Adrienne L Romer1,2, Diego A Pizzagalli1,2,3. 1. Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA. 2. Harvard Medical School, Belmont, MA, USA. 3. McLean Imaging Center, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: A general psychopathology 'p' factor captures shared variance across mental disorders in diverse samples and may partly reflect executive dysfunction. Higher p factor scores have been related to structural alterations within the visual association cortex (VAC) and a cerebello-thalamo-cerebrocortical circuit (CTCC), both of which are important for executive control. Here, we tested replicability of these direct associations as well as the indirect role of executive functioning in a sample of healthy and cross-diagnostic adult patients. METHODS: We conducted hypothesis-driven (i.e., region-of-interest) and exploratory whole-brain structural neuroimaging analyses using data from the Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics study of 272 adults who met diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder or were healthy controls. Using structural equation modeling, we examined direct and indirect relations between structural neural alterations (within regions-of-interest and regions identified from exploratory analyses) and p and executive function factors. RESULTS: Higher levels of p were associated with decreased executive functioning and VAC grey matter volume, replicating previous research. In contrast, we failed to replicate prior negative relations between the p factor and CTCC structure. A significant indirect relation between VAC grey matter volume and p via executive function also emerged. Whole-brain analyses identified additional structural alterations in supplementary motor area/cingulate cortex, anterior corona radiata, and corpus callosum genu related to the p factor. CONCLUSIONS: Executive dysfunction may be one mechanism underlying relations between brain structure and general psychopathology. Replication of VAC structural alterations related to p encourages further focus on this brain structure.
BACKGROUND: A general psychopathology 'p' factor captures shared variance across mental disorders in diverse samples and may partly reflect executive dysfunction. Higher p factor scores have been related to structural alterations within the visual association cortex (VAC) and a cerebello-thalamo-cerebrocortical circuit (CTCC), both of which are important for executive control. Here, we tested replicability of these direct associations as well as the indirect role of executive functioning in a sample of healthy and cross-diagnostic adult patients. METHODS: We conducted hypothesis-driven (i.e., region-of-interest) and exploratory whole-brain structural neuroimaging analyses using data from the Consortium for Neuropsychiatric Phenomics study of 272 adults who met diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder or were healthy controls. Using structural equation modeling, we examined direct and indirect relations between structural neural alterations (within regions-of-interest and regions identified from exploratory analyses) and p and executive function factors. RESULTS: Higher levels of p were associated with decreased executive functioning and VAC grey matter volume, replicating previous research. In contrast, we failed to replicate prior negative relations between the p factor and CTCC structure. A significant indirect relation between VAC grey matter volume and p via executive function also emerged. Whole-brain analyses identified additional structural alterations in supplementary motor area/cingulate cortex, anterior corona radiata, and corpus callosum genu related to the p factor. CONCLUSIONS: Executive dysfunction may be one mechanism underlying relations between brain structure and general psychopathology. Replication of VAC structural alterations related to p encourages further focus on this brain structure.
Entities:
Keywords:
cerebellum; executive function; general psychopathology; p factor; visual association cortex
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Authors: Adrienne L Romer; Annchen R Knodt; Maria L Sison; David Ireland; Renate Houts; Sandhya Ramrakha; Richie Poulton; Ross Keenan; Tracy R Melzer; Terrie E Moffitt; Avshalom Caspi; Ahmad R Hariri Journal: Mol Psychiatry Date: 2019-12-03 Impact factor: 15.992