A well-documented amygdala-dorsomedial prefrontal circuit is theorized to promote attention to threat ("threat vigilance"). Prior research has implicated a relationship between individual differences in trait anxiety/vigilance, engagement of this circuitry, and anxiogenic features of the environment (e.g., through threat-of-shock and movie-watching). In the present study, we predicted that-for those scoring high in self-reported anxiety and a behavioral measure of threat vigilance-this circuitry is chronically engaged, even in the absence of anxiogenic stimuli. Our analyses of resting-state fMRI data (N = 639) did not, however, provide evidence for such a relationship. Nevertheless, in our planned exploratory analyses, we saw a relationship between threat vigilance behavior (but not self-reported anxiety) and intrinsic amygdala-periaqueductal gray connectivity. Here, we suggest this subcortical circuitry may be chronically engaged in hypervigilant individuals, but that amygdala-prefrontal circuitry may only be engaged in response to anxiogenic stimuli.
Keywords: amygdala; anxiety; fMRI; subcortex.
© 2022 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.