Orbitofrontal control of conduct problems? Evidence from healthy adolescents processing negative facial affect

B�ttinger, Boris William; Baumeister, Sarah; Millenet, Sabina; Barker, Gareth J.; Bokde, Arun L. W.; B�chel, Christian; Quinlan, Erin Burke; Desrivi�res, Sylvane; Flor, Herta; Grigis, Antoine; Garavan, Hugh; Gowland, Penny; Heinz, Andreas; Ittermann, Bernd; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Martinot, Marie-Laure Paill�re; Artiges, Eric; Orfanos, Dimitri Papadopoulos; Paus, Tom�; Poustka, Luise; Fr�hner, Juliane H.; Smolka, Michael N.; Walter, Henrik; Whelan, Robert; Schumann, Gunter; Banaschewski, Tobias; Brandeis, Daniel; Nees, Frauke; IMAGEN Consortium

Abstract

Conduct problems (CP) in patients with disruptive behavior disorders have been linked to impaired prefrontal processing of negative facial affect compared to controls. However, it is unknown whether associations with prefrontal activity during affective face processing hold along the CP dimension in a healthy population sample, and how subcortical processing is affected. We measured functional brain responses during negative affective face processing in 1444 healthy adolescents [M = 14.39 years (SD = 0.40), 51.5% female] from the European IMAGEN multicenter study. To determine the effects of CP, we applied a two-step approach: (a) testing matched subgroups of low versus high CP, extending into the clinical range [N = 182 per group, M = 14.44 years, (SD = 0.41), 47.3% female] using analysis of variance, and (b) considering (non)linear effects along the CP dimension in the full sample and in the high CP group using multiple regression. We observed no significant cortical or subcortical effect of CP group on brain responses to negative facial affect. In the full sample, regression analyses revealed a significant linear increase of left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activity with increasing CP up to the clinical range. In the high CP group, a significant inverted u-shaped effect indicated that left OFC responses decreased again in individuals with high CP. Left OFC activity during negative affective processing which is increasing with CP and decreasing in the highest CP range may reflect on the importance of frontal control mechanisms that counteract the consequences of severe CP by facilitating higher social engagement and better evaluation of social content in adolescents.

Citation

Böttinger, B. W., Baumeister, S., Millenet, S., Barker, G. J., Bokde, A. L. W., Büchel, C., …IMAGEN Consortium. (2021). Orbitofrontal control of conduct problems? Evidence from healthy adolescents processing negative facial affect. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-021-01770-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 29, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Apr 16, 2021
• Publication Date: Apr 16, 2021
• Deposit Date: Jun 17, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 17, 2021
• Journal: European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Print ISSN: 1018-8827
• Electronic ISSN: 1435-165X
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-021-01770-1
• Keywords: Pediatrics, Perinatology, and Child Health; Developmental and Educational Psychology; Psychiatry and Mental health; General Medicine
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5690265
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-021-01770-1