The Behavioural Inhibition System, anxiety and hippocampal volume in a non-clinical population

Abstract

BackgroundAnimal studies have suggested that the hippocampus may play an important role in anxiety as part of the Behavioural Inhibition System (BIS), which mediates reactivity to threat and punishment and can predict an individual’s response to anxiety-relevant cues in a given environment. The aim of the present structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study was to examine the relationship between individual differences in BIS and hippocampal structure, since this has not received sufficient attention in non-clinical populations. Thirty healthy right-handed participants with no history of alcohol or drug abuse, neurological or psychiatric disorders, or traumatic brain injury were recruited (16 male, 14 female, age 18 to 32 years). T1-weighted structural MRI scans were used to derive estimates of total intracranial volume, and hippocampal and amygdala gray matter volume using FreeSurfer. To relate brain structure to Gray’s BIS, participants completed the Sensitivity to Punishment questionnaire. They also completed questionnaires assessing other measures potentially associated with hippocampal volume (Beck Depression Inventory, Negative Life Experience Survey), and two other measures of anxiety (Spielberger Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Beck Anxiety Inventory).ResultsWe found that high scores on the Sensitivity to Punishment scale were positively associated with hippocampal volume, and that this phenomenon was lateralized to the right side. In other words, greater levels of behavioural inhibition (BIS) were positively associated with right hippocampal volume.ConclusionsOur data suggest that hippocampal volume is related to the cognitive and affective dimensions of anxiety indexed by the Sensitivity to Punishment, and support the idea that morphological differences in the hippocampal formation may be associated with behavioural inhibition contributions to anxiety.

A review of post-concussion syndrome and psychological factors associated with concussion

“…PTSD) or simply due to trauma histories, other studies have demonstrated that elevated levels of glucocorticoids may lead to hippocampal diminution in non-human primates [29]. In a non-clinical sample, Levita et al [30] found a positive relationship between hippocampal volume (lateralized to the right hemisphere) and behavioural inhibition and suggested that any change to hippocampal volume, structural or functional, may serve as a diathesis for anxiety-related symptomatology.…”

Inhibitory Behavioral Control: A Stochastic Dynamic Causal Modeling Study Using Network Discovery Analysis

“…We can speculate that the difficulty of the Hard NoGo trials may have been frustrating and may have activated emotional circuits related to anxiety. Previous studies have shown that greater HIP volume was associated with high scores on the sensitivity to punishment scale (Levita et al, 2014) and that hippocampal activation was related to monitoring of threat level during a human approach-avoidance task that emulated rodent anxiety paradigms (Bach et al, 2014). Thus, an alternative interpretation of our results would be that stronger control from MFG to HIP may have been related to anxiety during Hard NoGo than during Easy NoGo.…”

A 3 tesla magnetic resonance imaging volumetric analysis of the hippocampal formation: dependence on handedness and age

“…[22,26,41]. The hippocampal atrophy is correlated with Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment for the right hippocampus [49].…”

“…Malformation, disorder or damage of the HF have a great importance in the pathogenesis, or consequences, of the variety of the neurological and psychiatric disorders, e.g. the epilepsy, schizophrenia, amnesia, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress, aging, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease [14,26,37,38,41,42,49]. Even the slightest volume changes, which can be identified by modern imaging techniques, may indicate certain neuropathology or pathophysiology in this region.…”