Internalizing severity is associated with salience-network connectivity in transdiagnostic psychiatry: a triple-network study

Kıcıklar S., Tunalı Aslan S.

Ulusal Sinirbilim Kongresi, İstanbul, Türkiye, 10 - 13 Eylül 2026, ss.199, (Özet Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Özet Bildiri
  • Basıldığı Şehir: İstanbul
  • Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.199
  • İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Objectives: The triple-network model proposes that psychopathology arises from aberrant interactions among the default mode (DMN), salience (SN), and central executive (CEN) networks, with the SN serving as a hub coordinating the DMN and CEN. Whether internalizing severity relates dimensionally to SN coupling within this system remains underexamined. We examined this question in a broad range of psychiatric patients. Methods: We analyzed resting-state fMRI data from patients (n=129) with diverse psychiatric diagnoses in the Transdiagnostic Connectome Project. Data were preprocessed using the HCP pipelines and denoised with ICA-FIX and global signal regression. Time series were parcellated into 434 regions using the homotopic version of the Schaefer, Tian, and Buckner atlases, and mean functional connectivity was computed for within- and between-network pairs among the DMN, SN, and CEN. Internalizing severity was indexed by the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Associations were assessed using partial correlations controlling for age and sex with bootstrapped 95% confidence intervals. Results: Greater internalizing severity was associated with reduced coupling of the SN to both the DMN (r=-0.21, p=0.016) and the CEN (r=-0.22, p=0.014). In contrast, DMN-CEN connectivity and all within-network connectivity showed no such association. This pattern localized the effect to the SN's between-network coupling. The association remained significant after controlling for in-scanner head motion. Conclusion: Internalizing severity was dimensionally associated with reduced coupling of the SN to both networks it coordinates, while sparing DMN-CEN and within-network connectivity. These preliminary findings support the SN’s proposed hub role in the triple-network model of psychopathology. Keywords: triple network, salience network, internalizing, transdiagnostic, resting state fmri