Resting State Functional Connectivity and Psychotic-Like Experiences in Childhood: Results from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

Background: Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) during childhood are associated with greater risk of developing a psychotic disorder, highlighting the importance of identifying neural correlates of childhood PLEs. Three major cortical networks- the cingulo-opercular network (CON), default mode network (DMN), and fronto-parietal network (FPN)- are consistently implicated in psychosis as well as PLEs in adults. However, it is unclear whether variation in functional connectivity is associated with PLEs in school-aged children. Methods: Using hierarchical linear models, we examined the relationships between childhood PLEs and resting-state functional connectivity of the CON, DMN, and FPN, as well as the other networks using an a priori network parcellation, using data from 3,434 9-10-year-olds in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. We examined within-network, between-network, and subcortical connectivity. Results: Decreased CON and DMN connectivity, as well as cingulo-parietal (CPAR) network connectivity, were associated with greater PLEs, even after accounting for family history of psychotic disorders, internalizing symptoms, and cognitive performance. Decreased DMN network connectivity was more strongly associated with increased delusional ideation, whereas decreased CON connectivity was more strongly associated with increased perceptual distortions. Increased CON-cerebellar and decreased CPAR-cerebellar connectivity were also associated with increased PLEs, and CPAR-cerebellar connectivity was more strongly associated with increased perceptual distortions. Conclusion: Consistent with hypotheses about the dimensionality of psychosis, our results provide evidence that neural correlates of PLEs, such as reduced functional connectivity of higher-order cognitive networks, are present even in school-aged children. Therefore, the results provide further validation for continuity of PLEs across the lifespan.