Adolescent Resting-State Brain Networks and Unique Variability of Conduct Problems Within the Externalizing Dimension

Abstract

The externalizing psychopathological dimension is associated with alterations in adolescents’ functional brain connectivity. The current study aims to identify the functional correlates of the unique variability in conduct problems within the context of the broad externalizing dimension. The broad externalizing dimension and unique variability in conduct problems were estimated using a bifactor model. Resting-state data were available for a sample of 125 adolescents. Based on multiresolution parcellation of functional brain networks atlas, major resting-state functional brain networks and the connectivity correlates of unique conduct problems and the broad externalizing dimension were established. The broad externalizing dimension was related to connectivity alterations in the ventral attention/salience network, while unique variability in conduct problems dimension was related to connectivity alterations in the cerebellum crusi as well as the mesolimbic network. The current study is a first step toward the identification of functional resting-state network correlates of broad and specific variability in the externalizing dimension.

Clarifying the role of Cortico-Cortical and Amygdalo-Cortical brain dysconnectivity associated with Conduct Problems

“…Likewise, negative brain connectivity score was mainly represented by brain regions of the Salience, VentAttn and Cingulo-Opercular networks such as the dACC and bilateral vlPFC and aINS. Dysconnectivity in these networks were found to be associated with the broad dimension of externalizing pathology in two recent studies ((66) and ABCD study:(67)) which corroborates our findings.…”

Clarifying the role of Cortico-Cortical and Amygdalo-Cortical brain dysconnectivity associated with Conduct Problems

“…In contrast with the functional decoding suggesting their implications in reward processing tasks, we recently found that antisocial subjects exhibited reduced brain activity in these regions (i.e., pg- & dACC extending to the aMCC/pre-SMA as well as the aINS) during acute threat response ( Dugré et al, 2020 ). Moreover, recent studies support the association of functional brain dysconnectivity at a region-level (i.e., aINS-pgACC & pgACC-Supramarginal Gyrus, see Afzali et al, 2020 ) and a network-level (i.e., increased salience-ventral attention connectivity, see Lees et al, 2021 ) with broad externalizing problems. In our study, we observed that CP was negatively associated with functional connectivity of brain regions underpinning Cingulo-Opercular network (i.e., aINS, lPFC, SMA) and those corresponding to visual (i.e., Area 2 and lingual gyrus), Auditory (i.e., Heschl gyrus) and unlabeled (i.e., Lateral OFC).…”

Precision behavioral phenotyping as a strategy for uncovering the biological correlates of psychopathology

“…This problem, which is referred to as a granularity mismatch between behavioural and biological measures 134 , should be considered carefully and can be addressed by taking a hierarchical approach to behavioural assessment. We thus advocate for a 'splitting' approach, in which psychopathological constructs are dissected into finer-grained, lower-order homogenous constructs to isolate specific variance while taking account of the hierarchical organization of these phenotypes [135][136][137][138] . The study conducted by Tiego et al (2022) 139 provides an example of a splitting approach that identified significant associations between polygenic risk for schizophrenia and psychometric measures of schizotypy in a non-clinical sample that were otherwise obscured by the use of raw scores or a lumping approach.…”