Association between Sub-Threshold Affective Symptoms and Prefrontal Activation in Non-Clinical Population―An NIRS Study

Abstract

Only a few studies have examined the relationship between self-assessment of affective symptoms and brain activation in a non-clinical population. The aim of the present study was to assess this relationship and examine the underlying cortical mechanisms in a non-clinical population. Seventy-nine healthy volunteers were assessed for affective symptoms using the Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), for apathy using the Apathy Scale (AS), and for feelings of stress using the Stress Arousal Checklist (SACL). Participants also performed a serial arithmetic task according to the Uchida-Kraepelin performance test while hemoglobin concentration changes were assessed on the surface of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) using 32-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). The activity on the right side of PFC had a significant negative correlation with the SDS score. The AS and SACL scores were positively correlated with the SDS score. Furthermore, in a multiple regression analysis, SDS scores were predicted by the activity of the right PFC, AS scores, and SACL scores. These results suggest that the association between the cortical activation changes, apathy, and feelings of stress may objectively identify individuals with sub-threshold affective symptoms.

Psychophysiological Responses to Stress Related to Anxiety in Healthy Aging

“…Hypothesis 1 (H1): The exposure to a stressful task will increase the activation of right PFC, consistent with the results obtained in young adults (Fujimaki et al, 2014;Takizawa et al, 2014;Tanida et al, 2004Tanida et al, , 2007Tanida et al, , 2008.…”

“…Therefore, our results suggest, in a sample of elderly, the hypothesis that portions of right PFC are specialized in processing and regulating negative affective states, and in cognitive control of emotions, inhibiting for example potential flight reactions in front of stressful events (Kogler et al, 2015). A critical aspect of past NIRS studies performed using mental arithmetic tasks, as briefly mentioned in the Introduction, is that they never implemented a control condition (Fujimaki et al, 2014; Sakatani et al, 2010; Takizawa et al, 2014; Tanida et al, 2004, 2007, 2008). On the contrary, in the present study we compared two conditions which probably induce different cognitive loads (Rosenbaum et al, 2018), as well as different levels of stress.…”

“…To date, few studies have used the NIRS to assess brain activity and stress responses (see e.g., Brugnera et al, 2017; Fujimaki, Takemoto, & Morinobu, 2014; Sakatani et al, 2010; Takizawa, Nishimura, Yamasue, & Kasai, 2014; Tanida et al, 2007; Tanida, Katsuyama, & Sakatani, 2008; Tanida, Sakatani, Takano, & Tagai, 2004). Among these studies, the majority focused on young adults.…”