Neural correlates of suppressing and imagining future threat

Suppressing upsetting thoughts can cause psychological distress but might also enhance mental health when used flexibly to suppress the imagination of future threat during challenging times. To investigate the neural correlates of suppressing and imagining future threat, a cohort of 65 participants underwent a previously examined "Imagine/No-Imagine" paradigm while examining brain activation using magnetic resonance imaging. We observed activity of the inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus (MFG), superior parietal lobule, and superior occipital sulcus during thought suppression, whereas imagining future threat elicited activation in the bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Subjective levels of anxiety, stress, and depression as covariates did not alter these results. To further examine the group and individual-level network dynamics, we conducted dynamic causal modeling (DCM) and group iterative multiple model estimations (GIMME). The DCM model showed that during suppression, the MFG positively influenced the vmPFC and right PCC. In contrast, the vmPFC and the left and right PCC showed positive connections to the MFG during imagining. This suggests that the neural correlates of self-regulation involve an information flow between the PCC and the PFC. In addition, GIMME identified group-level connections between the right and left PCC and between the left PCC and vmPFC, reflecting the information flow during suppression and imagination of future threat, respectively. Considerable interindividual heterogeneity in the connectivity patterns became apparent, pointing to the existence of different biotypes.