NIMH Pediatric Anxiety Neural Efficiency (ds006303)
Reduced Threat-Related Neural Efficiency: A Possible Biomarker for Pediatric Anxiety Disorder
Structural MRI, resting-state fMRI and emotional dot-probe task fMRI of 149 youths aged 8 to 18 with an anxiety disorder or no psychiatric diagnosis, scanned at NIMH, many with a second session. BIDS under CC0.
Overview
This OpenNeuro dataset comes from a study at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, Maryland, by the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience. It compares brain function in children and adolescents with an anxiety disorder against youths without any psychiatric diagnosis, and accompanies a paper on threat-related neural efficiency accepted by The American Journal of Psychiatry. The first snapshot appeared in June 2025; snapshot 1.1.2 (March 2026) is released under a CC0 waiver. Analysis code is on GitHub at NIMH-SDAN/Neural.Efficiency.2025.
Composition
Of 206 enrolled participants, the 149 who agreed to public sharing are included. 81 met KSADS criteria for an anxiety disorder (separation anxiety, generalized anxiety, social phobia or panic disorder) and 68 had no psychiatric disorder. 90 are female and 59 male, aged 8 to 18 years. Every participant has a first session with a T1-weighted scan and fMRI; 74 also have a second session. A phenotype file adds clinical scales (SCARED self and parent report, PARS, CGAS), IQ from the WASI, and family income.
Acquisition
All scans were acquired on GE 3T scanners (Signa HDxt and Discovery MR750) at the NIH functional MRI facility, in two cohorts that used an 8-channel or a 32-channel head coil. Each session holds a 12-minute resting-state run (single echo in cohort 1, three echoes in cohort 2, TR 2 s) and two runs of a 14-minute emotional dot-probe task (TR 2.3 s), plus a 3D T1-weighted scan. The dataset README describes the sessions as before and after treatment. Structural images were defaced with the DSST defacing pipeline.
Annotations
There are no image annotations. 444 of the 448 dot-probe task runs come with an events file listing trial types.
Known limitations
- The README does not say which participants received treatment or what the treatment was.
- Acquisition parameters differ between the two cohorts, including echo count, flip angle and slice number.
- Only 149 of 206 enrolled participants are shared, so the release may not match the published analysis sample.
- No derivatives are included.
Cohort
Aggregate numbers from the sources below. Bars are relative to the 149 subjects.
Sex
- Female 90 60%
- Male 59 40%
sex in participants.tsv of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), columns sex, age and group
Contrast / sequence
Groups can overlap
- T1-weighted 149 100%
- BOLD fMRI 149 100%
sub-*/ses-*/anat/*_T1w.nii.gz, sub-*/ses-*/func/*_bold.nii.gz in File tree and T1w JSON sidecars of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), raw NIfTI files counted per subject and session folder, sidecar fields Manufacturer, ManufacturersModelName, MagneticFieldStrength and InstitutionName
Condition by sex
Reported cross table. A dot marks a cell the source does not give.
| Female | Male | |
|---|---|---|
| Anxiety disorder | 54 | 27 |
| Healthy control | 36 | 32 |
sex and group in participants.tsv of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), columns sex, age and group
Contrast / sequence by field strength
ScansReported cross table. A dot marks a cell the source does not give.
| 3 T | |
|---|---|
| T1-weighted | 223 |
T1w sidecars: MagneticFieldStrength in File tree and T1w JSON sidecars of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), raw NIfTI files counted per subject and session folder, sidecar fields Manufacturer, ManufacturersModelName, MagneticFieldStrength and InstitutionName
Age
mean 12.8 ± 2.7, median 13, range 8 to 18
age in participants.tsv of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), columns sex, age and group
Condition
Groups can overlap
- Anxiety disorder 81 54%
- Healthy control 68 46%
group in participants.tsv of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), columns sex, age and group
Contrast / sequence by scanner vendor
ScansReported cross table. A dot marks a cell the source does not give.
| GE HealthCare | |
|---|---|
| T1-weighted | 223 |
T1w sidecars: Manufacturer in File tree and T1w JSON sidecars of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), raw NIfTI files counted per subject and session folder, sidecar fields Manufacturer, ManufacturersModelName, MagneticFieldStrength and InstitutionName
Contrast / sequence by country
ScansReported cross table. A dot marks a cell the source does not give.
| United States | |
|---|---|
| T1-weighted | 223 |
T1w sidecars: InstitutionName in File tree and T1w JSON sidecars of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), raw NIfTI files counted per subject and session folder, sidecar fields Manufacturer, ManufacturersModelName, MagneticFieldStrength and InstitutionName
Contrast combinations
How many subjects have exactly each set of contrasts.
| T1w | bold | Subjects with exactly this set |
|---|---|---|
149 |
anat and func folders in File tree and T1w JSON sidecars of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), raw NIfTI files counted per subject and session folder, sidecar fields Manufacturer, ManufacturersModelName, MagneticFieldStrength and InstitutionName
License and access
Our reading of the license, not legal advice. Before you use the data, read the original license and confirm that your use is allowed. We take no responsibility for how you use a dataset. Full disclaimer
Download without an account
Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal
Public domain dedication. Do anything with the data, including commercial use, without asking and without having to give credit.
dataset_description.json and README of snapshot 1.1.2 state the CC0 license.
What you can do
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
What you can share
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
What you must do
- No
- Share alike No
- No
- No
- Manuscript review No
- Release code No
- Return results No
- Delete after use No
Limits
- No
- Location limits No
Citation
Linke J, Naim R, Haller S, Khosravi P, Scheinberg B, Byrne M, Harrewijn A, Leibenluft E, Brotman M, Winkler A, Pine D. Reduced Threat-Related Neural Efficiency: A Possible Biomarker for Pediatric Anxiety Disorder. OpenNeuro, version 1.1.2 (2026). doi:10.18112/openneuro.ds006303.v1.1.2
Sources
Every number on this page comes from one of these documents. Each chart names the table or page it is taken from. The raw numbers are in stats.csv.
- OpenNeuro ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (dataset_description.json, README, CHANGES and snapshot summary) website
- participants.tsv of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), columns sex, age and group computed
- File tree and T1w JSON sidecars of ds006303 snapshot 1.1.2 (CC0), raw NIfTI files counted per subject and session folder, sidecar fields Manufacturer, ManufacturersModelName, MagneticFieldStrength and InstitutionName computed