Perceived stress and rejection associated with functional network strength during memory retrieval in adolescents

ABSTRACT

The brain undergoes substantial structural and functional remodeling during adolescence, including alterations in memory-processing regions influenced by stress. This study evaluated brain activation using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during spatial memory performance using a virtual Morris water task (MWT) and examined the associations between default mode network (DMN) activation, task performance, and perceived stress and rejection. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired at 3 Tesla from 59 (34 female) adolescents (13–14 years). The NIH Emotion Toolbox was used to measure perceived stress and rejection. During the MWT, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex showed greater activation during memory retrieval relative to motor performance. Templates of brain functional networks from the Human Connectome Project study were used to extract individual participants’ brain network activation strengths for the retrieval > motor contrast for two sub-networks of the default mode network: medial temporal lobe (MTL-DMN) and dorsomedial prefrontal (dMPFC-DMN). For the MTL-DMN sub-network only, activation was significantly associated with worse MWT performance (p = .008) and greater perceived stress (p = .008) and perceived rejection (p = .002). Further, MWT performance was negatively associated with perceived rejection (p = .007). These findings suggest that perceived stress and rejection are related to engagement of MTL-DMN during spatial memory and that engagement of this network impacts performance. These findings also demonstrate the utility of examining task-related network activation strength to identify the impact of perceived stress and rejection on large-scale brain network functioning during adolescence.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• spatial memory
• stress
• fMRI
• network activation
• hippocampus

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Carolyn Caine and Maya Rieselbach for their assistance with recruitment, study coordination, and data collection.

Authorship contributions

JTS and MMS were involved in all aspects of the research, including conception and design of the work, analysis, data interpretation, and manuscript preparation. JC-G was involved in fMRI analyses, data interpretation, and manuscript preparation. EO, AS, and ES assisted with recruitment, study coordination, and data collection. DH was responsible for programming the MWT and processing the associated behavioral data. HSC contributed to data interpretation and manuscript preparation. SKH contributed to participant recruitment, the concept, and design of the study, interpretation of data and manuscript preparation. LDN provided oversight of fMRI processing, analysis, data interpretation, and manuscript preparation. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by NIAAA grant R01 AA022493 (Silveri) and NIAAA grant K24 AA025977 (Silveri).This work was conducted with support (Nickerson) from Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center (National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health Award UL 1TR002541) and financial contributions from Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of Harvard Catalyst, Harvard University and its affiliated academic healthcare centers, or the National Institutes of Health.]