Altered Neurocognitive Functional Connectivity and Activation Patterns Underlie Psychopathology in Preadolescence

Briana Lees; Lindsay M Squeglia; Lisa M McTeague; Miriam K Forbes; Robert F Krueger; Matthew Sunderland; Andrew J Baillie; Forrest Koch; Maree Teesson; Louise Mewton

doi:10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.09.007

Altered Neurocognitive Functional Connectivity and Activation Patterns Underlie Psychopathology in Preadolescence

Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2021 Apr;6(4):387-398. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.09.007. Epub 2020 Sep 12.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Electronic address: briana.lees@sydney.edu.au.
² Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina.
³ Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minnesota, Minneapolis.
⁵ Matilda Centre for Research in Mental Health and Substance Use, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁶ Sydney School of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
⁷ Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Abstract

Background: Neurocognitive deficits are common among youth with mental disorders, and patterns of aberrant brain function generally cross diagnostic boundaries. This study investigated associations between functional neurocircuitry and broad transdiagnostic psychopathology dimensions in the critical preadolescent period when psychopathology is emerging.

Methods: Participants were 9- to 10-year-olds from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study. Factor scores of general psychopathology, externalizing, internalizing, and thought disorder dimensions were calculated from a higher-order model of psychopathology using confirmatory factor analysis (N = 11,721) and entered as explanatory variables into linear mixed models to examine associations with resting-state functional connectivity (n = 9074) and neural activation during the emotional n-back task (n = 6146) when covarying for sex, race/ethnicity, parental education, and cognitive function.

Results: All dimensions of psychopathology were commonly characterized by hypoconnectivity within the dorsal attention and retrosplenial-temporal networks, hyperconnectivity between the frontoparietal and ventral attention networks and between the dorsal attention network and amygdala, and hypoactivation of the caudal middle frontal gyrus. Externalizing pathology was uniquely associated with hyperconnectivity between the salience and ventral attention networks and hyperactivation of the cingulate and striatum. Internalizing pathology was uniquely characterized by hypoconnectivity between the default mode and cingulo-opercular networks. Connectivity between the cingulo-opercular network and putamen was uniquely higher for internalizing pathology and lower for thought disorder pathology.

Conclusions: These findings provide novel evidence that broad psychopathology dimensions are characterized by common and dissociable patterns, particularly for externalizing pathology, of functional connectivity and task-evoked activation throughout neurocognitive networks in preadolescence.

Keywords: Functional connectivity; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Mental disorder; Neural activation; Preadolescence; Psychopathology.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Brain
Child
Gray Matter
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging*
Mental Disorders*
Psychopathology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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