The Relations Among Anxiety, Movie‐Watching, and in‐Scanner Motion

• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.70163
• Publication Date: 2025-03-12T02:31:25Z
• Authors: Peter A. Kirk; Purnima Qamar; Andre Zugman; Rany Abend; Samuel Frank; Grace V. Ringlein; Laura Jett; Gwyneth A. L. DeLap; Anita Harrewijn; Daniel S. Pine; Katharina Kircanski

ABSTRACTMovie‐watching fMRI has emerged as a theoretically viable platform for studying neurobiological substrates of affective states and emotional disorders such as pathological anxiety. However, using anxiety‐inducing movie clips to probe relevant states impacted by psychopathology could risk exacerbating in‐scanner movement, decreasing signal quality/quantity and thus statistical power. This could be especially problematic in target populations such as children who typically move more in the scanner. Consequently, we assessed: (1) the extent to which an anxiety‐inducing movie clip altered in‐scanner data quality (movement, censoring, and DVARS) in a pediatric sample with and without anxiety disorders (n = 78); and (2) investigated interactions between anxiety symptoms and movie‐attenuated motion in a highly powered, transdiagnostic pediatric sample (n = 2058). Our results suggest anxiogenic movie‐watching in fact reduces in‐scanner movement compared to resting‐state, increasing the quantity/quality of data. In one measure, pathological anxiety appeared to impact movie‐attenuated motion, but the effect was small. Given potential boosts to data quality, future developmental neuroimaging studies of anxiety may benefit from the use of movie paradigms.