = 0.010), whereas it decreased FC between the postCG and ventral fronto-parietal network (vFPN) regions such as the anterior insula and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (all T ≤ − 3.19, FDR-corrected p ≤ 0.034). Although ABM diminished network measures of the postcentral gyrus (postCG) (all T ≤ − 4.30, FDR-corrected p ≤ 0.006), only the pulvinar-related FC increase was specifically correlated with anxiety reduction (r = − 0.46, p = 0.007). Limitations: Per-protocol analysis and reduced sample size in MRI analysis. Conclusions: ABM might augment the pulvinar's control over vFPN to maintain endogenous attention to a behavioral goal, while diminishing the information exchanges of the postCG with vFPN to inhibit the capture of exogenous attention by potential threats. The pulvinar might play a critical role in ABM anxiolytic efficacy.
AB - Introduction: Attentional bias modification (ABM) alleviates anxiety by moderating biased attentional processing toward threat; however, its neural mechanisms remain unclear. We examined how ABM changes functional connectivity (FC) and functional network measures, leading to anxiety reduction. Methods: Fifty-four healthy anxious individuals received either ABM or sham training for 1 month in a double-blind randomized controlled trial. Anxious traits, attentional control, and attentional bias were assessed. Thirty-five participants completed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans before and after training. Results: ABM significantly mitigated an anxious traits regarding physical stress vulnerability (η2 = 0.12, p = 0.009). As compared to sham training, ABM significantly strengthened FC between the pulvinar and transverse gyrus along the temporoparietal junction (T = 3.90, FDR-corrected p = 0.010), whereas it decreased FC between the postCG and ventral fronto-parietal network (vFPN) regions such as the anterior insula and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (all T ≤ − 3.19, FDR-corrected p ≤ 0.034). Although ABM diminished network measures of the postcentral gyrus (postCG) (all T ≤ − 4.30, FDR-corrected p ≤ 0.006), only the pulvinar-related FC increase was specifically correlated with anxiety reduction (r = − 0.46, p = 0.007). Limitations: Per-protocol analysis and reduced sample size in MRI analysis. Conclusions: ABM might augment the pulvinar's control over vFPN to maintain endogenous attention to a behavioral goal, while diminishing the information exchanges of the postCG with vFPN to inhibit the capture of exogenous attention by potential threats. The pulvinar might play a critical role in ABM anxiolytic efficacy.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jad.2018.06.018
DO - 10.1016/j.jad.2018.06.018
M3 - Article
C2 - 29929157
AN - SCOPUS:85048721593
VL - 238
SP - 472
EP - 481
JO - Journal of Affective Disorders
JF - Journal of Affective Disorders
SN - 0165-0327
ER -