Anxiety is a mental state characterized by an intense sense of tension, worry or apprehension, relative to something adverse that might happen in the future. Researchers differentiate aspects of anxiety into state and trait, respectively defined as a more transient reaction to an adverse situation, and as a more stable personality attribute in experiencing events. It is yet unclear whether brain structural and functional features may distinguish these aspects of anxiety. To study this, we assessed 42 healthy participants with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and then investigated with MRI to characterize structural grey matter covariance and resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC). We found several differences in the structural–functional patterns across anxiety types: (1) trait anxiety was associated to both structural covariance of Default Mode Network (DMN), with an increase in dorsal nodes and a decrease in its ventral part, and to rs-FC of DMN within frontal regions; (2) state anxiety, instead, was widely related to rs-FC of Salience Network and of DMN, specifically in its ventral nodes, but not associated with any structural pattern. In conclusion, our study provides evidence of a neuroanatomical and functional distinction between state and trait anxiety. These neural features may be additional markers in future studies evaluating early diagnosis or treatment effects.

Significance: We undertook an interdisciplinary exploration that unites evolutionary biology, neuroscience, and developmental cultural psychology. Based on extensive and detailed behavioral analyses of 684 new mothers in 11 countries and complementary functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analyses of brain responses in 43 first-time new US mothers to their own infants’ cries, 44 experienced Chinese mothers to infant cries and control emotional sounds, and 12 Italian mothers and nonmothers to generic infant cries, we identified specific behavior repertoires and specific corresponding activated brain regions in human caregivers that constitute primary responses to infant distress. This study set will appeal to scientific and general audiences because it elucidates the foundations of core parenting practices in response to infant vocal distress.

Infant cries are a critical survival mechanism that draw the attention of adult caregivers, who can then satisfy the basic needs of otherwise helpless infants. Here, we used functional neuroimaging to determine the effects of infant hunger cries on the brain activity of adults who were in a cognitively nondemanding mental state of awake rest. We found that the brains of men and women, independent of parental status (parent or nonparent), reacted differently to infant cries. Specifically, the dorsal medial prefrontal and posterior cingulate areas, known to be involved in mind wandering (the stream of thought typical of awake rest), remained active in men during exposure to infant cries, whereas in women, activity in these regions decreased. These results show sex-dependent modulation of brain responses to infant requests to be fed, and specifically, they indicate that women interrupt mind wandering when exposed to the sounds of infant hunger cries, whereas men carry on without interruption.

Throughout recorded history, and across cultures, humans have made visual art. In recent years, the neural bases of creativity, including artistic creativity, have become a topic of interest. In this study we investigated the neural bases of the visual creative process with both professional artists and a group of control participants. We tested the idea that creativity (planning an artwork) would influence the functional connectivity between regions involved in the default mode network (DMN), implicated in divergent thinking and generating novel ideas, and the executive control network (EN), implicated in evaluating and selecting ideas. We measured functional connectivity with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) during three different conditions: rest, visual imagery of the alphabet and planning an artwork to be executed immediately after the scanning session. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found stronger connectivity between areas of the DMN and EN during the creative task, and this difference was enhanced in professional artists. These findings suggest that creativity involves an expert balance of two brain networks typically viewed as being in opposition.

Control processes are thought to play an important role in working memory (WM), by enabling the coordination, transformation, and integration of stored information. Yet little is known about the neural mechanisms that subserve such control processes. This study examined whether integration operations within WM involve the activation of distinct neural mechanisms within lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to monitor brain activity while participants performed a mental arithmetic task. In the integration (IN) condition, a WM preload item had to be mentally inserted into the last step of the math problem. This contrasted with the segregation (SG) condition, which also required maintenance of the WM preload while performing mental arithmetic but had no integration requirement. Two additional control conditions involved either ignoring the preload (math only condition) or ignoring the math problem (recall only condition). Left anterior PFC (Brodmann's Area [BA] 46/10) was selectively engaged by integration demands, with activation increasing prior to, as well as during the integration period. A homologous right anterior PFC region showed selectively increased activity in the SG condition during the period in which the math problem and preload digit were reported. Left middorsolateral PFC regions (BA 9/46) showed increased, but equivalent, activity in both the SG and IN conditions relative to both control conditions. These results provide support for the selective role of lateral PFC in cognitive control over WM and suggest more specific hypotheses regarding dissociable PFC mechanisms involved during the integration and segregation of stored WM items.