Medial prefrontal brain activity correlates with emerging symptoms of anxiety and depression in late adolescence: A fNIRS study

Abstract

The brain undergoes dramatic changes over the course of the adolescent years, and these developmental changes are implicated in the emergence of disorders that involve negative emotionality. Late adolescence might be the window within which brain networks manifest vulnerabilities to depressive and anxiety symptomology; particularly within the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which houses emotional control (dorsolateral) and emotional processing (medial) nodes. Given the comorbidity of depressive and anxious symptomology, it may be that the neural signature is similar for both within the developing PFC. In a sample of 67 adolescents (M = 15.97 years, SD = 1.36), we used functional near‐infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to examine the neural signature of emergent anxiety and depressive symptoms among younger and older adolescents. We further examined the extent to which neural signatures of anxiety and depressive symptoms within the PFC were similar or different. Findings revealed that self‐reported anxiety and depressive symptoms were highly correlated, and that the neural signatures of both within the PFC were similar, corresponding with the medial subregions of the PFC (i.e., those involved in evaluative processing). These findings were evident only in later adolescence, suggesting the possibility of a common vulnerability for anxiety and depressive disorders emerging around this developmental window.

Efficacy and executive function of solution-focused brief therapy on adolescent depression

“…Thus, these findings suggested that a performance improvement in cognitive capacity accompanied with SFBT therapy. The neural signatures of anxiety and depressive symptoms within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) were found to be similar when using fNIRS, had less cortex activation during the tasks compared to healthy controls (HCs) particularly in the medial subregions, indicating a potential shared neural basis for these symptoms during late adolescence (32,33). Zhang et al found that MDD patients had considerably decreased PFC activation and were associated with reduced rise in oxy-Hb in prefrontal regions when undertaking cognitive tasks relative to controls (34).…”

The use of functional near-infrared spectroscopy in tracking neurodevelopmental trajectories in infants and children with or without developmental disorders: a systematic review

“…In the current systematic review, developmental increase in prefrontal hemodynamic activity was reported in three domains of executive functioning, including inhibition control ( 23 , 84 , 86 , 87 , 89 ), working memory ( 90 , 91 ), and mental flexibility in typically developing children ( Figure 4 ) ( 26 , 27 , 95 ). This finding from studies using fNIRS is consistent with studies using EEG and fMRI ( 118 , 119 ).…”

“…TD children were found to have age-related increases in prefrontal activation in response to Flankers, Stroop, and go/no-go tasks, from childhood to adulthood ( 23 , 84 , 86 , 87 ). Similarly, Papasideri et al reported that age was a significant moderator of the relationship between bilateral medial PFC and general anxiety disorder, and the neural activity over this brain region predicted the anxiety, depression, and negative affect more strongly in older adolescents than in the younger ones ( 89 ). However, age-related differences were less consistent in children with obesity and ADHD ( 23 , 24 , 85 ).…”

Brightening the Study of Listening Effort with Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: A Scoping Review

“…However, the extent of this problem appears to be negligible in recent fNIRS systems and may be mitigated with the inclusion of short channels. 92,93 Finally, while some laser-and LED-based fNIRS systems are silent, others generate noticeable levels of noise that could be distracting or serve as confound in auditory experiments. The noise level tends to correlate with the size of the system; so, wearable/portable systems are more likely to be silent while fiber-based systems are likely to generate more low-level noise from the cooling fans and other components inside the amplifier box.…”

“…However, the extent of this problem appears to be negligible in recent fNIRS systems and may be mitigated with the inclusion of short channels. 92 93…”