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Abnormal neural activation during negative emotion processing in anxiety disorders: a coordinate-based meta-analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 May 2024

Rui Wang Open the ORCID record for Rui Wang [Opens in a new window] ,
Lu Lu ,
Yingxue Gao ,
Hui Qiu ,
Haoran Xu ,
Xiaoqi Huang ,
John A. Sweeney ,
Qiyong Gong Open the ORCID record for Qiyong Gong [Opens in a new window]  and
Jeffrey R. Strawn
Rui Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Institute of Radiology and Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China
Lu Lu
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Institute of Radiology and Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Psychoradiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Yingxue Gao
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Institute of Radiology and Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China
Hui Qiu
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Institute of Radiology and Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China
Haoran Xu
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Institute of Radiology and Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Psychoradiology Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Xiaoqi Huang
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Institute of Radiology and Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Research Unit of Psychoradiology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Chengdu, China
John A. Sweeney
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Institute of Radiology and Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Qiyong Gong*
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Institute of Radiology and Medical Imaging, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China Xiamen Key Lab of Psychoradiology and Neuromodulation, Department of Radiology, West China Xiamen Hospital of Sichuan University, Xiamen, China
Jeffrey R. Strawn
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA Divisions of Psychiatry and Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
*
Corresponding author: Qiyong Gong; Email: qiyonggong@hmrrc.org.cn
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Abstract

Background

Anxiety disorders are associated with aberrant neural responses to negative emotions. Yet, the diverse range of contrasts and stimuli used to investigate these responses has produced variable, complex, and sometimes conflicting results.

Methods

To characterize brain activation during negative emotion processing in anxiety disorders, we conducted a meta-analysis of studies contrasting activation to negative stimuli versus perceptually similar neutral stimuli and examined the differential effects of two types of visual stimuli—scenes and faces. The relevant functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that employed these contrasts were identified using PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE databases, and the meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Results

Across 20 studies, patients with anxiety disorders (n = 348) had increased activation in core cortical regions of default mode and frontal–parietal networks during negative emotion processing compared to healthy controls (n = 335). Further, differential and greater regional activation was found during the processing of negative scenes than faces and greater activation was associated with sex and age of patients across studies.

Conclusions

These results highlight the importance of self-reference- and cognitive regulation-related functional disturbances in the cortex rather than emotional response-related subcortical alteration during negative emotion processing and indicate a more robust effect from emotional scenes in anxiety disorders.

Keywords

Anxiety disorderfunctional MRIemotion processingtaskmeta-analysis

Information

Type
Original Research
Information
CNS Spectrums , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , 2025 , e64
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

R.W. and L.L. contributed equally.

†

Deceased.

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