eprintid: 2958
rev_number: 8
eprint_status: archive
userid: 72
dir: disk0/00/00/29/58
datestamp: 2015-12-02 15:24:06
lastmod: 2016-09-13 09:55:03
status_changed: 2015-12-02 15:24:06
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Gentili, Claudio
creators_name: Ricciardi, Emiliano
creators_name: Gobbini, Maria Ida
creators_name: Santarelli, Maria Filomena
creators_name: Haxby, James V.
creators_name: Pietrini, Pietro
creators_name: Guazzelli, Mario
creators_id: 
creators_id: emiliano.ricciardi@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: pietro.pietrini@imtlucca.it
creators_id: 
title: Beyond amygdala: default mode network activity differs between patients with social phobia and healthy controls
ispublished: pub
subjects: RC0321
divisions: CSA
full_text_status: none
keywords: Resting state
abstract: The Default Mode Network (DMN) is a constellation of brain areas that decrease their activity during a wide number of different goal-oriented tasks as compared to passive “rest” tasks. {DMN} can be modulated by different factors such as emotional states, cognitive load of the task and psychopathology, including anxiety. Moreover, {DMN} seems to play a pivotal role in social cognition. For example, the ability to predict another person's behaviour taking his or her perspective modulates the activity of the DMN. Recent data from autistic patients support a role of {DMN} in social cognition as well. Social Phobia (SP) is an anxiety disorder characterized by an abnormal distress in situations that require social interaction. To date, no study has assessed {DMN} in Social Phobia. To determine potential differences in {DMN} activity between Social Phobia patients (SPP) and healthy control (HC) subjects we examined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data obtained during a face perception study with emotional and neutral stimuli. As compared to HC, {SPP} showed a lower deactivation in the precuneus and posterior cingulate regions (PCun/PCC) during task conditions. These regions are part of the so-called “Theory of Mind” circuit and in particular they are involved in the evaluation of one's own emotional state. Because of the role of the PCun/PCC in self-state perception and attribution and, more in general, the role of the {DMN} in social cognition, we suggest that its impairment in the {DMN} network in {SPP} might be relevant in the development of the feeling of wariness of others’ judgment and may be related to the so-called self-focused attention. Self-focused attention is the awareness of self-referent information, and is present in many emotional disorders and may additionally prevent individuals from observing external information that could disconfirm their own fears. Moreover, the abnormal modulation of activity in the {DMN} may reflect persistent rumination or anxiety-related thoughts that are not modulated by the switch from rest to task.
date: 2009-08-14
date_type: published
publication: Brain Research Bulletin
volume: 79
number: 6
publisher: Elsevier
pagerange: 409 - 413
id_number: 10.1016/j.brainresbull.2009.02.002
refereed: TRUE
issn: 0361-9230
official_url: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0361923009000628
citation:   Gentili, Claudio and Ricciardi, Emiliano and Gobbini, Maria Ida and Santarelli, Maria Filomena and Haxby, James V. and Pietrini, Pietro and Guazzelli, Mario  Beyond amygdala: default mode network activity differs between patients with social phobia and healthy controls.  Brain Research Bulletin, 79 (6).  409 - 413.  ISSN 0361-9230      (2009)