Aberrant Functional Connectivity of Prefrontal Subregions in Test Anxiety and its Relationship with Depression Emotion: Evidence from Resting-state fMRI

Chen Huiling

School of Psychology, Guizhou Normal University

Abstract：

Objective Test anxiety is a specific form of anxiety occurring in examination contexts, yet its neural mechanisms at rest remain to be explored. Method This study used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to examine these mechanisms. Test anxiety levels were measured with the Test Anxiety Scale (TAS), and general anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms were assessed using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21). Thirty-six individuals with low test anxiety and thirty-five with high test anxiety underwent fMRI scanning. Subregions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the amygdala were defined as regions of interest (ROIs), and seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analyses were conducted. Result Compared with participants with low test anxiety (LTA), those with high test anxiety (HTA) showed significantly greater FC between prefrontal subregions (dlPFC, dmPFC, OFC) and multiple emotion- and cognition-related regions, including the anterior cingulate cortex, fusiform gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, and superior/middle frontal gyri. These FC patterns correlated positively with TAS and DASS depression scores. Conclusion These findings suggest that HTA exhibited enhanced functional connectivity between prefrontal regions (dlPFC, dmPFC, and OFC) and emotion- and cognition-related brain areas, which may reflect their excessive attempts at cognitive control or emotion regulation during rest. Moreover, this enhancement may represent a potential neural mechanism underlying the development of depression in test anxiety.

Key Words：

test anxiety; prefrontal cortex; depression; function connectivity; fMRI