Frontoparietal processing of stress-relevant information differs in individuals with a negative cognitive style.

Prior research indicates that cognitive vulnerabilities can render individuals more susceptible to psychopathology in the wake of stressful events. However, little work has directly targeted the neural mechanisms involved. In this study, we examined functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity as a function of negative cognitive style, a well-studied cognitive vulnerability for depression. We adapted a robust paradigm in which undergraduate students completed fMRI testing after a known ecologically valid stressor (a midterm exam). Negative cognitive style correlated with brain activity in response to both negative and exam-related information in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and/or angular gyrus, both regions involved in abstract, self-referential thought. There were commonalities and differences in patterns of activity, suggesting that these individuals may process domain-general and domainspecific negative information in different ways but drawing upon a common frontoparietal network. This study, thus, identifies a potential brain network associated with negative cognitive style, and enhances our understanding of neural mechanisms of cognitive vulnerability to psychopathology. General Scientific Summary Negative cognitive style is a way of thinking about stressful events that increases an individual's risk for depression after a stressful event. In this study, we scanned undergraduate students after a stressful event-a midterm exam-and found that those with a negative cognitive style processed negative and exam-related information differently in brain areas involved in abstract, self-relevant thought. Our results shed light onto brain networks that process stress-related information differently in vulnerable individuals.