Effects of depression and anxiety symptoms on cognitive inhibition: A cross-sectional study of structural and functional MRI evidence

Abstract

Evidence shows that depression and anxiety symptoms are associated with reduced cognitive inhibition. Nevertheless, the neural substrates responsible for the effects of depression and anxiety symptoms on cognitive inhibition are yet to be determined. This cross-sectional study adhered to the strengthening the reporting of observational studies in epidemiology (STROBE) checklist. Data from 242 participants from the Iranian brain imaging database were used in this study. To address the neural substrates of depression and anxiety responsible for inhibition, voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) were used. The depression anxiety stress scale was used to evaluate symptoms of depression and anxiety, and the Stroop test was used for cognitive inhibition. The behavioral results demonstrated that inhibition was significantly negatively correlated with depression and anxiety. The VBM results showed that depression was negatively correlated with gray matter (GM) volume in the left pallidum and the right cerebellum cortex. Additionally, anxiety negatively correlated with GM volume in the left and right cerebellum cortex. RS-fMRI results showed that the thalamus network was positively correlated with depression and anxiety. more importantly, mediation analysis revealed that the right cerebellum cortex and thalamic resting-state network through depression and anxiety had a total indirect effect on inhibition. Clarifying the neural substrates responsible for how depression and anxiety symptoms affect cognitive inhibition could have important implications for interventions aimed at supporting individuals' cognitive health.

Keywords: anxiety; cognitive inhibition; depression; resting‐state network; voxel‐based morphometry.

Figure 1.

A schematic overview of the experimental design and analysis process. (a) IBID study design for performing experiments. (b) Analysis process for brain imaging measures. (c) Initial hypothetical model. IBID = the Iranian brain imaging database.

Figure 2.

Resting-state networks. Ant-DMN = anterior default mode network, DAN = dorsal attentional network, FN = frontal network, L-FPN = left frontoparietal network, Post-DMN = posterior default mode network, R-FPN = right frontoparietal network, SN = salience network, VAN = ventral attentional network, ThaN = thalamus network.

Figure 3.

Study model path analysis. The standardized regression coefficients of each path are displayed. The right cerebellum cortex and Thalamus resting-state network through depression and anxiety had a total indirect effect on inhibition. Path c: GM volumes in the left pallidum and the right and left cerebellum cortex are significantly correlated with inhibition. Path c’: after regressing out depression and anxiety, GM volumes in the left pallidum and the right and left cerebellum cortex are significantly correlated with inhibition. GM = gray matter.