Mapping fear affect and inhibitory control in young adult brains : insights from resting-state functional connectivity

Abstract

The cognitive component of anxiety, measured using the Fear Affect scale of the National Institutes of Health toolbox, stems from perceived threats of events distant in space and time. Since anxiety is known to impact higher cognitive functions in daily life, potentially leading to cognitive behavioural disorders, we aimed to identify salient whole-brain resting state functional connectivity (rsfc) patterns that explain the negative affect associated with it and the role it plays in influencing the rsfc patterns related to an aspect of executive function (inhibitory control on visual distractors) using Human Connectome Project dataset. The results show a few key resting-state functional brain networks associated with fear-affect.