In this Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience research project, I utilized neurosynth to further study the connection between multiple cognitive / behavioral patterns (Addiction, Anxiety), and then utilizing neurosynth was able to write up the fMRI neueroanotmoical connection to such cogntive processes.
Neurosynth is a platform for large-scale, automated synthesis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data.
Neurosynth takes thousands of published articles reporting the results of fMRI studies, chews on them for a bit, and then spits out images that look like the ones included below.
Various studies have shown that the ventral striatum is highly involved in addictive behaviors. One of the
reasons that the ventral striatum is so heavily involved in addiction is because the ventral striatum receives
glutamatergic inputs from the medial prefrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and the orbitofrontal
cortex. These frontal areas increase their glutamatergic input to the ventral striatum (nucleus accumbens),
when the drug user is presented with a drug use mental cue; simultaneously there is a decrease in neural
plasticity, partially explaining the formation of addictions.
Toda S. [The role of the striatum in addiction]. Brain Nerve. 2012 Aug;64(8):911-7. Japanese. PMID: 22868882.
Kalivas PW, Lalumiere RT, Knackstedt L, Shen H. Glutamate transmission in addiction. Neuropharmacology. 2009;56 Suppl 1(Suppl 1):169-73. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2008.07.011. Epub 2008 Jul 16. PMID: 18675832; PMCID: PMC3280337.
Many studies have shown that the ventral tegmental area is implicated in reward seeking and also drug
seeking behavior. This is because the ventral tegmental area is the origin of dopaminergic cell bodies within
the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system, as well as other dopamine pathways. The ventral tegmental area is
largely implicated in the regulation of the distribution of dopamine within the brain, such as the frontal cortex
and the caudal brainstem. With its role in distributing dopamine throughout the brain it is easy to imagine
how the ventral tegmental area is highly implicated with addictive behaviors.
Ventral tegmental area. (2021, March 31). Retrieved April 10, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventral_tegmental_area
In an experiment of 14 male chronic heroine users, compared to 14 healthy control subjects. Participants were
put into an fMRI scanner and a cue-induced craving task was presented. Within the chronic heroine use group,
there was higher functional connectivity in the posterior cingulate cortex and with longer duration of heroine
having a positive correlation with increased posterior cingulate cortex activation. In another experiment, 30
cigarette smokers and 30 nonsmokers were put into an fMRI scanner and were presented with a smoking cue
and mental simulation, more specifically smoking hand movements. In the smoker group, there was increased
functional connectivity in the posterior cingulate cortex, in response to smoking hand mental simulations.
Both studies exemplify the role of the posterior cingulate cortex in the context of addiction.
Li Q, Yang WC, Wang YR, Huang YF, Li W, Zhu J, Zhang Y, Zhao LY, Qin W, Yuan K, von Deneen KM, Wang W, Tian J. Abnormal function of the posterior cingulate cortex in heroin addicted users during resting-state and drug-cue stimulation task. Chin Med J (Engl). 2013 Feb;126(4):734-9. PMID: 23422198.
Kim JI, Lee JD, Hwang HJ, Ki SW, Park IH, Park TY. Altered subcallosal and posterior cingulate cortex-based functional connectivity during smoking cue and mental simulation processing in smokers. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2020 Mar 8;97:109772. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2019.109772. Epub 2019 Oct 22. PMID: 31647945.
The amygdala is located within the limbic system of the brain and is involved in decision making, emotional
responses and the fight or flight response; with these functions of the amygdala and limbic system in mind, its
easy to imagine how the amygdala may be implicated in anxiety disorders. Researchers from Stanford were
also able to study adolescent brains and were able to predict how anxious they are based on the size and
functional connectivity of the amygdala. And they found that a larger amygdala correlated with more anxiety,
further showing the amygdala’s role in anxiety.
Hoy, T. (2019, May 05). The Amygdala: Function & psychology of fight or flight. Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/psychologists/the-amygdala-function-psychology-of-fight�or-flight/ StanfordMed. (2013, November 20). Size, connectivity of brain region linked to anxiety level in young children, Stanford study shows. Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013- 11/sumc-sco111413.php
In mice models, through the use of optogenetics, researchers were able to identify a pathway from the insula
to the amygdala which mediates anxiety. This is significant because the amygdala is highly implicated in
emotional responses and anxiety disorders. These same researchers were also able to show in mice that the
posterior insular cortex is involved in processing aversive sensory stimuli, bodily and emotional states, as well
as even shifting one’s behavior based on these states and stimuli. These findings support the notion that the
posterior insular cortex is implicated in anxiety disorders because of how involved it is in processing aversive
stimuli.
Gehrlach DA, Dolensek N, Klein AS, Roy Chowdhury R, Matthys A, Junghänel M, Gaitanos TN, Podgornik A, Black TD, Reddy Vaka N, Conzelmann KK, Gogolla N. Aversive state processing in the posterior insular cortex. Nat Neurosci. 2019 Sep;22(9):1424-1437. doi: 10.1038/s41593-019-0469-1. Epub 2019 Aug 27. PMID: 31455886.
In humans, it has been shown that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex plays a big role in regulating amygdala
activity, which is also highly involved in anxiety. It has also been shown that the ventromedial prefrontal
cortex plays an active role in regulating the fear response, largely through its role in context learning and
forming associations. Both of these studies support the idea that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex plays a
role in regulating anxiety.
Motzkin, J. C., Philippi, C. L., Wolf, R. C., Baskaya, M. K., & Koenigs, M. (2015). Ventromedial prefrontal cortex is critical for the regulation of Amygdala activity in humans. Biological Psychiatry, 77(3), 276- 284. doi:10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.02.014 285. Pennington ZT, Anderson AS, Fanselow MS. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex in a model of traumatic stress: fear inhibition or contextual processing? Learn Mem. 2017 Aug 16;24(9):400-406. doi: 10.1101/lm.046110.117. PMID: 28814465; PMCID: PMC5580532.