Anterior cingulate cortex volume and emotion regulation: is bigger better?

Functional connectivity in procrastination and emotion regulation

Procrastination, an irrational delay of intended action, leads to numerous adverse effects in many life domains, such as low academic performance, poor mental health, and financial distress. Previous studies have revealed a substantial negative correlation between emotional regulation and procrastination. However, the neural basis for the association between emotion regulation and procrastination remains unclear. Therefore, we employed the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) methods to explore the neural substrates underlying how emotion regulation is responsible for procrastination (N = 243). In line with our hypothesis, the results showed a significant negative correlation between emotion regulation ability and procrastination. Additionally, the VBM analysis showed that emotion regulation ability was positively correlated with gray matter (GM) volumes in the right dorsal-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). The mediation analysis revealed that emotion regulation ability mediated the relationship between the GM volumes of the right dlPFC and procrastination. Furthermore, the RSFC results indicated that right dlPFC-left insula functional connectivity was positively associated with emotion regulation ability. Emotion regulation ability further mediated the relationship between the right dlPFC-left insula functional connectivity and procrastination. The current findings suggest that the neural pathway related to cognitive control over aversive emotion may be responsible for the close relationship between emotion regulation and procrastination, which provides a novel perspective for explaining the tight association between emotion regulation and procrastination.

Different emotion regulation strategies mediate the relations of corresponding connections within the default-mode network to sleep quality

Despite a long history of interest in the relation of emotion regulation to sleep quality, how different strategies link with sleep quality at the neural level is still poorly understood. Thus, we utilized the process model of emotion regulation as an organizing framework for examining the neurological underpinning of the links between the two emotion regulation strategies and sleep quality. 183 young adults (51.7% females, Mage = 22.16) were guided to undergo the MRI scans and then complete the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the emotion regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) formed by two dimensions: cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Results found that emotion regulation mediated the association between functional connectivity within the intrinsic default-mode network (DMN) and sleep quality. Specifically, rsFC analysis showed that cognitive reappraisal was positively correlated with rsFC within DMN, including left superior temporal gyrus (lSTG)-left lateral occipital cortex (lLOC), lSTG-left anterior cingulate gyrus (lACG), right lateral occipital cortex (rLOC)-left middle frontal gyrus (lMFG), and rLOC-lSTG. Further mediation analysis indicated a mediated role of cognitive reappraisal in the links between the four connectivity within the DMN and sleep quality. In addition, expressive suppression was positively correlated with rsFC within DMN, including left precuneus cortex (lPrcu)-right Temporal Pole (rTP) and lPrcu- lSTG. Further mediation analysis indicated a mediated role of expressive suppression in the links between the two connectivity within the DMN and sleep quality. Overall, this finding supports the process model of emotion regulation in that the effects of reappraisal and suppression have varying neural circuits that impact that strategy's effect on sleep quality.

The severity of addiction mediates loneliness and cortical volume in internet gaming disorder

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) subjects reported higher loneliness scores than healthy controls. However, the neural correlates underlying the association between loneliness and IGD remain unclear. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the relationship between loneliness, online gaming addiction and brain structure. In the current study, structural MRI data were acquired from 84 IGD subjects and 103 matched recreational game users (RGUs). We assessed and compared their addiction severity, loneliness scores, and cortical volumes and analyzed the correlations among these values. Significant correlations were found between loneliness scores and brain volumes in the postcentral cortex, the medial orbitofrontal cortex, the rostral anterior cingulate cortex, and the temporal cortex. In addition, the addiction severity scores partly mediated the relationship between loneliness score and cortical volume in IGD. The results showed that participants with extreme loneliness had significant correlations with brain regions responsible for executive control, social threat surveillance and avoidance. More importantly, the severity of addiction mediates loneliness and cortical volume. The findings shed new insight into the neural mechanisms of loneliness and IGD and have implications for potential treatment.

Morphologic alterations of the fear circuitry: the role of sex hormones and oral contraceptives

Background

Endogenous sex hormones and oral contraceptives (OCs) have been shown to influence key regions implicated in fear processing. While OC use has been found to impact brain morphology, methodological challenges remain to be addressed, such as avoiding selection bias between OC users and non-users, as well as examining potential lasting effects of OC intake.

Objective

We investigated the current and lasting effects of OC use, as well as the interplay between the current hormonal milieu and history of hormonal contraception use on structural correlates of the fear circuitry. We also examined the role of endogenous and exogenous sex hormones within this network.

Methods

We recruited healthy adults aged 23-35 who identified as women currently using (n = 62) or having used (n = 37) solely combined OCs, women who never used any hormonal contraceptives (n = 40), or men (n = 41). Salivary endogenous sex hormones and current users' salivary ethinyl estradiol (EE) were assessed using liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry. Using structural magnetic resonance imaging, we extracted surface-based gray matter volumes (GMVs) and cortical thickness (CT) for regions of interest of the fear circuitry. Exploratory whole-brain analyses were conducted with surface-based and voxel-based morphometry methods.

Results

Compared to men, all three groups of women exhibited a larger GMV of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, while only current users showed a thinner ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Irrespective of the menstrual cycle phase, never users exhibited a thicker right anterior insular cortex than past users. While associations with endogenous sex hormones remain unclear, we showed that EE dosage in current users had a greater influence on brain anatomy compared to salivary EE levels and progestin androgenicity, with lower doses being associated with smaller cortical GMVs.

Discussion

Our results highlight a sex difference for the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex GMV (a fear-promoting region), as well as a reduced CT of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (a fear-inhibiting region) specific to current OC use. Precisely, this finding was driven by lower EE doses. These findings may represent structural vulnerabilities to anxiety and stress-related disorders. We showed little evidence of durable anatomical effects, suggesting that OC intake can (reversibly) affect fear-related brain morphology.

Intracranial stimulation and EEG feature analysis reveal affective salience network specialization

Emotion is represented in limbic and prefrontal brain areas, herein termed the affective salience network (ASN). Within the ASN, there are substantial unknowns about how valence and emotional intensity are processed-specifically, which nodes are associated with affective bias (a phenomenon in which participants interpret emotions in a manner consistent with their own mood). A recently developed feature detection approach ('specparam') was used to select dominant spectral features from human intracranial electrophysiological data, revealing affective specialization within specific nodes of the ASN. Spectral analysis of dominant features at the channel level suggests that dorsal anterior cingulate (dACC), anterior insula and ventral-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are sensitive to valence and intensity, while the amygdala is primarily sensitive to intensity. Akaike information criterion model comparisons corroborated the spectral analysis findings, suggesting all four nodes are more sensitive to intensity compared to valence. The data also revealed that activity in dACC and vmPFC were predictive of the extent of affective bias in the ratings of facial expressions-a proxy measure of instantaneous mood. To examine causality of the dACC in affective experience, 130 Hz continuous stimulation was applied to dACC while patients viewed and rated emotional faces. Faces were rated significantly happier during stimulation, even after accounting for differences in baseline ratings. Together the data suggest a causal role for dACC during the processing of external affective stimuli.

[Alexithymia in Multiple Sclerosis - Narrative Review]

Alexithymia is a multidimensional construct of personality implicating difficulties in identifying and describing another's feelings, and externally oriented thinking. It is broadly reported in psychiatric patients but has gained little attention regarding its occurrence and pathophysiology in multiple sclerosis (MS). This narrative review aims to address prevalence, etiology, neurobiological, and clinical findings of alexithymia. The prevalence of alexithymia in MS ranges from 10 to 53%. There seems to be an association with anxiety, depression, fatigue, and some aspects of social cognition, while the relationship with clinical and classical cognitive variables was rarely evaluated. Only a few studies referred to its pathophysiology assuming an aberrant interhemispheric transfer or regional cerebral abnormalities. The prevalence of alexithymia in MS and the potential negative impact on quality of life and interpersonal communication could severely impact clinical MS management and a screnning for these factors should be mandatory. Thus, further evaluation is needed concerning its relationship with clinical, emotional, and cognitive confounders. Large-scale studies employing neuroimaging techniques are needed for a better understanding of the neural underpinnings of this MS feature.

Decoding reappraisal and suppression from neural circuits: A combined supervised and unsupervised machine learning approach

Emotion regulation is a core construct of mental health and deficits in emotion regulation abilities lead to psychological disorders. Reappraisal and suppression are two widely studied emotion regulation strategies but, possibly due to methodological limitations in previous studies, a consistent picture of the neural correlates related to the individual differences in their habitual use remains elusive. To address these issues, the present study applied a combination of unsupervised and supervised machine learning algorithms to the structural MRI scans of 128 individuals. First, unsupervised machine learning was used to separate the brain into naturally grouping grey matter circuits. Then, supervised machine learning was applied to predict individual differences in the use of different strategies of emotion regulation. Two predictive models, including structural brain features and psychological ones, were tested. Results showed that a temporo-parahippocampal-orbitofrontal network successfully predicted the individual differences in the use of reappraisal. Differently, insular and fronto-temporo-cerebellar networks successfully predicted suppression. In both predictive models, anxiety, the opposite strategy, and specific emotional intelligence factors played a role in predicting the use of reappraisal and suppression. This work provides new insights regarding the decoding of individual differences from structural features and other psychologically relevant variables while extending previous observations on the neural bases of emotion regulation strategies.

Acute neural effects of fluoxetine on emotional regulation in depressed adolescents

BACKGROUND

Adolescent major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with disrupted processing of emotional stimuli and difficulties in cognitive reappraisal. Little is known however about how current pharmacotherapies act to modulate the neural mechanisms underlying these key processes. The current study therefore investigated the neural effects of fluoxetine on emotional reactivity and cognitive reappraisal in adolescent depression.

METHODS

Thirty-one adolescents with MDD were randomised to acute fluoxetine (10 mg) or placebo. Seventeen healthy adolescents were also recruited but did not receive any treatment for ethical reasons. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), participants viewed aversive images and were asked to either experience naturally the emotional state elicited ('Maintain') or to reinterpret the content of the pictures to reduce negative affect ('Reappraise'). Significant activations were identified using whole-brain analysis.

RESULTS

No significant group differences were seen when comparing Reappraise and Maintain conditions. However, when compared to healthy controls, depressed adolescents on placebo showed reduced visual activation to aversive pictures irrespective of the condition. The depressed adolescent group on fluoxetine showed the opposite pattern, i.e. increased visuo-cerebellar activity in response to aversive pictures, when compared to depressed adolescents on placebo.

CONCLUSIONS

These data suggest that depression in adolescence may be associated with reduced visual processing of aversive imagery and that fluoxetine may act to reduce avoidance of such cues. This could reflect a key mechanism whereby depressed adolescents engage with negative cues previously avoided. Future research combining fMRI with eye-tracking is nonetheless needed to further clarify these effects.

Investigation of global brain dynamics depending on emotion regulation strategies indicated by graph theoretical brain network measures at system level

In the present study, new findings reveal the close association between graph theoretic global brain connectivity measures and cognitive abilities the ability to manage and regulate negative emotions in healthy adults. Functional brain connectivity measures have been estimated from both eyes-opened and eyes-closed resting-state EEG recordings in four groups including individuals who use opposite Emotion Regulation Strategies (ERS) as follow: While 20 individuals who frequently use two opposing strategies, such as rumination and cognitive distraction, are included in 1st group, 20 individuals who don't use these cognitive strategies are included in 2nd group. In 3rd and 4th groups, there are matched individuals who use both Expressive Suppression and Cognitive Reappraisal strategies together frequently and never use them, respectively. EEG measurements and psychometric scores of individuals were both downloaded from a public dataset LEMON. Since it is not sensitive to volume conduction, Directed Transfer Function has been applied to 62-channel recordings to obtain cortical connectivity estimations across the whole cortex. Regarding well defined threshold, connectivity estimations have been transformed into binary numbers for implementation of Brain Connectivity Toolbox. The groups are compared to each other through both statistical logistic regression models and deep learning models driven by frequency band specific network measures referring segregation, integration and modularity of the brain. Overall results show that high classification accuracies of 96.05% (1st vs 2nd) and 89.66% (3rd vs 4th) are obtained in analyzing full-band ( 0.5 - 45 H z ) EEG. In conclusion, negative strategies may upset the balance between segregation and integration. In particular, graphical results show that frequent use of rumination induces the decrease in assortativity referring network resilience. The psychometric scores are found to be highly correlated with brain network measures of global efficiency, local efficiency, clustering coefficient, transitivity and assortativity in even resting-state.

Relationship between Physical Activity and Emotional Regulation Strategies in Early Adulthood: Mediating Effects of Cortical Thickness

We investigated the relationship between physical activity (PA) and emotional regulation strategies among college students to establish the mediating role of cortical thickness. A total of 60 university students (18−20 years old) were enrolled in this study. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-L) was used to estimate PA levels. Based on the International Physical Activity Working Group standards, PA levels were divided into low, medium, and high PA groups; emotional regulation strategies were determined by the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), including the Cognitive Reappraisal Scale (CR) and the Expressive Suppression Scale (ES). Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure cortical thickness. Differences in use of the ES strategy among high, medium, and low PA groups were not marked. However, compared to the low PA group, the CR strategy was frequently used in the high PA group, with a thicker right hemisphere rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rrACC). PA levels were positively correlated with thickness of the rrACC cortex (r = 0.398, p = 0.002 < 0.05) and CR strategy (r = 0.398, p = 0.002 < 0.05), and negatively correlated with the ES strategy (r = −0.348, p = 0.007 < 0.05). The rrACC cortical thickness played a partial mediating role in the relationship between PA and CR strategy, accounting for 33.1% of total effect values. These findings indicate that although the negative correlation between PA and ES was not significant, the positive correlation between PA with CR was significant, and rrACC thickness played a partial mediating role in the relationship between PA and CR, providing new evidence toward comprehensively revealing the relationship between PA, rrACC cortical thickness, and emotion regulation strategies.

Resting-state BOLD temporal variability in sensorimotor and salience networks underlies trait emotional intelligence and explains differences in emotion regulation strategies

A converging body of behavioural findings supports the hypothesis that the dispositional use of emotion regulation (ER) strategies depends on trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) levels. Unfortunately, neuroscientific investigations of such relationship are missing. To fill this gap, we analysed trait measures and resting state data from 79 healthy participants to investigate whether trait EI and ER processes are associated to similar neural circuits. An unsupervised machine learning approach (independent component analysis) was used to decompose resting-sate functional networks and to assess whether they predict trait EI and specific ER strategies. Individual differences results showed that high trait EI significantly predicts and negatively correlates with the frequency of use of typical dysfunctional ER strategies. Crucially, we observed that an increased BOLD temporal variability within sensorimotor and salience networks was associated with both high trait EI and the frequency of use of cognitive reappraisal. By contrast, a decreased variability in salience network was associated with the use of suppression. These findings support the tight connection between trait EI and individual tendency to use functional ER strategies, and provide the first evidence that modulations of BOLD temporal variability in specific brain networks may be pivotal in explaining this relationship.

Cross-validated Adaboost Classification of Emotion Regulation Strategies Identified by Spectral Coherence in Resting-State

In the present study, quantitative relations between Cognitive Emotion Regulation strategies (CERs) and EEG synchronization levels have been investigated for the first time. For this purpose, spectral coherence (COH), phase locking value and mutual information have been applied to short segments of 62-channel resting state eyes-opened EEG data collected from healthy adults who use contrasting emotion regulation strategies (frequently and rarely use of rumination&distraction, frequently and rarely use of suppression&reappraisal). In tests, the individuals are grouped depending on their self-responses to both emotion regulation questionnaire (ERQ) and cognitive ERQ. Experimental data are downloaded from publicly available data-base, LEMON. Regarding EEG electrode pairs that placed on right and left cortical regions, inter-hemispheric dependency measures are computed for non-overlapped short segments of 2 sec at 2 min duration trials. In addition to full-band EEG analysis, dependency metrics are also obtained for both alpha and beta sub-bands. The contrasting groups are discriminated from each other with respect to the corresponding features using cross-validated adaboost classifiers. High classification accuracies (CA) of 99.44% and 98.33% have been obtained through instant classification driven by full-band COH estimations. Considering regional features that provide the high CA, CERs are found to be highly relevant with associative memory functions and cognition. The new findings may indicate the close relation between neuroplasticity and cognitive skills.

The neural bases of expressive suppression: A systematic review of functional neuroimaging studies

Expressive suppression refers to the inhibition of emotion-expressive behavior (e.g., facial expressions of emotion). Although it is a commonly used emotion regulation strategy with well-documented consequences for well-being, little is known about its underlying mechanisms. In this systematic review, we for the first time synthesize functional neuroimaging studies on the neural bases of expressive suppression in non-clinical populations. The 12 studies included in this review contrasted the use of expressive suppression to simply watching emotional stimuli. Results showed that expressive suppression consistently increased activation of frontoparietal regions, especially the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortices and inferior parietal cortex, but decreased activation in temporo-occipital areas. Results regarding the involvement of the insula and amygdala were inconsistent with studies showing increased, decreased, or no changes in activation. These mixed findings underscore the importance of distinguishing expressive suppression from other forms of suppression and highlight the need to pay more attention to experimental design and neuroimaging data analysis procedures. We discuss these conceptual and methodological issues and provide suggestions for future research.

Dissociating the role of dACC and dlPFC for emotion appraisal and mood regulation using cathodal tDCS

Several neuroimaging studies have shown that a distributed network of brain regions is involved in our ability to appraise the emotions we experience in daily life. In particular, scholars suggested that the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) may play a role in the appraisal of emotional stimuli together with subcortical regions, especially when stimuli are negatively valenced, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) may play a role in regulating emotions. However, proofs of the causal role of these regions are lacking. In the present study, we aim at testing this model by stimulating both the dACC and the left dlPFC via cathodal tDCS. Twenty-four participants were asked to attend and rate the arousal and valence of negative and neutral emotional stimuli (pictures and words) in three different experimental sessions: cathodal stimulation of dACC, left dlPFC, or sham. In addition to the experimental task, the baseline affective state was measured before and after the stimulation to further assess the effect of stimulation over the baseline affective state after the experimental session. Results showed that cathodal stimulation of dACC, but not the left dlPFC, was associated with reduced arousal ratings of emotional stimuli, both compared with the sham condition. Moreover, cathodal stimulation of left dlPFC decreased participant's positive affective state after the session. These findings suggest for the first time, a dissociation between the dACC and dlPFC, with the former more involved in emotion appraisal, and the latter more involved in mood modulation.

Grey matter covariation and the role of emotion reappraisal in mental wellbeing and resilience after early life stress exposure

Resilience is a process of adaptive recovery crucial in maintaining mental wellbeing after stress exposure. A psychological factor known to buffer stress and promote positive wellbeing outcomes is the ability to regulate emotions. However, the neural networks underlying resilience, and the possible mediating role of emotion regulation, remain largely unknown. Here, we examined the association between resilience and grey matter covariation (GMC) in healthy adults with and without early life stress (ELS) exposure, and whether emotion regulation mediated this brain-resilience association. Source-based morphometry was used to identify spatial patterns of common GMC in 242 healthy participants. Wellbeing was measured using the COMPAS-W Wellbeing Scale. Linear mixed models were run to establish associations between GMC and wellbeing scores. Moderated mediation models were used to examine a conditional mediating effect of emotion regulation on the brain-wellbeing relationship, moderated by ELS exposure. Distinct ELS-related morphometric patterns were found in association with resilience. In participants without ELS exposure, decreased GMC in the temporo-parietal regions was associated with wellbeing. In participants with ELS exposure, we observed increased patterns of covariation in regions related to the salience and executive control networks, and decreased GMC in temporo-parietal areas, which were associated with resilience. Cognitive reappraisal mediated the brain-wellbeing relationship in ELS-exposed participants only. Patterns of stronger GMC in regions associated with emotional and cognitive functioning in ELS-exposed participants with high levels of wellbeing may indicate possible neural signatures of resilience. This may be further heightened by utilising an adaptive form of emotion regulation.

Association between frontal cortico-limbic white-matter microstructure and risk for pediatric depression

This study aimed to identify white-matter microstructural characteristics associated with risk for pediatric major depressive disorder (MDD) measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) Anxiety/Depression scores. Children (N = 32) of both sexes, aged 6-12, underwent T1-weighted whole-head anatomical and diffusion-weighted imaging. Each participant's mean diffusion measure image was generated and thinned to create an alignment-invariant tract representation. Voxel-wise analysis on the resulting map was carried out in Track Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) using general linear models by regressing the CBCL-Anxiety/Depression score against measures of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We also compared these results with prior DTI findings from the same children associated with CBCL-Emotion Dysregulation profile, an indicator for bipolar disorder. TBSS voxel-wise analysis showed a significant negative correlation between fractional anisotropy (FA) and CBCL-Anxiety/Depression scores localized in the right anterior cingulum and connected corpus callosal region. The negative FA correlations in these regions were greater in CBCL-Anxiety/ Depression scores compared to CBCL-Emotional Dysregulation scores. Reduced white-matter connectivity in the anterior cingulum and connected corpus callosal region may represent a biomarker of risk for pediatric MDD. These results may help identify brain differences associated with the development of MDD, and assist with earlier clinical identification of pediatric MDD.

Cold-Blooded and on Purpose: A Review of the Biology of Proactive Aggression

Proactive aggression (PA) is a planned and unprovoked form of aggression that is most often enacted for personal gain or in anticipation of a reward. Frequently described as "cold-blooded" or goal oriented, PA is thought to be associated with low autonomic arousal. With this view in mind, we performed a scoping review of the biological correlates of PA and identified 74 relevant articles. Physiological findings indicated a robust association between PA and reduced resting heart rate, and to a lesser extent a relationship between PA and decreased heart rate and skin conductance reactivity, perhaps indicating dampened sympathetic function. The twin literature identified PA as a heritable trait, but little evidence implicates specific genes in the pathogenesis of PA. Neuroimaging studies of PA pinpoint impaired amygdala function in the assessment and conditioning of aversive stimuli, which may influence the establishment of behavioral patterns. Nodes of the default mode network were identified as possible neural correlates of PA, suggesting that altered function of this network may be involved in the genesis of PA. Given the overlap of PA with reactive aggression and the overall behavioral complexity of PA, it is clear that multiple endophenotypes of PA exist. This comprehensive review surveys the most salient neurobiologically informed research on PA.

Fatty acid dysregulation in the anterior cingulate cortex of depressed suicides with a history of child abuse

Child abuse (CA) strongly increases the lifetime risk of suffering from major depression and predicts an unfavorable course for the illness. Severe CA has been associated with a specific dysregulation of oligodendrocyte function and thinner myelin sheaths in the human anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) white matter. Given that myelin is extremely lipid-rich, it is plausible that these findings may be accompanied by a disruption of the lipid profile that composes the myelin sheath. This is important to explore since the composition of fatty acids (FA) in myelin phospholipids can influence its stability, permeability, and compactness. Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantify and compare FA concentrations in postmortem ACC white matter in the choline glycerophospholipid pool (ChoGpl), a key myelin phospholipid pool, between adult depressed suicides with a history of CA (DS-CA) matched depressed suicides without CA (DS) and healthy non-psychiatric controls (CTRL). Total lipids were extracted from 101 subjects according to the Folch method and separated into respective classes using thin-layer chromatography. FA methyl esters from the ChoGpl fraction were quantified using gas chromatography. Our analysis revealed specific effects of CA in FAs from the arachidonic acid synthesis pathway, which was further validated with RNA-sequencing data. Furthermore, the concentration of most FAs was found to decrease with age. By extending the previous molecular level findings linking CA with altered myelination in the ACC, these results provide further insights regarding white matter alterations associated with early-life adversity.

Histamine H1 receptors regulate anhedonic-like behavior in rats: Involvement of the anterior cingulate and lateral entorhinal cortices

A decreased H1 receptor activity is observed in the anterior cingulate cortex (aCgCx) of depressed patients. The role of this abnormality in the development of depression-related processes is unstudied. We examined the influence of a decreased brain H1 receptor activity on rat behavior in the sucrose preference test. The H1 receptor deficit was simulated by injection of an H1 antagonist into the aCgCx; also, two aCgCx projection areas, lateral and medial entorhinal cortices were examined. A blockade of H1-receptors in the aCgCx and lateral entorhinal cortex (LEntCx) significantly reduced sucrose preference. These findings suggest the existence of H1 receptor-mediated aCgCx-LEntCx circuitry mechanism regulating anhedonic-like behavior in rats. The presented data suggest that H1 receptor-mediated processes might be a therapeutic target in depressive disorders.

Population variability in social brain morphology for social support, household size and friendship satisfaction

The social brain hypothesis proposes that the complexity of human brains has coevolved with increasing complexity of social interactions in primate societies. The present study explored the possible relationships between brain morphology and the richness of more intimate 'inner' and wider 'outer' social circles by integrating Bayesian hierarchical modeling with a large cohort sample from the UK Biobank resource (n = 10 000). In this way, we examined population volume effects in 36 regions of the 'social brain', ranging from lower sensory to higher associative cortices. We observed strong volume effects in the visual sensory network for the group of individuals with satisfying friendships. Further, the limbic network displayed several brain regions with substantial volume variations in individuals with a lack of social support. Our population neuroscience approach thus showed that distinct networks of the social brain show different patterns of volume variations linked to the examined social indices.

Increased behavioral inhibition trait and negative stress coping in non-rapid eye movement parasomnias

STUDY OBJECTIVES

Reduced gray matter volume in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) has recently been found in patients with non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnia, providing a neuroanatomical substrate for the arousal state dissociation. It remains unclear whether PCC changes in NREM parasomnias might also play a role in cognitive or affective dysfunction in these patients. The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate neurobehavioral correlates of PCC abnormalities in patients with NREM parasomnia.

METHODS

The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality Questionnaire and the Stress Coping Questionnaire were used to assess personality and stress coping in 15 patients with NREM parasomnia and 15 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Patients' left PCC gray matter volume was quantified with voxel-based morphometry on 3 Tesla T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data.

RESULTS

In the Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory of Personality Questionnaire, increased trait reactivity of the behavioral inhibition system and goal-drive persistence contributed most to the discrimination of patients and controls. In the Stress Coping Questionnaire, patients showed an increased negative coping trait (ie, anxious rumination) related to an increase in adjusted left PCC volume.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest subclinical behavioral abnormalities in patients with NREM parasomnias. Such traits might trigger maladaptive emotion regulation processes related to a relative PCC volume increase. The findings encourage further longitudinal studies on this topic, which can provide insights into the causal relations underlying the PCC volume-behavior correlation. Such future studies will have a more direct implication for the clinical management of patients with NREM parasomnias.

Less is more: Morphometric and psychological differences between low and high reappraisers

Emotion regulation plays a crucial role in an individual's well-being, as it is known that deficits in regulating emotions can lead to psychological and psychiatric disorders. Cognitive reappraisal is widely considered to be an adaptive and effective emotion-regulation strategy. People are more or less able to apply it, but it is still not clear how reappraisal affects brain structures and the psychological profile of individuals. In our study we thus aimed to explore the impact of applying reappraisal at both the neural and the psychological level. Source-based morphometry (SBM), a whole-brain multivariate method based on the Independent Component Analysis that extracts patterns of covariation of gray matter ("independent networks"), was applied to the MRI images of 37 participants. In order to enrich their psychological profiles, we measured their experienced affectivity (PANAS) and their empathic abilities (IRI). Based on the frequency of applying reappraisal (ERQ), participants were divided into low and high reappraisers (18 vs. 19). An independent source of gray matter emerged as being different between the groups: specifically, low reappraisers showed more gray matter volume concentration in a network including the frontal, temporal, and parietal regions as compared to high reappraisers. At the psychological level, low reappraisers reported a more strongly experienced negative affect, while no difference among reappraisers emerged with regard to empathic abilities. Capitalizing on a multivariate method for structural analysis that is innovative in this field, this study extends previous observations on individual differences in the ability to regulate emotions, and it describes a plausible impact of reappraisal on brain structures and affectivity.

Aging faster: worry and rumination in late life are associated with greater brain age

Older adults with anxiety have lower gray matter brain volume-a component of accelerated aging. We have previously validated a machine learning model to predict brain age, an estimate of an individual's age based on voxel-wise gray matter images. We investigated associations between brain age and anxiety, depression, stress, and emotion regulation. We recruited 78 participants (≥50 years) along a wide range of worry severity. We collected imaging data and computed voxel-wise gray matter images, which were input into an existing machine learning model to estimate brain age. We conducted a multivariable linear regression between brain age and age, sex, race, education, worry, anxiety, depression, rumination, neuroticism, stress, reappraisal, and suppression. We found that greater brain age was significantly associated with greater age, male sex, greater worry, greater rumination, and lower suppression. Male sex, worry, and rumination are associated with accelerated aging in late life and expressive suppression may have a protective effect. These results provide evidence for the transdiagnostic model of negative repetitive thoughts, which are associated with cognitive decline, amyloid, and tau.

Structural signature of trauma: white matter volume in right inferior frontal gyrus is positively associated with use of expressive suppression in recently traumatized individuals

Background: Differences in grey and white matter structure have been found between trauma-exposed individuals with and without PTSD. Yet, it remains unclear which functional processes are underlying these volumetric changes. Avoidance- and suppression-based emotion regulation strategies are candidates of interest since they play an important role in the development and maintenance of PTSD. Method: We used voxel-based morphometry to examine differences in brain structure in 20 recently trauma-exposed individuals and 20 healthy controls in respect of their relation to emotion regulation. Results: We found a significantly larger white matter volume close to the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG) in patients compared to healthy controls. White matter volume close to the rIFG was positively correlated with expressive suppression. Conclusion: The region of volumetric white matter difference in our study overlaps with brain regions previously associated with executive functioning and inhibitory control, functions that are known to be impaired in PTSD. Our findings support the idea that impaired executive functions in PTSD might be compensated by suppression-based emotion regulation strategies.

Cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression relate differentially to longitudinal structural brain development across adolescence

Emotional disorders commonly emerge in adolescence, a period characterized by changes in emotion-related processes. Thus, the ability to regulate emotions is crucial for well-being and adaptive social functioning during this period. Concurrently, the brain undergoes large structural and functional changes. We investigated relations between tendencies to use two emotion regulation strategies, cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, and structural development of the cerebral cortex and subcortical structures (specifically amygdala and nucleus accumbens given these structures are frequently associated with emotion regulation). A total of 112 participants (59 females) aged 8-26 were followed for up to 3 times over a 7-year period, providing 272 observations. Participants completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), yielding a measure of tendencies to use cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression at the final time point. Linear mixed model analyses were performed to account for the longitudinal nature of the data. Contrary to expectations, volumetric growth of the amygdala and nucleus accumbens was not associated with either emotion regulation strategy. However, frequent use of expressive suppression was linked to greater regionally-specific apparent cortical thinning in both sexes, while tendency to use cognitive reappraisal was associated with greater regionally-specific apparent thinning in females and less thinning in males. Although cognitive reappraisal is traditionally associated with cognitive control regions of the brain, our results suggest it is also associated with regions involved in social cognition and semantics. The continued changes in cortical morphology and their associations with habitual use of different emotion regulation strategies indicate continued plasticity during this period, and represent an opportunity for interventions targeting emotion regulation for adolescents at risk.

Differential responses to breath-holding, voluntary deep breathing and hypercapnia in left and right dorsal anterior cingulate

NEW FINDINGS

What is the central question of this study? What is the role of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in respiration control in humans? What is the main finding and its importance? Direct evidence is provided for a role of the ACC in respiratory control in humans. The neurophysiological responses in dorsal ACC to different breathing tasks varied and were different between left and right ACC.

ABSTRACT

The role of subcortical structures and cerebral cortex in the maintenance of respiratory homeostasis in humans remains poorly understood. Emerging evidence suggests an important role of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in respiratory control. In this study, local field potentials (LFPs) from dorsal ACC were recorded in humans through implanted deep brain electrodes during several breathing activities, including voluntary activities of breath-holding and deep breathing, and involuntary activities of inspiration of varying concentrations of carbon dioxide (1%, 3%, 5% and 7%). We found that the breath-holding task induced significant unilateral left-sided ACC changes in LFP power, including an increased activity in lower frequency bands (3-5 Hz) and decreased activity in higher frequency bands (12-26 Hz). The respiratory task involving reflex increase in ventilation due to hypercapnia (raised inspired CO₂ ) was associated with bilateral changes in activity of the ACC (again with increased activity in lower frequency bands and reduced activity in higher frequency bands). The voluntary breathing task with associated hypocapnia (deep breathing) induced bilateral changes in activity within low frequency bands. Furthermore, probabilistic diffusion tractography analysis showed left-sided connection of the ACC with the insula and frontal operculum, and bilateral connections within subsections of the cingulate gyrus and the thalamus. This electrophysiological analysis provides direct evidence for a role of the ACC in respiratory control in humans.

Sex-Specific Relationships Between Interoceptive Accuracy and Emotion Regulation

Over the last years, there has been a resurge in the interest to study the relationship between interoception and emotion. By now, it is well established that interoception contributes to the experience of emotions. However, it may also be possible that interoception contributes to the regulation of emotions. To test this possibility, we studied the relationship between interoception and emotion regulation in a sample of healthy individuals (n = 84). We used a similar heartbeat detection task and a similar self-report questionnaire for the assessment of interoceptive accuracy and emotion regulation as in previous studies. In contrast to previous studies, we differentiated between male and female individuals in our analyses and controlled our analyses for individual characteristics that may affect the relationship between interoceptive accuracy and emotion regulation. We found sex-differences in interoceptive accuracy and emotion regulation that amounted to a sex-specific relationship between interoceptive accuracy and emotion regulation: Whereas interoceptive accuracy was related to reappraisal but not to suppression in male individuals, interoceptive accuracy was unrelated to reappraisal and suppression in female individuals. These findings indicate that the relationship between interoception and emotion regulation is far more complex than has been suggested by previous findings. However, these findings nonetheless support the view that interoception is essential for both, the regulation and experience of emotions.

Dysregulation of inflammation, neurobiology, and cognitive function in PTSD: an integrative review

Compelling evidence from animal and human research suggest a strong link between inflammation and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Furthermore, recent findings support compromised neurocognitive function as a key feature of PTSD, particularly with deficits in attention and processing speed, executive function, and memory. These cognitive domains are supported by brain structures and neural pathways that are disrupted in PTSD and which are implicated in fear learning and extinction processes. The disruption of these supporting structures potentially results from their interaction with inflammation. Thus, the converging evidence supports a model of inflammatory dysregulation and cognitive dysfunction as combined mechanisms underpinning PTSD symptomatology. In this review, we summarize evidence of dysregulated inflammation in PTSD and further explore how the neurobiological underpinnings of PTSD, in the context of fear learning and extinction acquisition and recall, may interact with inflammation. We then present evidence for cognitive dysfunction in PTSD, highlighting findings from human work. Potential therapeutic approaches utilizing novel pharmacological and behavioral interventions that target inflammation and cognition also are discussed.

Cingulum-Callosal white-matter microstructure associated with emotional dysregulation in children: A diffusion tensor imaging study

Emotional dysregulation symptoms in youth frequently predispose individuals to increased risk for mood disorders and other mental health difficulties. These symptoms are also known as a behavioral risk marker in predicting pediatric mood disorders. The underlying neural mechanism of emotional dysregulation, however, remains unclear. This study used the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technique to identify anatomically specific variation in white-matter microstructure that is associated with pediatric emotional dysregulation severity. Thirty-two children (mean age 9.53 years) with varying levels of emotional dysregulation symptoms were recruited by the Massachusetts General Hospital and underwent the DTI scans at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Emotional dysregulation severity was measured by the empirically-derived Child Behavior Checklist Emotional Dysregulation Profile that includes the Attention, Aggression, and Anxiety/Depression subscales. Whole-brain voxel-wise regression tests revealed significantly increased radial diffusivity (RD) and decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) in the cingulum-callosal regions linked to greater emotional dysregulation in the children. The results suggest that microstructural differences in cingulum-callosal white-matter pathways may manifest as a neurodevelopmental vulnerability for pediatric mood disorders as implicated in the clinical phenotype of pediatric emotional dysregulation. These findings may offer clinically and biologically relevant neural targets for early identification and prevention efforts for pediatric mood disorders.

Self-injuring adolescent girls exhibit insular cortex volumetric abnormalities that are similar to those seen in adults with borderline personality disorder

Self-inflicted injury (SII) in adolescence is a serious public health concern that portends prospective vulnerability to internalizing and externalizing psychopathology, borderline personality development, suicide attempts, and suicide. To date, however, our understanding of neurobiological vulnerabilities to SII is limited. Behaviorally, affect dysregulation is common among those who self-injure. This suggests ineffective cortical modulation of emotion, as observed among adults with borderline personality disorder. In borderline samples, structural and functional abnormalities are observed in several frontal regions that subserve emotion regulation (e.g., anterior cingulate, insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). However, no volumetric analyses of cortical brain regions have been conducted among self-injuring adolescents. We used voxel-based morphometry to compare cortical gray matter volumes between self-injuring adolescent girls, ages 13-19 years (n = 20), and controls (n = 20). Whole-brain analyses revealed reduced gray matter volumes among self-injurers in the insular cortex bilaterally, and in the right inferior frontal gyrus, an adjacent neural structure also implicated in emotion and self-regulation. Insular and inferior frontal gyrus gray matter volumes correlated inversely with self-reported emotion dysregulation, over-and-above effects of psychopathology. Findings are consistent with an emotion dysregulation construal of SII, and indicate structural abnormalities in some but not all cortical brain regions implicated in borderline personality disorder among adults.

Brain gray matter correlates of extraversion: A systematic review and meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry studies

Extraversion is a fundamental personality dimension closely related to an individual's life outcomes and mental health. Although an increasing number of studies have attempted to identify the neurostructural markers of extraversion, the results have been highly inconsistent. The current study aimed to achieve a comprehensive understanding of brain gray matter (GM) correlates of extraversion with a systematic review and meta-analysis approach. Our review showed relatively high interstudy heterogeneity among previous findings. Our meta-analysis of whole-brain voxel-based morphometry studies revealed that extraversion was stably associated with six core brain regions. Additionally, meta-regression analyses identified brain regions where the associations of extraversion with GM volume were modulated by gender and age. The relationships between extraversion and GM structures were discussed based on three extraversion-related functional systems. Furthermore, we explained the gender and age effects. Overall, our study is the first to reveal a comprehensive picture of brain GM correlates of extraversion, and the findings may be useful for the selection of targeted brain areas for extraversion interventions.

Trait Mindfulness and Functional Connectivity in Cognitive and Attentional Resting State Networks

Mindfulness has been described as an orienting of attention to the present moment, with openness and compassion. Individuals displaying high trait mindfulness exhibit this tendency as a more permanent personality attribute. Given the numerous physical and mental health benefits associated with mindfulness, there is a great interest in understanding the neural substrates of this trait. The purpose of the current research was to examine how individual differences in trait mindfulness associated with functional connectivity in five resting-state networks related to cognition and attention: the default mode network (DMN), the salience network (SN), the central executive network (CEN), and the dorsal and ventral attention networks (DAN and VAN). Twenty-eight undergraduate participants completed the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), a self-report measure of trait mindfulness which also provides scores on five of its sub-categories (Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Non-judging of Inner Experience, and Non-reactivity to Inner Experience). Participants then underwent a structural MRI scan and a 7-min resting state functional MRI scan. Resting-state data were analyzed using independent-component analyses. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to determine the relationship between each resting state network and each FFMQ score. These analyses indicated that: (1) trait mindfulness and its facets showed increased functional connectivity with neural regions related to attentional control, interoception, and executive function; and (2) trait mindfulness and its facets showed decreased functional connectivity with neural regions related to self-referential processing and mind wandering. These patterns of functional connectivity are consistent with some of the benefits of mindfulness-enhanced attention, self-regulation, and focus on present experience. This study provides support for the notion that non-judgmental attention to the present moment facilitates the integration of regions in neural networks that are related to cognition, attention, and sensation.

Solving the prefrontal conundrum of high-order anxiety: conciliating HOTEC and hypofrontality. A theoretical review

INTRODUCTION

According to the High-order Theory of Emotional Consciousness (HOTEC), every emotional process is a conscious and high-order state of mind carried out by the General Networks of Cognition (GNC), which consists mainly of prefrontal mechanisms. This means that anxiety is also an emotional state of mind carried out by the GNC (positive correlation). However, numerous studies have suggested what is commonly called "hypofrontality" during states of anxiety (negative correlation), which seems to give rise to a theoretical and empirical contraction.

METHODS

I present a theoretical review to address the following issue: how to advocate a HOTEC view of anxiety in the face of a growing paradigm of hypofrontality during states of anxiety?

RESULTS

Here I propose that dmPFC, the dACC, and the anterior insula are GNC areas positively correlated with anxiety, which, along with the prefrontal areas responsible for regulating the activation of survival circuits and driving the attention to adaptive ways to overcome potential threats, form an interconnective model of anticipatory and regulatory mechanisms related to learned threats based on autobiographical memories.

CONCLUSIONS

Through this model, I propose that HOTEC is still a valid way to approach and understand both healthy and unhealthy anxious states of mind.

Shared gray matter reductions across alcohol use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in the anterior cingulate cortex: A dual meta-analysis

The considerable comorbidity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use disorders (AUD) poses a greater public health burden than either condition alone. Although there is a substantial body of evidence linking the direct neurotoxic effect of heavy drinking to gray matter (GM) deficits, as well as a growing body of literature supporting a strong association between PTSD and GM alterations, there is scant research interrogating the direct interaction of the two disorders. In order to generate data-driven, specific hypotheses regarding the overlapping neural substrates of PTSD and AUD, we conducted a meta-analysis of GM volumes in each disorder relative to healthy control subjects. We found shared GM deficits in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) across both disorders relative to healthy control participants. These findings suggest that reduced volumes of the ACC across PTSD and AUD may have implications for the development, expression, or treatment of symptoms linked to these frequently co-existing disorders. Recommendations are made for future work aimed at delineating the specific and shared effects of traumatic stress and alcoholism on neural integrity.

Regional Gray Matter Volume Mediates the Relationship Between Conscientiousness and Expressive Suppression

Conscientiousness is frequently characterized by tendencies to be self-disciplined, to demonstrate organization and dependability, to act dutifully, to aim for achievement and to have good impulse control; this trait plays an important role in some special contexts, such as legal consciousness. Although a great number of studies have confirmed the impact of conscientiousness on emotion experience, little is known about the relationship between conscientiousness and emotion regulation, or of the brain structural basis that is involved. The current study investigated the neuroanatomical basis of the relationship between conscientiousness and emotion regulation from the perspective of individual differences. The voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method at the whole-brain level was used to identify the brain structural basis related to conscientiousness in a large, young sample (n = 351). The results showed that conscientiousness was significantly and positively correlated with the gray matter volume (GMV) in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which is the key region for inhibitory control. Further mediation analysis revealed that the IFG volume partially mediated the relation between conscientiousness and expressive suppression (ES), rather than cognitive reappraisal (CR), which showed that the IFG is associated with direct inhibitory control and plays a specific role in the relationship between conscientiousness and the two strategies of emotion regulation. Taken together, these findings contributed to sharpening the understanding of the correlation between conscientiousness and emotion regulation from the perspective of the brain structural basis.

Neurobehavioral Mechanisms of Resilience Against Emotional Distress: An Integrative Brain-Personality-Symptom Approach Using Structural Equation Modeling

Clarifying individual differences that predict resilience or vulnerability to emotional distress is crucial for identifying etiological factors contributing to affective disturbances, and to promoting emotional well-being. Despite recent progress identifying specific brain regions and personality traits, it remains unclear whether there are common factors underlying the structural aspects of the brain and the personality traits that, in turn, protect against symptoms of emotional distress. In the present study, an integrative structural equation model was developed to examine the associations among (1) a latent construct of Control, representing the volumes of a system of prefrontal cortical (PFC) regions including middle, inferior, and orbital frontal cortices; (2) a latent construct of Resilience personality traits including cognitive reappraisal, positive affectivity, and optimism; and (3) Anxiety and Depression symptoms, in a sample of 85 healthy young adults. Results showed that the latent construct of PFC volumes positively predicted the latent construct of Resilience, which in turn negatively predicted Anxiety. Mediation analysis confirmed that greater latent PFC volume is indirectly associated with lower Anxiety symptoms through greater latent trait Resilience. The model did not show a significant mediation for Depression. These results support the idea that there are common volumetric and personality factors that help protect against symptoms of emotional distress. These findings provide strong evidence that such brain-personality-symptom approaches can provide novel insights with valuable implications for understanding the interaction of these factors in healthy and clinically diagnosed individuals.

Impaired Frontal-Limbic White Matter Maturation in Children at Risk for Major Depression

Depression is among the most common neuropsychiatric disorders. It remains unclear whether brain abnormalities associated with depression reflect the pathological state of the disease or neurobiological traits predisposing individuals to depression. Parental history of depression is a risk factor that more than triples the risk of depression. We compared white matter (WM) microstructure cross-sectionally in 40 children ages 8-14 with versus without parental history of depression (At-Risk vs. Control). There were significant differences in age-related changes of fractional anisotropy (FA) between the groups, localized in the anterior fronto-limbic WM pathways, including the anterior cingulum and the genu of the corpus callosum. Control children exhibited typical increasing FA with age, whereas At-Risk children exhibited atypical decreasing FA with age in these fronto-limbic regions. Furthermore, dorsal cingulate FA significantly correlated with depressive symptoms for At-Risk children. The results suggest maturational WM microstructure differences in mood-regulatory neurocircuitry that may contribute to neurodevelopmental risk for depression. The study provides new insights into neurodevelopmental susceptibility to depression and related disabilities that may promote early preventive intervention approaches.

Functional network integration and attention skills in young children

Children acquire attention skills rapidly during early childhood as their brains undergo vast neural development. Attention is well studied in the adult brain, yet due to the challenges associated with scanning young children, investigations in early childhood are sparse. Here, we examined the relationship between age, attention and functional connectivity (FC) during passive viewing in multiple intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) in 60 typically developing girls between 4 and 7 years whose sustained, selective and executive attention skills were assessed. Visual, auditory, sensorimotor, default mode (DMN), dorsal attention (DAN), ventral attention (VAN), salience, and frontoparietal ICNs were identified via Independent Component Analysis and subjected to a dual regression. Individual spatial maps were regressed against age and attention skills, controlling for age. All ICNs except the VAN showed regions of increasing FC with age. Attention skills were associated with FC in distinct networks after controlling for age: selective attention positively related to FC in the DAN; sustained attention positively related to FC in visual and auditory ICNs; and executive attention positively related to FC in the DMN and visual ICN. These findings suggest distributed network integration across this age range and highlight how multiple ICNs contribute to attention skills in early childhood.

Emotion Regulation and Complex Brain Networks: Association Between Expressive Suppression and Efficiency in the Fronto-Parietal Network and Default-Mode Network

Emotion regulation (ER) refers to the "implementation of a conscious or non-conscious goal to start, stop or otherwise modulate the trajectory of an emotion" (Etkin et al., 2015). Whereas multiple brain areas have been found to be involved in ER, relatively little is known about whether and how ER is associated with the global functioning of brain networks. Recent advances in brain connectivity research using graph-theory based analysis have shown that the brain can be organized into complex networks composed of functionally or structurally connected brain areas. Global efficiency is one graphic metric indicating the efficiency of information exchange among brain areas and is utilized to measure global functioning of brain networks. The present study examined the relationship between trait measures of ER (expressive suppression (ES) and cognitive reappraisal (CR)) and global efficiency in resting-state functional brain networks (the whole brain network and ten predefined networks) using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results showed that ES was reliably associated with efficiency in the fronto-parietal network and default-mode network. The finding advances the understanding of neural substrates of ER, revealing the relationship between ES and efficient organization of brain networks.

Neural correlates and structural markers of emotion dysregulation in traumatized civilians

Emotion dysregulation (ED) reflects deficits in understanding and managing negative emotions and may serve as a transdiagnostic mechanism of risk for trauma-related psychiatric disorders. Therefore, understanding neurobiological substrates of ED in traumatized individuals is critical. The present study examined associations between ED and baseline structural differences and patterns of functional activity during an emotional task in a sample of African American women (n = 136) recruited from an urban hospital. Participants engaged in a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) session. A subsample (n = 92) also viewed emotional face stimuli during functional MRI. ED was related to greater dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) surface area (P_corr < 0.05) and increased dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and ventromedial PFC activation to fearful stimuli (P_corr < 0.05), independent of the trauma and psychiatric symptoms. DMPFC activation was also associated with posttraumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms. Mediation analyses showed a significant mediation effect of ED on the relation between dmPFC activation and psychiatric symptoms. These findings are important since dACC and dmPFC play central roles in fear expression and attention to emotional stimuli. Future longitudinal research is needed to help solidify a model of risk for how such neural substrates may be impacted by traumatic experiences to create ED.

Bidirectional Causal Connectivity in the Cortico-Limbic-Cerebellar Circuit Related to Structural Alterations in First-Episode, Drug-Naive Somatization Disorder

Background: Anatomical and functional deficits in the cortico-limbic-cerebellar circuit are involved in the neurobiology of somatization disorder (SD). The present study was performed to examine causal connectivity of the cortico-limbic-cerebellar circuit related to structural deficits in first-episode, drug-naive patients with SD at rest. Methods: A total of 25 first-episode, drug-naive patients with SD and 28 healthy controls underwent structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Voxel-based morphometry and Granger causality analysis (GCA) were used to analyze the data. Results: Results showed that patients with SD exhibited decreased gray matter volume (GMV) in the right cerebellum Crus I, and increased GMV in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and left angular gyrus. Causal connectivity of the cortico-limbic-cerebellar circuit was partly affected by structural alterations in the patients. Patients with SD showed bidirectional cortico-limbic connectivity abnormalities and bidirectional cortico-cerebellar and limbic-cerebellar connectivity abnormalities. The mean GMV of the right MFG was negatively correlated with the scores of the somatization subscale of the symptom checklist-90 and persistent error response of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in the patients. A negative correlation was observed between increased driving connectivity from the right MFG to the right fusiform gyrus/cerebellum IV, V and the scores of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire extraversion subscale. The mean GMV of the left ACC was negatively correlated with the WCST number of errors and persistent error response. Negative correlation was found between the causal effect from the left ACC to the right middle temporal gyrus and the scores of WCST number of categories achieved. Conclusions: Our findings show the partial effects of structural alterations on the cortico-limbic-cerebellar circuit in first-episode, drug-naive patients with SD. Correlations are observed between anatomical alterations or causal effects and clinical variables in patients with SD, and bear clinical significance. The present study emphasizes the importance of the cortico-limbic-cerebellar circuit in the neurobiology of SD.

Changing views of emotion regulation and neurobiological models of the mechanism of action of psychotherapy

Influential neurobiological models of the mechanism of action of psychotherapy attribute its success to increases of activity in prefrontal areas and decreases in limbic areas, interpreted as the successful and adaptive recruitment of controlled processes to achieve emotion regulation. In this article, we review the behavioral and neuroscientific evidence in support of this model and its applicability to explain the mechanism of action of psychotherapy. Neuroimaging studies of explicit emotion regulation, evidence on the neurobiological substrates of implicit emotion regulation, and meta-analyses of neuroimaging studies of the effect of psychotherapy consistently suggest that areas implicated in coding semantic representations play an important role in emotion regulation not covered by existing models based on controlled processes. We discuss the findings that implicate these same areas in supporting working memory, in encoding preferences and the prospective outcome of actions taken in rewarding or aversive contingencies, and show how these functions may be integrated into process models of emotion regulation that depend on elaborate semantic representations for their effectiveness. These alternative models also appear to be more consistent with internal accounts in the psychotherapeutic literature of how psychotherapy works.

Neural markers of familial risk for depression: An investigation of cortical thickness abnormalities in healthy adolescent daughters of mothers with recurrent depression

Having a mother with major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the strongest predictors of depression in late adolescence and early adulthood. Despite this fact, we know little about the neural mechanisms involved in the intergenerational transmission of risk for depression. Twenty-eight never-disordered daughters of recurrent depressed mothers (high-risk) and 36 never-disordered daughters of never-depressed mothers (low-risk) were scanned using MRI. Scan data were processed to provide measurements of cortical gray matter thickness. A general linear model was conducted at each surface point to assess the main effect of familial risk on cortical structure as well as to explore the interaction of familial risk and age. High-risk girls exhibited significantly thinner cortical gray matter in the right fusiform gyrus relative to low-risk girls. Exploratory analyses indicated interactions of risk group and age in the bilateral anterior insula and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC); whereas low-risk girls exhibited an inverse association between age and thickness, girls at high risk for depression showed the reverse pattern. Additional exploratory analyses, using scores on the Children's Sadness Management Scale, indicated that thinner gray matter in the ACC of high-risk girls was associated with greater difficulty in managing sadness. These findings indicate that anomalous reductions in the cortical thickness of the fusiform gyrus may be a marker of risk for MDD. The interaction of age and group for gray matter thickness of the insula and ACC suggests a particularly important role for these regions in risk for depression and warrants additional research in longitudinal studies.

The Perception of Aversiveness of Surgical Procedure Pictures Is Modulated by Personal/Occupational Relevance

It is well established that emotions are organized around two motivational systems: the defensive and the appetitive. Individual differences are relevant factors in emotional reactions, making them more flexible and less stereotyped. There is evidence that health professionals have lower emotional reactivity when viewing scenes of situations involving pain. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the rating of pictures of surgical procedure depends on their personal/occupational relevance. Fifty-two female Nursing (health discipline) and forty-eight Social Work (social science discipline) students participated in the experiment, which consisted of the presentation of 105 images of different categories (e.g., neutral, food), including 25 images of surgical procedure. Volunteers judged each picture according to its valence (pleasantness) and arousal using the Self-Assessment Manikin scale (dimensional approach). Additionally, the participants chose the word that best described what they felt while viewing each image (discrete emotion perspective). The average valence score for surgical procedure pictures for the Nursing group (M = 4.57; SD = 1.02) was higher than the score for the Social Work group (M = 3.31; SD = 1.05), indicating that Nursing students classified those images as less unpleasant than the Social Work students did. Additionally, the majority of Nursing students (65.4%) chose "neutral" as the word that best described what they felt while viewing the pictures. In the Social Work group, disgust (54.2%) was the emotion that was most frequently chosen. The evaluation of emotional stimuli differed according to the groups' personal/occupational relevance: Nursing students judged pictures of surgical procedure as less unpleasant than the Social Work students did, possibly reflecting an emotional regulation skill or some type of habituation that is critically relevant to their future professional work.

Localized or diffuse: the link between prefrontal cortex volume and cognitive reappraisal

Despite functional brain imaging research pointing to the role of prefrontal cortex in cognitive reappraisal, the structural correlates of habitual engagement of reappraisal are unclear. Functional imaging studies of reappraisal have shown broad engagement of bilateral middle frontal cortex (MFC) and left superior frontal cortex (SFC), and specific engagement of the right SFC. However, volumetric studies have not identified clear associations between reappraisal and these regions. This discrepancy between functional and structural studies suggests that broad functional engagement associated with reappraisal might not be detectable at a structural level using highly localized volumetric measures. This study addressed the discrepant structural findings by assessing the relation between reappraisal and grey matter volume, using methods that allow both region-level broad/diffuse assessments (surface-based morphometry), and voxel-level specific/localized (voxel-based morphometry) measures. Results were consistent with diffuse positive volumetric associations with reappraisal in the right MFC and left SFC, and a localized positive volumetric association in the right SFC, thus resolving the discrepancy between functional and structural studies. This study provides novel evidence supporting the idea that functional engagement related to transient manipulations of reappraisal can be linked to structural associations related to habitual engagement of similar operations, within the same brain regions.