Rumination related activity in brain networks mediating attentional switching in euthymic bipolar patients

Abstract

IntroductionMood disorder patients have a tendency to be more internally oriented, with difficulties in switching attentional focus, which might result in the generation of negative thoughts, such as rumination. The present study explored self-referential neural activity correlating with rumination tendency and attentional switching capacity in bipolar disorder.MethodsTwenty euthymic bipolar patients and twenty matched healthy controls underwent a novel introspection task of switching between internally and externally focused attention during a word processing task, while their brain activity was assessed using functional MRI.ResultsDuring internal focus, higher activity in self-related regions (mPFC, PCC) was found in euthymic bipolar patients as compared to controls, verifying the hypothesis of exaggerated recruitment of self-referential processes in bipolar subjects. Switching from internal to external focus revealed higher parahippocampal activity in patients as compared to controls, additionally more pronounced when switching away from negative as compared to positive self-referential information. Furthermore, rumination traits correlated with activity in PCC, subgenual and pregenual ACC, and bilateral anterior insula during repetition of internal focus, specifically when evaluating negative words. Finally, we used ACC subregions that correlated with tendency to ruminate as seeds for a whole brain connectivity analysis. Patients showed stronger connectivity between sgACC (seed), pgACC, dPFC, and anterior insula during internal focus, whereas pgACC (seed) was more strongly connected to parahippocampal gyrus when switching from internal to external focus.ConclusionsThese findings reveal an overactive rumination-related network whose activity is enhanced by negative information in euthymic bipolar patients, which could possibly contribute to impaired switching of thoughts away from internal attention.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s40345-018-0137-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Intrinsic activity temporal structure reactivity to behavioural state change is correlated with depressive symptoms

“…This might suggest that those with more rumination remain attentive to specific thoughts consistently, meaning that the switch from a sub-critical state in the EO condition to a one closer to criticality in EC does not happen. An analogous inability to switch between attentional targets has been reported previously, providing some support for this position (Apazoglou et al, 2019;Lo et al, 2012). On the other hand, increased so-called task-negative network activity, compared to task-positive, appears to be a consistent finding in depression studies (Hamilton et al, 2011;Knyazev et al, 2016) that has been related to ruminative symptoms (Hamilton et al, 2011).…”

Alteration of Cortical Functional Networks in Default-Mode Network-Related Regions in Mood Disorders with Resting-State Electroencephalography

“…The representative value in each region was assessed by the cortical source of the seed point in each region based on the Desikan-Killiany atlas. Then, the time series of the cortical sources at each of the 68 seed points were bandpass ltered and divided into six frequency bands: delta (1-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha (8)(9)(10)(11)(12), low beta (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18), high beta (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30), and gamma . The procedure for the source localization followed that of our previous study 35 .…”

“…Both patients with BD and MDD show de cits in cognitive control and processing biases toward negative materials 11 . Impaired cognitive control might lead to rumination tendency, which is a common feature of mood disorders, characterized by excessive focusing of attention on possible causes and consequences of one's distress 12 . Furthermore, rumination results in increased connectivity within the default-mode network (DMN) 12,13 , a set of brain areas related to self-referential processing and mind-wandering 14,15 .…”

Brain functional connectivity dynamics at rest in the aftermath of affective and cognitive challenges

“…Behaviorally, prior high demands on executive control abilities can alter subsequent performance on both cognitive and affective tasks (van Steenbergen, 2015; van Steenbergen, Band, & Hommel, 2010), suggesting an impact on partly shared brain systems for coping with stressful situations and self‐regulation such as ACC and insula (Critchley & Garfinkel, 2017). Interestingly, negative emotions may hamper cognitive resource restoration (Dolcos et al, 2020; Gendolla, Tops, & Koole, 2015), while reduced attentional capacities tend to increase rumination in individuals with low mood (Apazoglou et al, 2019). However, it remains unresolved whether the impact of cognitive challenges on subsequent rest involves similar networks as those modulated by emotional events, and whether such impact depends on prior affective state.…”