Neural Mechanisms of Attentional Control Differentiate Trait and State Negative Affect

Laura D Crocker,Keith Bredemeier,Jeffrey M Spielberg,Stacie L Warren,Wendy Heller,Bradley P Sutton,Marie T Banich,Gregory A Miller

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00298

Abstract

The present research examined the hypothesis that cognitive processes are modulated differentially by trait and state negative affect (NA). Brain activation associated with trait and state NA was measured by fMRI during an attentional control task, the emotion-word Stroop. Performance on the task was disrupted only by state NA. Trait NA was associated with reduced activity in several regions, including a prefrontal area that has been shown to be involved in top-down, goal-directed attentional control. In contrast, state NA was associated with increased activity in several regions, including a prefrontal region that has been shown to be involved in stimulus-driven aspects of attentional control. Results suggest that NA has a significant impact on cognition, and that state and trait NA disrupt attentional control in distinct ways.

Highlights

Research in psychology and psychiatry is moving toward an emphasis on examining and integrating psychological and biological factors that cut across categories of psychopathology in order to identify “intermediate phenotypes” that advance our understanding of the nature and causes of psychopathology (Cuthbert and Insel, 2010; Sanislow et al, 2010)
The pattern of brain activation associated with trait Negative affect (NA) suggests that individuals high in trait NA have difficulty engaging top-down aspects of attentional control to maintain task goals in the presence of irrelevant information (Banich, 2009; Herrington et al, 2010)
Trait NA was associated with less activation to emotionally arousing stimuli in posterior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which plays a key role in implementing top-down attentional control in order to ignore distracting information and focus on the task at hand (Banich et al, 2000a,b, 2009; Compton et al, 2003; Milham et al, 2003)

Summary

Introduction

Research in psychology and psychiatry is moving toward an emphasis on examining and integrating psychological and biological factors that cut across categories of psychopathology in order to identify “intermediate phenotypes” that advance our understanding of the nature and causes of psychopathology (Cuthbert and Insel, 2010; Sanislow et al, 2010). The NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project has identified Negative Valence Systems as fundamental to the development and maintenance of psychopathology. Negative affect (NA) appears to be a dimension common to some if not all of the constructs identified far as key to Negative Valence Systems (e.g., fear, anxiety, loss). Efforts to isolate unique vs overlapping factors in anxiety and depression initially targeted state NA as common to both (Clark and Watson, 1991a). Further research found that the stable personality dimension of negative temperament or neuroticism was common to both anxiety and depression but predictive of their onset and course (Clark et al, 1994; Ormel et al, 2004). Converging evidence has since provided an abundance of empirical support that state NA is present in most disorders and that trait NA is a risk factor for psychopathology in general (for a review, see Clark, 2005)

Methods

Results

Conclusion