Global connectivity of the frontoparietal cognitive control network is related to depression symptoms in the general population

Abstract

We all vary in our mental health, even among healthy (undiagnosed) individuals. Understanding this variability may reveal factors driving the onset of mental illness, as well as factors driving sub-clinical mental health problems that can still influence quality of life. To better understand the large-scale brain network mechanisms underlying this variability in mental health we examined the relationship between mental health symptoms and resting-state functional connectivity patterns in cognitive control systems. The frontoparietal cognitive control network (FPN) consists of flexible hubs that can regulate distributed systems depending on current goals, and dysfunction in the FPN has been identified in a variety of psychiatric disorders. Alterations in FPN connectivity may influence mental health by disrupting the ability to regulate symptoms in a goal-directed manner. This suggests that the FPN may play an important role in the promotion and maintenance of mental health generally. Here we test the hypothesis that disruptions in FPN connectivity are related to mental health (depression) symptoms even among healthy individuals. This hypothesis is consistent with a general role of FPN in the regulation of mental health symptoms. We found that depression symptoms were negatively correlated with between-network global connectivity (BGC) of the FPN as well as the default mode network (DMN). This suggests that decreased connectivity between the FPN (and, separately, DMN) and the rest of the brain is related to increased depression symptoms among undiagnosed individuals. These findings complement previous clinical studies to support the hypothesis that global FPN connectivity contributes to the regulation of mental health symptoms across both mentally healthy and unhealthy individuals.