Trait and state anxiety are mapped differently in the human brain

Anxiety is a mental state characterized by an intense sense of tension, worry or apprehension, relative to something adverse that might happen in the future. Researchers differentiate aspects of anxiety into state and trait, respectively defined as a more transient reaction to an adverse situation,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 11112
Main Authors: Saviola, Francesca, Pappaianni, Edoardo, Monti, Alessia, Grecucci, Alessandro, Jovicich, Jorge, De Pisapia, Nicola
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 06.07.2020
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:
631/378/1457
631/378/2649
631/477
Adult
Anxiety
Anxiety - physiopathology
Brain - physiopathology
Brain architecture
Brain Mapping - methods
Female
Functional anatomy
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
Male
multidisciplinary
Nerve Net - physiopathology
Neural networks
Neural Pathways - physiopathology
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Structure-function relationships
Substantia grisea
Young Adult
ISSN:2045-2322, 2045-2322
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Anxiety is a mental state characterized by an intense sense of tension, worry or apprehension, relative to something adverse that might happen in the future. Researchers differentiate aspects of anxiety into state and trait, respectively defined as a more transient reaction to an adverse situation, and as a more stable personality attribute in experiencing events. It is yet unclear whether brain structural and functional features may distinguish these aspects of anxiety. To study this, we assessed 42 healthy participants with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and then investigated with MRI to characterize structural grey matter covariance and resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC). We found several differences in the structural–functional patterns across anxiety types: (1) trait anxiety was associated to both structural covariance of Default Mode Network (DMN), with an increase in dorsal nodes and a decrease in its ventral part, and to rs-FC of DMN within frontal regions; (2) state anxiety, instead, was widely related to rs-FC of Salience Network and of DMN, specifically in its ventral nodes, but not associated with any structural pattern. In conclusion, our study provides evidence of a neuroanatomical and functional distinction between state and trait anxiety. These neural features may be additional markers in future studies evaluating early diagnosis or treatment effects.
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ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-020-68008-z