BACKGROUND Pediatric anxiety disorders involve greater capture of attention by threatening stimuli. However, it is not known if disturbances extend to nonthreatening stimuli, as part of a pervasive disturbance in attention-related brain systems. We hypothesized that pediatric anxiety involves greater capture of attention by salient, nonemotional stimuli, coupled with greater activity in the portion of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) specific to the ventral attention network (VAN). METHODS A sample of children (n = 129, 75 girls, mean 10.6 years of age), approximately half of whom met criteria for a current anxiety disorder, completed a task measuring involuntary capture of attention by nonemotional (square boxes) and emotional (angry and neutral faces) stimuli. A subset (n = 61) completed a task variant during functional magnetic resonance imaging. A priori analyses examined activity in functional brain areas within the right IFG, supplemented by a whole-brain, exploratory analysis. RESULTS Higher clinician-rated anxiety was associated with greater capture of attention by nonemotional, salient stimuli (F1,125 = 4.94, p = .028) and greater activity in the portion of the IFG specific to the VAN (F1,57 = 10.311, p = .002). Whole-brain analyses confirmed that the effect of anxiety during capture of attention was most pronounced in the VAN portion of the IFG, along with additional areas of the VAN and the default mode network. CONCLUSIONS The pathophysiology of pediatric anxiety appears to involve greater capture of attention to salient stimuli, as well as greater activity in attention-related brain networks. These results provide novel behavioral and brain-based targets for treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders.

中文翻译：

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儿科焦虑症的注意力改变：来自行为和神经影像学的证据


背景技术小儿焦虑症涉及通过威胁性刺激更多地吸引注意力。然而，尚不清楚干扰是否会扩展到非威胁性刺激，作为与注意力相关的大脑系统中普遍干扰的一部分。我们假设，儿科焦虑涉及通过显着的非情绪刺激更多地捕获注意力，以及特定于腹侧注意力网络（VAN）的额下回（IFG）部分的更大活动。方法 儿童样本（n = 129，75 名女孩，平均年龄 10.6 岁），其中大约一半符合当前焦虑症的标准，完成了一项测量非情绪性（方框）和情绪性（愤怒）非自愿捕获注意力的任务。和中性面孔）刺激。一个子集（n = 61）在功能磁共振成像期间完成了任务变体。先验分析检查了右侧 IFG 内功能性大脑区域的活动，并辅以全脑探索性分析。结果 临床医生评定的焦虑程度越高，与非情绪性、显着刺激对注意力的更大程度的吸引有关（F1,125 = 4.94，p = .028），并且 IFG 特定于 VAN 的部分的活动更大（F1,57 = 10.311， p = .002)。全脑分析证实，在吸引注意力过程中焦虑的影响在 IFG 的 VAN 部分以及 VAN 和默认模式网络的其他区域中最为明显。结论 儿科焦虑症的病理生理学似乎涉及对显着刺激的更多注意力捕捉，以及与注意力相关的大脑网络的更多活动。这些结果为治疗儿科焦虑症提供了新的行为和基于大脑的目标。