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Wilkinson J, Scott Curry O, Mitchell BL, Bates T. Modular morals: Mapping the organization of the moral brain. Brain Cogn 2024; 180:106201. [PMID: 39173228 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2024.106201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 06/10/2024] [Accepted: 06/16/2024] [Indexed: 08/24/2024]
Abstract
Is morality the product of multiple domain-specific psychological mechanisms, or one domain-general mechanism? Previous research suggests that morality consists of a range of solutions to the problems of cooperation recurrent in human social life. This theory of 'morality as cooperation' suggests that there are (at least) seven specific moral domains: family values, group loyalty, reciprocity, heroism, deference, fairness and property rights. However, it is unclear how these types of morality are implemented at the neuroanatomical level. The possibilities are that morality is (1) the product of multiple distinct domain-specific adaptations for cooperation, (2) the product of a single domain-general adaptation which learns a range of moral rules, or (3) the product of some combination of domain-specific and domain-general adaptations. To distinguish between these possibilities, we first conducted an anatomical likelihood estimation meta-analysis of previous studies investigating the relationship between these seven moral domains and neuroanatomy. This meta-analysis provided evidence for a combination of specific and general adaptations. Next, we investigated the relationship between the seven types of morality - as measured by the Morality as Cooperation Questionnaire (Relevance) - and grey matter volume in a large neuroimaging (n = 607) sample. No associations between moral values and grey matter volume survived whole-brain exploratory testing. We conclude that whatever combination of mechanisms are responsible for morality, either they are not neuroanatomically localised, or else their localisation is not manifested in grey matter volume. Future research should employ phylogenetically informed a priori predictions, as well as alternative measures of morality and of brain function.
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Affiliation(s)
- James Wilkinson
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands; School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
| | - Oliver Scott Curry
- School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Brittany L Mitchell
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Timothy Bates
- Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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2
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Saulin A, Ma Y, Hein G. Empathy incites a stable prosocial decision bias. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae272. [PMID: 38970361 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae272] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 06/12/2024] [Accepted: 06/13/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024] Open
Abstract
Empathy toward suffering individuals serves as potent driver for prosocial behavior. However, it remains unclear whether prosociality induced by empathy for another person's pain persists once that person's suffering diminishes. To test this, participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing a binary social decision task that involved allocation of points to themselves and another person. In block one, participants completed the task after witnessing frequent painful stimulation of the other person, and in block two, after observing low frequency of painful stimulation. Drift-diffusion modeling revealed an increased initial bias toward making prosocial decisions in the first block compared with baseline that persisted in the second block. These results were replicated in an independent behavioral study. An additional control study showed that this effect may be specific to empathy as stability was not evident when prosocial decisions were driven by a social norm such as reciprocity. Increased neural activation in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex was linked to empathic concern after witnessing frequent pain and to a general prosocial decision bias after witnessing rare pain. Altogether, our findings show that empathy for pain elicits a stable inclination toward making prosocial decisions even as their suffering diminishes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne Saulin
- Department of Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, University Hospital Würzburg, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
| | - Yina Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning; IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Xinjiekouwai St, Haidan District, Beijing 100875, China
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research, Yike Rd, Changping District, Beijing 102206, China
| | - Grit Hein
- Department of Psychiatry, Center of Mental Health, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Translational Social Neuroscience Unit, University Hospital Würzburg, Margarete-Höppel-Platz 1, 97080 Würzburg, Germany
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3
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Della Vedova G, Proverbio AM. Neural signatures of imaginary motivational states: desire for music, movement and social play. Brain Topogr 2024:10.1007/s10548-024-01047-1. [PMID: 38625520 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-024-01047-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
The literature has demonstrated the potential for detecting accurate electrical signals that correspond to the will or intention to move, as well as decoding the thoughts of individuals who imagine houses, faces or objects. This investigation examines the presence of precise neural markers of imagined motivational states through the combining of electrophysiological and neuroimaging methods. 20 participants were instructed to vividly imagine the desire to move, listen to music or engage in social activities. Their EEG was recorded from 128 scalp sites and analysed using individual standardized Low-Resolution Brain Electromagnetic Tomographies (LORETAs) in the N400 time window (400-600 ms). The activation of 1056 voxels was examined in relation to the 3 motivational states. The most active dipoles were grouped in eight regions of interest (ROI), including Occipital, Temporal, Fusiform, Premotor, Frontal, OBF/IF, Parietal, and Limbic areas. The statistical analysis revealed that all motivational imaginary states engaged the right hemisphere more than the left hemisphere. Distinct markers were identified for the three motivational states. Specifically, the right temporal area was more relevant for "Social Play", the orbitofrontal/inferior frontal cortex for listening to music, and the left premotor cortex for the "Movement" desire. This outcome is encouraging in terms of the potential use of neural indicators in the realm of brain-computer interface, for interpreting the thoughts and desires of individuals with locked-in syndrome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giada Della Vedova
- Cognitive Electrophysiology lab, Dept. of Psychology, University of Milano, Bicocca, Italy
| | - Alice Mado Proverbio
- Cognitive Electrophysiology lab, Dept. of Psychology, University of Milano, Bicocca, Italy.
- NeuroMI, Milan Center for Neuroscience, Milan, Italy.
- Department of Psychology of University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza dell'Ateneo nuovo 1, Milan, 20162, Italy.
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4
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Lindberg O, Li TQ, Lind C, Vestberg S, Almkvist O, Stiernstedt M, Ericson A, Bogdanovic N, Hansson O, Harper L, Westman E, Graff C, Tsevis T, Mannfolk P, Fischer H, Nilsonne G, Petrovic P, Nyberg L, Wahlund LO, Santillo AF. Altered empathy processing in frontotemporal dementia A task-based fMRI study. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.21.586051. [PMID: 38585830 PMCID: PMC10996471 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.21.586051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
A lack of empathy, and particularly its affective components, is a core symptom of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). Visual exposure to images of a needle pricking a hand (pain condition) and Q-tips touching a hand (control condition) is an established functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm used to investigate empathy for pain (EFP; pain condition minus control condition). EFP has been associated with increased blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in regions known to become atrophic in the early stages in bvFTD, including the anterior insula and the anterior cingulate. We therefore hypothesized that patients with bvFTD would display altered empathy processing in the EFP paradigm. Here we examined empathy processing using the EFP paradigm in 28 patients with bvFTD and 28 sex and age matched controls. Participants underwent structural MRI, task-based and resting-state fMRI. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) was used as a measure of different facets of empathic function outside the scanner. The EFP paradigm was analysed at a whole brain level and using two regions-of-interest approaches, one based on a metanalysis of affective perceptual empathy versus cognitive evaluative empathy and one based on the controĺs activation pattern. In controls, EFP was linked to an expected increase of BOLD signal that displayed an overlap with the pattern of atrophy in the bvFTD patients (insula and anterior cingulate). Additional regions with increased signal were the supramarginal gyrus and the occipital cortex. These latter regions were the only ones that displayed increased BOLD signal in bvFTD patients. BOLD signal increase under the affective perceptual empathy but not the cognitive evaluative empathy region of interest was significantly greater in controls than in bvFTD patients. The controĺs rating on their empathic concern subscale of the IRI was significantly correlated with the BOLD signal in the EFP paradigm, as were an informantś ratings of the patientś empathic concern subscale. This correlation was not observed on other subscales of the IRI or when using the patient's self-ratings. Finally, controls and patients showed different connectivity patterns in empathy related networks during resting-state fMRI, mainly in nodes overlapping the ventral attention network. Our results indicate that reduced neural activity in regions typically affected by pathology in bvFTD is associated with reduced empathy processing, and a predictor of patientś capacity to experience affective empathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olof Lindberg
- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Centre for Alzheimer Research, Neo, 14183 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Tie-Qiang Li
- Department of Clinical Science, Intervention, and Technology, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
- Department of Medical Radiation and Nuclear Medicine, Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden
| | - Cecilia Lind
- Department of community medicine and rehabilitation, geriatrics Umeå university, Umeå university, Sweden
| | | | - Ove Almkvist
- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Centre for Alzheimer Research, Neo, 14183 Huddinge, Sweden
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mikael Stiernstedt
- Umeå center for Functional Brain Imaging (UFBI), Umeå University, Sweden
| | - Anita Ericson
- Department of community medicine and rehabilitation, geriatrics Umeå university, Umeå university, Sweden
| | - Nenad Bogdanovic
- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Centre for Alzheimer Research, Neo, 14183 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Oskar Hansson
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Memory Clinic, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden
| | - Luke Harper
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Eric Westman
- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Centre for Alzheimer Research, Neo, 14183 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Caroline Graff
- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Centre for Alzheimer Research, Neo, 14183 Huddinge, Sweden
- Karolinska university hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Neurogeriatrics, Center for Alzheimer Research, Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden
| | - Theofanis Tsevis
- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Centre for Alzheimer Research, Neo, 14183 Huddinge, Sweden
- Karolinska university hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Peter Mannfolk
- Department of Medical Imaging and Physiology, Skåne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden
| | - Håkan Fischer
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden
- Stockholm University Brain Imaging Centre (SUBIC), Stockholm, Sweden
- Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Gustav Nilsonne
- Department of Psychology, Stockholm, Sweden
- Center for Psychiatric Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
| | - Predrag Petrovic
- Center for Psychiatric Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
- Center for Cognitive and Computational Psychiatry, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
| | - Lars Nyberg
- Umeå center for Functional Brain Imaging (UFBI), Umeå University, Sweden
- Department of Radiation Sciences, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- Department of Medical and Translational Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | - Lars-Olof Wahlund
- Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institute, Division of Clinical Geriatrics, Centre for Alzheimer Research, Neo, 14183 Huddinge, Sweden
| | - Alexander F Santillo
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences Malmö, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
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Gerrans P. Pain suffering and the self. An active allostatic inference explanation. Neurosci Conscious 2024; 2024:niae002. [PMID: 38348334 PMCID: PMC10860504 DOI: 10.1093/nc/niae002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2023] [Revised: 01/06/2024] [Accepted: 01/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Abstract
Distributed processing that gives rise to pain experience is anchored by a multidimensional self-model. I show how the phenomenon of pain asymbolia and other atypical pain-related conditions (Insensitivity to Pain, Chronic Pain, 'Social' Pain, Insensitivity to Pain, Chronic Pain, 'Social' Pain, empathy for pain and suffering) can be explained by this idea. It also explains the patterns of association and dissociation among neural correlates without importing strong modular assumptions. It treats pain processing as a species of allostatic active inference in which the mind co-ordinates its processing resources to optimize basic bodily functioning at different time scales. The self is inferred to be source and target of regulation in this process. The self-modelling account reconciles conflicting deaffectualization and depersonalization accounts of pain asymbolia by showing how depersonalization and pain asymbolia arise at different levels of hierarchical self modelling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip Gerrans
- Department of Philosophy, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
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Jornkokgoud K, Baggio T, Faysal M, Bakiaj R, Wongupparaj P, Job R, Grecucci A. Predicting narcissistic personality traits from brain and psychological features: A supervised machine learning approach. Soc Neurosci 2023; 18:257-270. [PMID: 37497589 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2023.2242094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2022] [Revised: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 07/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/28/2023]
Abstract
Narcissism is a multifaceted construct often linked to pathological conditions whose neural correlates are still poorly understood. Previous studies have reported inconsistent findings related to the neural underpinnings of narcissism, probably due to methodological limitations such as the low number of participants or the use of mass univariate methods. The present study aimed to overcome the previous methodological limitations and to build a predictive model of narcissistic traits based on neural and psychological features. In this respect, two machine learning-based methods (Kernel Ridge Regression and Support Vector Regression) were used to predict narcissistic traits from brain structural organization and from other relevant normal and abnormal personality features. Results showed that a circuit including the lateral and middle frontal gyri, the angular gyrus, Rolandic operculum, and Heschl's gyrus successfully predicted narcissistic personality traits (p < 0.003). Moreover, narcissistic traits were predicted by normal (openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness) and abnormal (borderline, antisocial, insecure, addicted, negativistic, machiavellianism) personality traits. This study is the first to predict narcissistic personality traits via a supervised machine learning approach. As such, these results may expand the possibility of deriving personality traits from neural and psychological features.
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Affiliation(s)
- Khanitin Jornkokgoud
- Cognitive Science and Innovation Research Unit (CSIRU), College of Research Methodology and Cognitive Science (RMCS), Burapha University, Chonburi, Thailand
| | - Teresa Baggio
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (DiPSCo), University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Md Faysal
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (DiPSCo), University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Richard Bakiaj
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (DiPSCo), University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Peera Wongupparaj
- Cognitive Science and Innovation Research Unit (CSIRU), College of Research Methodology and Cognitive Science (RMCS), Burapha University, Chonburi, Thailand
| | - Remo Job
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (DiPSCo), University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
- Centre for Medical Sciences (CISMed), University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Alessandro Grecucci
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences (DiPSCo), University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
- Centre for Medical Sciences (CISMed), University of Trento, Trento, Italy
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Hartmann H, Banwinkler M, Riva F, Lamm C. To respond or not to respond: exploring empathy-related psychological and structural brain differences between placebo analgesia responders and non-responders. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1257522. [PMID: 37849473 PMCID: PMC10577216 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1257522] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 09/14/2023] [Indexed: 10/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Placebo responsiveness is highly variable across individuals. In the domain of pain, it may range from pronounced hypoalgesia to no response at all. Which factors predict such variation awaits clarification, as the available literature is characterized by mixed and inconclusive results. Particularly interesting in this case are social factors such as empathy or prosocial behavior, as prior work has stressed the connection between feeling pain yourself and empathizing with pain observed in others. Methods In a mixed confirmatory and exploratory approach, this study investigated potential psychological and structural brain differences between placebo responders and non-responders in the domain of pain. We aggregated data of four behavioral and neuroimaging studies that had been designed to investigate the effects of placebo analgesia on empathy. Results Analyses comparing groups of placebo responders and non-responders showed significant group differences in trait characteristics, with responders reporting increased helping behavior and lower psychopathic traits compared to non-responders. Uncorrected results further showed higher pain-related empathic concern in responders vs. non-responders. These results were accompaniedby tentative group differences in brain structure: placebo analgesia non-responders exhibited increased gray matter volume in left inferior temporal and parietal supramarginal cortical areas, and an increased cortical surface area in bilateral middle temporal cortex. Discussion Together, our findings suggest that modifiability of one's pain perception by means of placebo effects is linked to personality traits characterizing social emotions and behavior. They also hint that these psychological as well as brain structural characteristics might be beneficial for the identification of placebo responders. At the same time, they stress the importance of considering contextual factors such as the study setting or paradigm when investigating the association between individual characteristics and placebo responding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Helena Hartmann
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Clinical Neurosciences, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Magdalena Banwinkler
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Cologne, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Federica Riva
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Claus Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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Xiang YT, Xing XX, Hua XY, Zhang YW, Xue X, Wu JJ, Zheng MX, Wang H, Xu JG. Altered Neural Pathways and Related Brain Remodeling: A Rat Study Using Different Nerve Reconstructions. Neurosurgery 2023; 93:233-243. [PMID: 36735283 DOI: 10.1227/neu.0000000000002370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 11/17/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Function recovery is related to cortical plasticity. The brain remodeling patterns induced by alterations in peripheral nerve pathways with different nerve reconstructions are unknown. OBJECTIVE To explore brain remodeling patterns related to alterations in peripheral neural pathways after different nerve reconstruction surgeries. METHODS Twenty-four female Sprague-Dawley rats underwent complete left brachial plexus nerve transection, together with the following interventions: no nerve repair (n = 8), grafted nerve repair (n = 8), and phrenic nerve transfer (n = 8). Resting-state functional MR images of brain were acquired at the end of seventh month postsurgery. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and functional connectivity (FC) were compared among 3 groups. Behavioral observation and electromyography assessed nerve regeneration. RESULTS Compared with brachial plexus injury group, ALFF and ReHo of left entorhinal cortex decreased in nerve repair and nerve transfer groups. The nerve transfer group showed increased ALFF and ReHo than nerve repair group in left caudate putamen, right accumbens nucleus shell (AcbSh), and right somatosensory cortex. The FC between right somatosensory cortex and bilateral piriform cortices and bilateral somatosensory cortices increased in nerve repair group than brachial plexus injury and nerve transfer groups. The nerve transfer group showed increased FC between right somatosensory cortex and areas including left corpus callosum, left retrosplenial cortex, right parietal association cortex, and right dorsolateral thalamus than nerve repair group. CONCLUSION Entorhinal cortex is a key brain area in recovery of limb function after nerve reconstruction. Nerve transfer related brain remodeling mainly involved contralateral sensorimotor areas, facilitating directional "shifting" of motor representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun-Ting Xiang
- School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xiang-Xin Xing
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xu-Yun Hua
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Department of Traumatology and Orthopedics, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yu-Wen Zhang
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xin Xue
- School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Jia-Jia Wu
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Department of Traumatology and Orthopedics, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Mou-Xiong Zheng
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Department of Traumatology and Orthopedics, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - He Wang
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence (Fudan University), Ministry of Education, China
| | - Jian-Guang Xu
- School of Rehabilitation Science, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Yueyang Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China
- Engineering Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine Intelligent Rehabilitation, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China
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Di Bello M, Giudetti F, Palani S, Petrocchi N, McIntosh R, Ottaviani C. Modulatory effects of transcranial direct current stimulation of right insula on compassion motivation. Int J Clin Health Psychol 2023; 23:100362. [PMID: 36605771 PMCID: PMC9800245 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2022.100362] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Compassion motivation is associated with increased heart rate variability (HRV), reflecting a calm and self-soothing physiological state. Recent work, however, suggests that this association is dynamic for the specific components of compassion. Objectives The present study adopted anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the right insula to see whether this would modulate the sensitivity to suffering and the commitment to engage in helpful actions (i.e., the components of compassion motivation). Method Ninety-seven healthy individuals underwent 15-min anodal or sham tDCS over the frontotemporal lobe, while watching a video inducing empathic sensitivity and performing a Redistribution Game. Tonic and phasic HRV, dispositional traits, and momentary affects were assessed. Results Compared to sham condition, anodal stimulation favored significant i) HRV reductions during the video and HRV increases during the Redistribution Game; ii) decreases in self-reported levels of negative affect and increases in positive affect during task when the latter was preceded by the video, without influencing altruistic behavior. Conclusions Anodal tDCS over the right insula may modulate the engagement phase of compassion by intensifying the psychophysiological sensitivity to signals of distress and protecting from being subjectively overwhelmed by it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Di Bello
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Federica Giudetti
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Sowmya Palani
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Nicola Petrocchi
- Department of Psychological and Social Sciences, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy
| | - Roger McIntosh
- Department of Psychology, Divisions of Health, Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Miami, FL, USA
| | - Cristina Ottaviani
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
- Functional Neuroimaging Laboratory, IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
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10
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Li D, Zhang L, Bai T, Qiu B, Zhu C, Wang K. Oxytocin-Receptor Gene Modulates Reward-Network Connection and Relationship with Empathy Performance. Psychol Res Behav Manag 2023; 16:85-94. [PMID: 36643732 PMCID: PMC9833327 DOI: 10.2147/prbm.s370834] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/08/2022] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Empathy traits are highly heritable and linked with reward processing. It is implicated that common variations of the oxytocin-receptor gene (OXTR) play a modulatory effect on empathic performance. However, it is unclear about the neural substrates underlying the modulatory effect of the OXTR genotype on empathic performance. This study aimed to characterize the modulatory effect of common OXTR variations on reward-circuitry function and its relationship with empathy. Methods Based on the seed of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc; a key hub of reward circuitry), we examined differences in spontaneous local activity and functional connectivity between OXTR rs2268493 genotype groups and their relationship with empathic performance among 402 high-homogeneity participants. Results Comparing with C carriers (CC/CT) group, the individuals with the rs2268493 TT genotype exhibited lower functional connectivity of the right NAcc with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and inferior frontal gyrus. Similarly lower functional connectivity was found between the left NAcc and mPFC. Consequently, no significant difference was found in the spontaneous local activity of NAcc. Discussion Our findings suggested that common OXTR variations have a modulatory effect on the connection of the NAcc with the hub of empathic networks (mPFC and IFG), which may provide insight on the neural substrate underlying the modulatory effect of OXTR on empathic behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dandan Li
- School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Research Center for Translational Medicine, Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China
| | - Long Zhang
- Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China
| | - Tongjian Bai
- Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China
| | - Bensheng Qiu
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and the Centers for Biomedical Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China., Hefei, People’s Republic of China
| | - Chunyan Zhu
- School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Research Center for Translational Medicine, Second Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Correspondence: Chunyan Zhu; Kai Wang, Email ;
| | - Kai Wang
- School of Mental Health and Psychological Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Hefei Comprehensive National Science Center, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders, Hefei, People’s Republic of China,Collaborative Innovation Center of Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Mental Health, Hefei, People’s Republic of China
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11
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Ojha A, Miller JG, King LS, Davis EG, Humphreys KL, Gotlib IH. Empathy for others versus for one's child: Associations with mothers' brain activation during a social cognitive task and with their toddlers' functioning. Dev Psychobiol 2022; 64:e22313. [PMID: 36282757 PMCID: PMC9608359 DOI: 10.1002/dev.22313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2021] [Revised: 05/23/2022] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 01/27/2023]
Abstract
Caregivers who are higher in dispositional empathy tend to have children with better developmental outcomes; however, few studies have considered the role of child-directed (i.e., "parental") empathy, which may be relevant for the caregiver-child relationship. We hypothesized that mothers' parental empathy during their child's infancy will be a stronger predictor of their child's social-emotional functioning as a toddler than will mothers' dispositional empathy. We further explored whether parental and dispositional empathy have shared or distinct patterns of neural activation during a social-cognitive movie-watching task. In 118 mother-infant dyads, greater parental empathy assessed when infants were 6 months old was associated with more social-emotional competencies and fewer problems in the children 1 year later, even after adjusting for dispositional empathy. In contrast, dispositional empathy was not associated with child functioning when controlling for parental empathy. In a subset of 20 mothers, insula activation was positively associated with specific facets of both dispositional and parental empathy, whereas right temporoparietal junction activation was associated only with parental empathy. Thus, dispositional and parental empathy appear to be dissociable by both brain and behavioral metrics. Parental empathy may be a viable target for interventions, especially for toddlers at risk for developing social-emotional difficulties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amar Ojha
- Center for Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh, PA
- Center for Neural Basis of Cognition, University of Pittsburgh, PA
| | | | - Lucy S. King
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Elena G. Davis
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
| | - Kathryn L. Humphreys
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
| | - Ian H. Gotlib
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA
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12
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Wu X, Lu X, Zhang H, Bi Y, Gu R, Kong Y, Hu L. Sex difference in trait empathy is encoded in the human anterior insula. Cereb Cortex 2022; 33:5055-5065. [PMID: 36190444 PMCID: PMC10151876 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Revised: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/11/2022] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
Females are considered the more empathic sex. This conventional view, however, has been challenged in the past few decades with mixed findings. These heterogeneous findings could be caused by the fact that empathy is a complex and multifaceted construct. To clarify whether sex differences exist in certain dimensions of empathy and whether they are associated with specific neural bases, this study measured trait empathy using the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) and collected brain structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging data in a large sample of healthy participants (206 males vs. 302 females). We found that females scored higher in the personal distress (PD) subscale than males, but they were comparable to males in other IRI subscales. Sex difference in PD was encoded by brain structural (e.g. gray matter volume in left anterior insula [AI]) and functional (e.g. resting-state functional connectivity between left AI and temporoparietal junction/inferior frontal gyrus) characteristics. Notably, the relationship between sex and PD was indirect-only and serially mediated by AI-associated structural and functional characteristics. Altogether, our results suggested that sex difference existed in self-oriented affective empathy (i.e. PD) and highlighted the importance of the AI, both structurally and functionally, in mediating the sex difference in trait empathy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiao Wu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xuejing Lu
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Huijuan Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Yanzhi Bi
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
| | - Ruolei Gu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Yazhuo Kong
- CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China.,Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Li Hu
- Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Beijing 100101, China
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13
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Bogdanova OV, Bogdanov VB, Pizano A, Bouvard M, Cazalets JR, Mellen N, Amestoy A. The Current View on the Paradox of Pain in Autism Spectrum Disorders. Front Psychiatry 2022; 13:910824. [PMID: 35935443 PMCID: PMC9352888 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2022.910824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Accepted: 06/17/2022] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, which affects 1 in 44 children and may cause severe disabilities. Besides socio-communicational difficulties and repetitive behaviors, ASD also presents as atypical sensorimotor function and pain reactivity. While chronic pain is a frequent co-morbidity in autism, pain management in this population is often insufficient because of difficulties in pain evaluation, worsening their prognosis and perhaps driving higher mortality rates. Previous observations have tended to oversimplify the experience of pain in autism as being insensitive to painful stimuli. Various findings in the past 15 years have challenged and complicated this dogma. However, a relatively small number of studies investigates the physiological correlates of pain reactivity in ASD. We explore the possibility that atypical pain perception in people with ASD is mediated by alterations in pain perception, transmission, expression and modulation, and through interactions between these processes. These complex interactions may account for the great variability and sometimes contradictory findings from the studies. A growing body of evidence is challenging the idea of alterations in pain processing in ASD due to a single factor, and calls for an integrative view. We propose a model of the pain cycle that includes the interplay between the molecular and neurophysiological pathways of pain processing and it conscious appraisal that may interfere with pain reactivity and coping in autism. The role of social factors in pain-induced response is also discussed. Pain assessment in clinical care is mostly based on subjective rather than objective measures. This review clarifies the strong need for a consistent methodology, and describes innovative tools to cope with the heterogeneity of pain expression in ASD, enabling individualized assessment. Multiple measures, including self-reporting, informant reporting, clinician-assessed, and purely physiological metrics may provide more consistent results. An integrative view on the regulation of the pain cycle offers a more robust framework to characterize the experience of pain in autism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olena V. Bogdanova
- CNRS, Aquitaine Institute for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience, INCIA, UMR 5287, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Volodymyr B. Bogdanov
- Laboratoire EA 4136 – Handicap Activité Cognition Santé HACS, Collège Science de la Sante, Institut Universitaire des Sciences de la Réadaptation, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Adrien Pizano
- CNRS, Aquitaine Institute for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience, INCIA, UMR 5287, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- Centre Hospitalier Charles-Perrens, Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, Bordeaux, France
| | - Manuel Bouvard
- CNRS, Aquitaine Institute for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience, INCIA, UMR 5287, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- Centre Hospitalier Charles-Perrens, Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, Bordeaux, France
| | - Jean-Rene Cazalets
- CNRS, Aquitaine Institute for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience, INCIA, UMR 5287, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
| | - Nicholas Mellen
- Department of Neurology, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, United States
| | - Anouck Amestoy
- CNRS, Aquitaine Institute for Cognitive and Integrative Neuroscience, INCIA, UMR 5287, Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France
- Centre Hospitalier Charles-Perrens, Pôle Universitaire de Psychiatrie de l’Enfant et de l’Adolescent, Bordeaux, France
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14
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Quabs J, Caspers S, Schöne C, Mohlberg H, Bludau S, Dickscheid T, Amunts K. Cytoarchitecture, probability maps and segregation of the human insula. Neuroimage 2022; 260:119453. [PMID: 35809885 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/04/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The human insular cortex supports multifunctional integration including interoceptive, sensorimotor, cognitive and social-emotional processing. Different concepts of the underlying microstructure have been proposed over more than a century. However, a 3D map of the cytoarchitectonic segregation of the insula in standard reference space, that could be directly linked to neuroimaging experiments addressing different cognitive tasks, is not yet available. Here we analyzed the middle posterior and dorsal anterior insula with image analysis and a statistical mapping procedure to delineate cytoarchitectonic areas in ten human postmortem brains. 3D-probability maps of seven new areas with granular (Ig3, posterior), agranular (Ia1, posterior) and dysgranular (Id2-Id6, middle to dorsal anterior) cytoarchitecture have been calculated to represent the new areas in stereotaxic space. A hierarchical cluster analysis based on cytoarchitecture resulted in three distinct clusters in the superior posterior, inferior posterior and dorsal anterior insula, providing deeper insights into the structural organization of the insula. The maps are openly available to support future studies addressing relations between structure and function in the human insula.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Quabs
- C. and O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute for Anatomy I, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Germany.
| | - Svenja Caspers
- Institute for Anatomy I, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Germany
| | - Claudia Schöne
- C. and O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Hartmut Mohlberg
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Germany
| | - Sebastian Bludau
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Germany
| | - Timo Dickscheid
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Germany
| | - Katrin Amunts
- C. and O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Research Centre Jülich, Germany
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15
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Middle cingulate cortex function contributes to response to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug in cervical spondylosis patients: a preliminary resting-state fMRI study. Neuroradiology 2022; 64:1401-1410. [DOI: 10.1007/s00234-022-02964-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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16
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Guo H, Wang Y, Qiu L, Huang X, He C, Zhang J, Gong Q. Structural and Functional Abnormalities in Knee Osteoarthritis Pain Revealed With Multimodal Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Front Hum Neurosci 2021; 15:783355. [PMID: 34912202 PMCID: PMC8667073 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2021.783355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2021] [Accepted: 10/28/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The knee osteoarthritis (KOA) pain is the most common form of arthritis pain affecting millions of people worldwide. Long-term KOA pain causes motor impairment and affects affective and cognitive functions. However, little is known about the structural and functional abnormalities induced by long-term KOA pain. In this work, high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data were acquired in patients with KOA and age-, sex-matched healthy controls (HC). Gray matter volume (GMV) and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) were used to study the structural and functional abnormalities in patients with KOA. Compared with HC, patients with KOA showed reduced GMV in bilateral insula and bilateral hippocampus, and reduced fALFF in left cerebellum, precentral gyrus, and the right superior occipital gyrus. Patients with KOA also showed increased fALFF in left insula and bilateral hippocampus. In addition, the abnormal GMV in left insula and fALFF in left fusiform were closely correlated with the pain severity or disease duration. These results indicated that long KOA pain leads to brain structural and functional impairments in motor, visual, cognitive, and affective functions that related to brain areas. Our findings may facilitate to understand the neural basis of KOA pain and the future therapy to relieve disease symptoms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hua Guo
- Department of Rehabilitative Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | | | - Lihua Qiu
- Radiology Department, The Second People's Hospital of Yibin, Yibin, China
| | - Xiaoqi Huang
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Chengqi He
- Department of Rehabilitative Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Junran Zhang
- School of Electrical Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Qiyong Gong
- Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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17
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Plank IS, Hindi Attar C, Kunas SL, Dziobek I, Bermpohl F. Increased activation in the bilateral anterior insulae in response to others in pain in mothers compared to non-mothers. Sci Rep 2021; 11:22757. [PMID: 34815443 PMCID: PMC8610985 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-02162-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Empathy allows us to share emotions and encourages us to help others. It is especially important in the context of parenting where children's wellbeing is dependent on their parents' understanding and fulfilment of their needs. To date, little is known about differences in empathy responses of parents and non-parents. Using stimuli depicting adults and children in pain, this study focuses on the interaction of motherhood and neural responses in areas associated with empathy. Mothers showed higher activation to both adults and children in pain in the bilateral anterior insulae, key regions of empathy for pain. Additionally, mothers more strongly activated the inferior frontal, superior temporal and the medial superior frontal gyrus. Differences between adult and child stimuli were only found in occipital areas in both mothers and non-mothers. Our results suggest a stronger neural response to others in pain in mothers than non-mothers regardless of whether the person is a child or an adult. This could indicate a possible influence of motherhood on overall neural responses to others in pain rather than motherhood specifically shaping child-related responses. Alternatively, stronger responses to others in pain could increase the likelihood for women to be in a relationship and subsequently to have a child.
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Affiliation(s)
- Irene Sophia Plank
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences | CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Catherine Hindi Attar
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences | CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefanie L Kunas
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences | CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Isabel Dziobek
- Department of Psychology, Institute of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Felix Bermpohl
- Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences | CCM, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Neurosciences, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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18
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Lee J, Son JW, Kim S, Kim JE, Chung S, Ghim HR, Lee SI, Shin CJ, Ju G. Disrupted Association Between Empathy and Brain Structure in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Soa Chongsonyon Chongsin Uihak 2021; 32:129-136. [PMID: 34671185 PMCID: PMC8499037 DOI: 10.5765/jkacap.210009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2021] [Revised: 04/25/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectives To investigate the relationship between brain structure and empathy in early adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Methods Nineteen early adolescents with ADHD and 20 healthy controls underwent 3T MRI. All the participants were assessed for different aspects of empathy using measures including the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and Empathy Quotient. Cortical thickness and subcortical structural volume based on T1-weighted scans were analyzed using FreeSurfer. Results Cognitive empathy (t=-2.52, p=0.016) and perspective taking (t=-2.10, p=0.043) were impaired in the ADHD group compared with the control group. The cluster encompassing the left posterior insular, supramarginal, and transverse temporal cortices [cluster-wise p-value (CWP)=0.001], which are associated with emotional empathy, was significantly smaller in the ADHD group, and the volume of the left nucleus accumbens was greater than that of the control group (F=10.12, p=0.003, effect size=0.22). In the control group, the left superior temporal (CWP=0.002) and lingual cortical (CWP=0.035) thicknesses were positively associated with cognitive empathy, while the right amygdala volume was positively associated with empathic concern (Coef=14.26, t=3.92, p=0.001). However, there was no significant correlation between empathy and brain structure in the ADHD group. Conclusion The ADHD group had a smaller volume of the cortical area associated with emotional empathy than the control group, and there was no brain region showing significant correlation with empathy, unlike in the control group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeonghwan Lee
- Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.,Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Jung-Woo Son
- Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.,Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Siekyeong Kim
- Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.,Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Ji-Eun Kim
- Ma-Eum Pyong-On Psychiatric Clinic, Yongin, Korea
| | - Seungwon Chung
- Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.,Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Hei-Rhee Ghim
- Department of Psychology, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Sang-Ick Lee
- Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.,Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Chul-Jin Shin
- Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.,Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
| | - Gawon Ju
- Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Cheongju, Korea.,Department of Neuropsychiatry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Korea
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19
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Bi T, Xie Q, Gao J, Zhang T, Kou H. The Effect of Empathy on the Attentional Processing of Painful and Emotional Stimuli. Psychol Res Behav Manag 2021; 14:1223-1234. [PMID: 34408507 PMCID: PMC8364384 DOI: 10.2147/prbm.s318657] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Empathy is shown to affect the attentional processing of painful stimuli and emotional stimuli. However, whether the attentional effects on emotional stimuli depend on emotional valence and the nature of the relationship between the attentional effects on different stimuli are still unknown. Methods In the present study, 25 high-empathy (HE) participants and 25 low-empathy (LE) participants were recruited to perform dot-probe tasks on painful stimuli and emotional stimuli. Results The results showed that HE individuals had weak attentional disengagement to painful pictures. More importantly, regarding emotional pictures, HE individuals showed attentional avoidance to negative emotion pictures, while LE individuals showed attentional bias to positive emotion pictures. Correlation analysis showed that the attentional bias score and attentional disengagement score were only associated with each other within the same category of stimuli (painful, positive or negative stimuli). Conclusion These results revealed that HE individuals mainly showed attentional avoidance to negative stimuli, while LE individuals mainly showed attentional bias to positive stimuli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taiyong Bi
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, People's Republic of China
| | - Qinhong Xie
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, People's Republic of China.,School of Criminal Justice, China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing, People's Republic of China
| | - Jianhui Gao
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, People's Republic of China
| | - Tao Zhang
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, People's Republic of China
| | - Hui Kou
- Center for Mental Health Research in School of Management, Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, People's Republic of China
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20
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Differential involvement of frontoparietal network and insula cortex in emotion regulation. Neuropsychologia 2021; 161:107991. [PMID: 34391808 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2021] [Revised: 08/10/2021] [Accepted: 08/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Emotion regulation (ER) is an essential part of our daily life. To effectively regulate emotions, different types of strategies may be adopted. Although previous neuroimaging studies have shown that the frontoparietal cortex is critical for the regulation of emotions, reports about the specific brain regions involved in each strategy remain inconsistent. Therefore, the present study recruited 32 healthy participants to directly examine three typical ER strategies (distraction, reappraisal, and suppression) with an emotional regulation paradigm using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Our results show that the three ER strategies recruited differential activation in the frontoparietal and insular cortex. Specifically, distraction evoked stronger activation in the parietal cortex, while reappraisal triggered stronger activation in most parts of the frontal cortex. Importantly, suppression predominantly recruited the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), while reappraisal caused more activation than suppression in bilateral medial superior frontal gyrus and IFG. Besides, functional connectivity analysis found that the connectivity between the right insular and the right IFG was negatively correlated with reappraisal effect, while that between the left insular and the left IFG was negatively correlated with suppression effect. These results suggest that the successful implementation of distraction, reappraisal, and suppression specifically employ different parts of the frontoparietal network. Overall, our findings may have potential implications for clinical practice by providing specific neural targets for clinical intervention.
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21
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Naor N, Rohr C, Schaare LH, Limbachia C, Shamay-Tsoory S, Okon-Singer H. The neural networks underlying reappraisal of empathy for pain. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 15:733-744. [PMID: 32701145 PMCID: PMC7511887 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2019] [Revised: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Emotion regulation plays a central role in empathy. Only by successfully regulating our own emotions can we reliably use them in order to interpret the content and valence of others’ emotions correctly. In an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-based experiment, we show that regulating one’s emotion via reappraisal modulated biased emotional intensity ratings following an empathy for pain manipulation. Task-based analysis revealed increased activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) when painful emotions were regulated using reappraisal, whereas empathic feelings that were not regulated resulted in increased activity bilaterally in the precuneus, supramarginal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus (MFG), as well as the right parahippocampal gyrus. Functional connectivity analysis indicated that the right IFG plays a role in the regulation of empathy for pain, through its connections with regions in the empathy for pain network. Furthermore, these connections were further modulated as a function of the type of regulation used: in sum, our results suggest that accurate empathic judgment (i.e. empathy that is unbiased) relies on a complex interaction between neural regions involved in emotion regulation and regions associated with empathy for pain. Thus, demonstrating the importance of emotion regulation in the formulation of complex social systems and sheds light on the intricate network implicated in this complex process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Navot Naor
- University of Maryland, Department of Psychology, College Park, MD 20742-5031, USA
| | - Christiane Rohr
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neurology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Lina H Schaare
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Neurology, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Chirag Limbachia
- University of Maryland, Department of Psychology, College Park, MD 20742-5031, USA
| | | | - Hadas Okon-Singer
- University of Haifa, Department of Psychology, Haifa 3498838, Israel
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Dun W, Fan T, Wang Q, Wang K, Yang J, Li H, Liu J, Liu H. Association Between Trait Empathy and Resting Brain Activity in Women With Primary Dysmenorrhea During the Pain and Pain-Free Phases. Front Psychiatry 2020; 11:608928. [PMID: 33324267 PMCID: PMC7725799 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.608928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 11/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022] Open
Abstract
Empathy refers to the ability to understand someone else's emotions and fluctuates with the current state in healthy individuals. However, little is known about the neural network of empathy in clinical populations at different pain states. The current study aimed to examine the effects of long-term pain on empathy-related networks and whether empathy varied at different pain states by studying primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) patients. Multivariate partial least squares was employed in 46 PDM women and 46 healthy controls (HC) during periovulatory, luteal, and menstruation phases. We identified neural networks associated with different aspects of empathy in both groups. Part of the obtained empathy-related network in PDM exhibited a similar activity compared with HC, including the right anterior insula and other regions, whereas others have an opposite activity in PDM, including the inferior frontal gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule. These results indicated an abnormal regulation to empathy in PDM. Furthermore, there was no difference in empathy association patterns in PDM between the pain and pain-free states. This study suggested that long-term pain experience may lead to an abnormal function of the brain network for empathy processing that did not vary with the pain or pain-free state across the menstrual cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanghuan Dun
- Department of Intensive Care Unit, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.,Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Tongtong Fan
- Department of Medical Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Qiming Wang
- School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Brain Imaging, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
| | - Ke Wang
- Department of Medical Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jing Yang
- Department of Medical Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Hui Li
- Department of Medical Imaging, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jixin Liu
- School of Life Science and Technology, Center for Brain Imaging, Xidian University, Xi'an, China
| | - Hongjuan Liu
- Department of Intensive Care Unit, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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Li Y, Zhang T, Li W, Zhang J, Jin Z, Li L. Linking brain structure and activation in anterior insula cortex to explain the trait empathy for pain. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 41:1030-1042. [PMID: 31691467 PMCID: PMC7267919 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2019] [Revised: 10/21/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
The ability to perceive, understand, and react to the feelings of others' pain is referred to as empathy for pain which is composed of two components, affective‐perceptual empathy and cognitive‐evaluative empathy. Recent reviews on the neural mechanisms of empathetic pain showed the anterior insula (AI) cortex as a core circuit for empathy. However, little is known about the modulation of brain anatomy and empathic responses by trait measures of empathy (trait empathy). Thus, we investigated whether individual variation in the personality trait of empathy is associated with individual variation in the structure of specific brain regions using voxel‐based morphometry (VBM). We further investigated the relationship between the trait empathy and the activity of the same regions using state measures of empathy for pain in a trial‐by‐trial fashion in the given situation. VBM analysis indicated a small but significant negative relationship between trait empathy and gray matter volume in the bilateral AI. Functional MRI study further demonstrated that experimentally induced activity of the bilateral AI during state empathy for pain was also correlated with trait empathy. An asymmetry exists between the right and left AI between the affective and cognitive empathy. The right AI was found to be involved in the affective‐perceptual form of empathy and the left AI was active in cognitive‐evaluative forms of empathy. The interindividual differences in trait empathy may be reflected both in the state empathy and more stable brain structure difference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Li
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, 610054.,School of Management, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China, 611137
| | - Tingting Zhang
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, 610054
| | - Wenjuan Li
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, 610054
| | - Junjun Zhang
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, 610054
| | - Zhenlan Jin
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, 610054
| | - Ling Li
- Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, High-Field Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Center for Psychiatry and Psychology, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, 610054
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