Anxiety Shapes Amygdala-Prefrontal Dynamics During Movie Watching

BACKGROUND: A well-characterized amygdala–dorsomedial prefrontal circuit is thought to be crucial for threat vigilance during anxiety. However, engagement of this circuitry within relatively naturalistic paradigms remains unresolved. METHODS: Using an open functional magnetic resonance imaging dataset (Cambridge Centre for Ageing Neuroscience; n = 630), we sought to investigate whether anxiety correlates with dynamic connectivity between the amygdala and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex during movie watching. RESULTS: Using an intersubject representational similarity approach, we saw no effect of anxiety when comparing pairwise similarities of dynamic connectivity across the entire movie. However, preregistered analyses demonstrated a relationship between anxiety, amygdala-prefrontal dynamics, and anxiogenic features of the movie (canonical suspense ratings). Our results indicated that amygdala-prefrontal circuitry was modulated by suspense in low-anxiety individuals but was less sensitive to suspense in high-anxiety individuals. We suggest that this could also be related to slowed habituation or amplified anticipation. Moreover, a measure of threat-relevant attentional bias (accuracy/reaction time to fearful faces) demonstrated an association with connectivity and suspense. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study demonstrated the presence of anxiety-relevant differences in connectivity during movie watching, varying with anxiogenic features of the movie. Mechanistically, exactly how and when these differences arise remains an opportunity for future research.