Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41783659›Full record

ArticleDepression and anxiety2026

Anxiety Suppressed Prefrontal Cortex Brain Activity: Insights From a Large Sample of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Data.

Honglin Ren, Yajie Wang, Youcai Yang, Qiang Xiao, Yan Zhang, Fuxing Wang, Hui Shi, Marc N Potenza, Delong Zhou

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PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Depression and anxiety, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Honglin RenSchool of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China, ccnu.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0003-4878-0360
Yajie WangDepartment of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, zju.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0002-7479-980X
Youcai YangKey Laboratory of Adolescent Health Assessment and Exercise Intervention of Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China, ecnu.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0002-6460-2188
Qiang XiaoDepartment of Neurology, Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, hust.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0003-3748-4312
Yan ZhangSchool of Education, Center for Teaching Creative and Critical Thinking, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, hust.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0002-4118-4454
Fuxing WangSchool of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China, ccnu.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0003-3373-7095
Hui ShiThe Department of Cardio-Psychiatry Liaison Consultation, Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, ccmu.edu.cn.ORCID 0000-0002-3304-9316
Marc N PotenzaSchool of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, USA, yale.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-6323-1354
Delong ZhouBusiness School, Durham University, Durham, UK, dur.ac.uk.ORCID 0009-0002-4343-7969

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Anxiety is one of the most common mental disorders and is linked to alterations in prefrontal cortex (PFC) function. Research on the underlying neuroscience has significant theoretical and practical implications. This study used a more naturalistic task and a larger sample to clarify how anxiety relates to brain activity. Materials and Methods: We recruited 841 participants and grouped them by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) anxiety scores into no anxiety (NA), suspected anxiety (SA), and confirmed anxiety (CA). During an emotional autobiographical memory task (EAMT), a 53-channel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) system measured oxyhemoglobin (Oxy-Hb). Results: Group differences were most pronounced in Channels 30 and 33 within the right frontopolar cortex (rFPC): NA and SA showed higher Oxy-Hb than CA, whereas NA and SA did not differ ( Conclusions: rFPC hypoactivation differentiates clinically significant anxiety from lower-symptom groups and scales with symptom severity during EAMT. Findings support fNIRS as a practical physiological index for characterizing anxiety-related prefrontal dysfunction in large samples. Future work should incorporate short-separation channels and broader diagnostic measures.

Indexed as

AnxietyOxyhemoglobinsPrefrontal CortexAdultEmotionsFemaleFunctional NeuroimagingHumansMaleMemory, EpisodicSpectroscopy, Near-InfraredYoung AdultOxyhemoglobinsanxiety severityEAMTfNIRSOxy-Hbprefrontal cortexright frontopolar cortex

Identifiers

PMID41783659
PMCPMC12956378

What Socratic holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.