Trait anxiety affects brain functioning and cognition as suggested by various neuroimaging and behavioural studies. It is also a a prone phenotype for the development of psychiatric disorders. Therefore, in order to identify individuals that are at risk for the development of clinical anxiety disorders and depression, identifying hallmarks of trait anxiety becomes important, to fascilitate timely preventive interventions. We investigated the structural correlates of trait anxiety in healthy participants using high resolution structural MRI. Results suggest that a reduction in the gray matter volumes of the hypothalamus may be putative imaging marker for trait anxiety.
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