Biomedical subjects

Nancy S Koven

Publications and source records attributed to Nancy S Koven.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of executive control in bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder has been associated with dysfunction of executive control processes. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined brain activation during a counting Stroop task in 11 healthy adults and 11 patients with bipolar I disorder. Results revealed greater activation for the healthy than bipolar disorder group in distributed brain regions that included the right inferior and medial frontal gyri. With the exception of one area within the left posterior cingulate gyrus that was correlated with mania severity, regional activations where group differences were observed were not associated with mood symptoms in the patient group. These findings add to the growing body of evidence implicating neural circuitry subserving executive control in bipolar disorder.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

The unique relationship between fear of cognitive dyscontrol and self-reports of problematic drinking.

Research has established positive associations between anxiety sensitivity (AS) and problematic drinking in clinical samples. The present study confirmed this relationship in a nonclinical sample (N=162) and investigated which AS dimension best predicts self-reports of problematic drinking. Only one AS facet, fear of cognitive dyscontrol (FCC), was associated with symptoms of alcohol dependence, severity of drinking problems, and alcohol-related expectations of global, positive changes, sexual enhancement, and tension reduction. The possible role of depression in these relationships was also evaluated. A series of hierarchical regressions revealed that, when trait anxiety, anxious arousal, and anxious apprehension were statistically removed, depression did not contribute significant variance beyond the effects of FMC and other anxiety measures. Results suggest that FCC is uniquely associated with self-reports of problematic drinking behaviors and attitudes. Implications for tension-reduction models of alcohol are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Neural mechanisms of affective interference in schizotypy.

Negatively valenced stimuli foster cognitive impairment in schizotypy and schizophrenia. To identify relevant brain mechanisms, the authors had 16 positive-schizotypy and 16 control participants perform an emotional Stroop task, judging the ink color of negative and neutral words during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of regional brain activity. Schizotypy individuals showed increased right and decreased left activity in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, indicating a deficit in maintenance of attentional set in the presence of negative emotional distractors. They also showed abnormal activity in ventral limbic areas, including decreased activity in nucleus accumbens and increased activity in hippocampus and amygdala, a circuit involved in the integration of cognitive and affective processes. These results indicate that aspects of emotion-cognition processes and the brain mechanisms that implement them are similar in schizotypy and schizophrenia.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Emotion-modulated performance and activity in left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to examine the relationship between processing of pleasant and unpleasant stimuli and activity in prefrontal cortex. Twenty volunteers identified the colors in which pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant words were printed. Pleasant words prompted more activity bilaterally in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) than did unpleasant words. In addition, pleasant words prompted more activity in left than in right DLPFC. Response speed to pleasant words was correlated with DLPFC activity. These data directly link positive affect, enhanced performance, and prefrontal activity, providing some of the first fMRI evidence supporting models of emotional valence and frontal brain asymmetry based on electroencephalography (EEG).

Adult↗