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Gruber, L.
Resting-State Functional Connectivity Changes in Patients with Functional Movement Disorder.
[ Diplomarbeit/Master Thesis (UNI) ] Universität Graz; 2025. pp.75.
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Authors Med Uni Graz:
Advisor:: Koini Marisa
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Abstract:: Functional movement disorder (FMD) is a neurological condition marked by abnormal movements without underlying structural brain pathology. Depression symptoms are frequent in FMD, literature on cognitive functioning is inconsistent. Little is known about the organization of large-scale resting-state networks. This study examined differences in resting-state functional connectivity (FC) patterns, depressive symptoms, and cognitive functioning between FMD patients and healthy controls (HC), and explored associations of FC alterations with depression symptoms, cognition and age. For behavioral comparisons, the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Trail-Making Test B (TMT-B) and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) of 27 FMD patients and 27 HC were analyzed. To identify resting-state networks and compare intra- and inter-network FC between groups, resting-state fMRI data of 11 FMD patients and 11 HC were analyzed through independent component analysis and dual regression. FMD patients reported significantly higher depressive symptoms on the GDS (U = 226.00, p = .015) and showed better cognitive performance on the MMSE (U = 225.00, p = .014) and TMT-B (U = 227.50, p = .028) compared to HC. Intra-network analyses revealed reduced FC between a cluster of the right anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC) and the executive right network in FMD, with no significant correlation between this FC strength and depression, cognition or age. There were no significant group differences in inter-network FC. Given the aPFC’s role in metacognitive control, attention shifting, and emotion regulation, this right-lateralized reduced coupling with the executive network may reflect inefficient integration of executive and emotion control mechanisms, potentially contributing to impaired motor inhibition. Future studies with larger samples should further explore these FC patterns using motor inhibition and emotion regulation paradigms to confirm network-specific differences.