Conceptualizing psychological resilience through resting-state functional MRI in a mentally healthy population: a systematic review

Alan P L Tai; Mei-Kei Leung; Xiujuan Geng; Way K W Lau

doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1175064

Conceptualizing psychological resilience through resting-state functional MRI in a mentally healthy population: a systematic review

Front Behav Neurosci. 2023 Jul 19:17:1175064. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1175064. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Alan P L Tai^{1

2

3}, Mei-Kei Leung⁴, Xiujuan Geng⁵, Way K W Lau⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
² Integrated Centre for Wellbeing, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ Bioanalytical Laboratory for Educational Sciences, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁴ Department of Counselling and Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁵ Brain and Mind Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
⁶ Department of Health Sciences, The Hong Kong Metropolitan University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Conceptualizations and operational definitions of psychological resilience vary across resilience neuroimaging studies. Data on the neural features of resilience among healthy individuals has been scarce. Furthermore, findings from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies were inconsistent across studies. This systematic review summarized resting-state fMRI findings in different modalities from various operationally defined resilience in a mentally healthy population. The PubMed and MEDLINE databases were searched. Articles that focused on resting-state fMRI in relation to resilience, and published before 2022, were targeted. Orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula and amygdala, were reported the most from the 19 included studies. Regions in emotional network was reported the most from the included studies. The involvement of regions like amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex indicated the relationships between emotional processing and resilience. No common brain regions or neural pathways were identified across studies. The emotional network appears to be studied the most in association with resilience. Matching fMRI modalities and operational definitions of resilience across studies are essential for meta-analysis.

Keywords: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); healthy population; neural mechanisms; operational definitions of resilience; psychological resilience; resting-state.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Early Career Scheme from the Research Grants Council (WL, Ref no.:28602319). The funder was not involved in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, the writing of this manuscript, or the decision to submit it for publication.