Functional coupling of the orbitofrontal cortex and the basolateral amygdala mediates the association between spontaneous reappraisal and emotional response

Shared and distinct prefrontal cortex alterations of implicit emotion regulation in depression and anxiety: An fNIRS investigation

BACKGROUND

Emotion regulation deficits, particularly in cognitive reappraisal, are crucial in depression and anxiety. However, research on the neural mechanisms of implicit emotion regulation is lacking, and it remains unclear whether these mechanisms are shared or distinct between the two disorders.

METHODS

We investigated the neural mechanisms of implicit cognitive reappraisal in 28 individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD), 25 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and 30 healthy controls (HC) using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Participants completed an implicit cognitive reappraisal task and underwent neuropsychological and clinical assessments.

RESULTS

We found that MDD patients reported higher levels of rumination and lower utilization of cognitive reappraisal, while GAD patients reported reduced use of perspective-taking. Notably, both MDD and GAD patients exhibited decreased activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) compared to HC participants during implicit cognitive reappraisal. Specifically, inadequate OFC activation was observed in MDD patients, while GAD patients demonstrated OFC deactivation during the task. Furthermore, DLPFC activation showed a negative correlation with depression severity in MDD patients, while OFC activation was positively correlated with perspective-taking in GAD patients.

LIMITATIONS

fNIRS has limited depth and spatial resolution.

CONCLUSION

Our fNIRS study is the first to reveal shared and distinct neurobiological profiles of depression and anxiety in implicit emotion regulation. These findings underscore the significance of reduced DLPFC/OFC activation in emotion regulation impairment and highlight unique OFC activation patterns in these disorders. These insights have potential implications for developing cognitive-behavioral therapy and transcranial magnetic stimulation as treatment approaches.

Pathways to adolescent social anxiety: Testing interactions between neural social reward function and perceived social threat in daily life

Recent theories suggest that for youth highly sensitive to incentives, perceiving more social threat may contribute to social anxiety (SA) symptoms. In 129 girls (ages 11-13) oversampled for shy/fearful temperament, we thus examined how interactions between neural responses to social reward (vs. neutral) cues (measured during anticipation of peer feedback) and perceived social threat in daily peer interactions (measured using ecological momentary assessment) predict SA symptoms two years later. No significant interactions emerged when neural reward function was modeled as a latent factor. Secondary analyses showed that higher perceived social threat was associated with more severe SA symptoms two years later only for girls with higher basolateral amygdala (BLA) activation to social reward cues at baseline. Interaction effects were specific to BLA activation to social reward (not threat) cues, though a main effect of BLA activation to social threat (vs. neutral) cues on SA emerged. Unexpectedly, interactions between social threat and BLA activation to social reward cues also predicted generalized anxiety and depression symptoms two years later, suggesting possible transdiagnostic risk pathways. Perceiving high social threat may be particularly detrimental for youth highly sensitive to reward incentives, potentially due to mediating reward learning processes, though this remains to be tested.

Roles of the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex in major depression and its treatment

We describe evidence for dissociable roles of the medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in major depressive disorder (MDD) from structure, functional activation, functional connectivity, metabolism, and neurochemical systems. The reward-related medial orbitofrontal cortex has lower connectivity and less reward sensitivity in MDD associated with anhedonia symptoms; and the non-reward related lateral OFC has higher functional connectivity and more sensitivity to non-reward/aversive stimuli in MDD associated with negative bias symptoms. Importantly, we propose that conventional antidepressants act to normalize the hyperactive lateral (but not medial) OFC to reduce negative bias in MDD; while other treatments are needed to operate on the medial OFC to reduce anhedonia, with emerging evidence suggesting that ketamine may act in this way. The orbitofrontal cortex is the key cortical region in emotion and reward, and the current review presents much new evidence about the different ways that the medial and lateral OFC are involved in MDD.

Boosting interpersonal emotion regulation through facial imitation: functional neuroimaging foundations

Empathic function, which is primarily manifested by facial imitation, is believed to play a pivotal role in interpersonal emotion regulation for mood reinstatement. To explore this association and its neural substrates, we performed a questionnaire survey (study l) to identify the relationship between empathy and interpersonal emotion regulation; and a task-mode fMRI study (study 2) to explore how facial imitation, as a fundamental component of empathic processes, promotes the interpersonal emotion regulation effect. Study 1 showed that affective empathy was positively correlated with interpersonal emotion regulation. Study 2 showed smaller negative emotions in facial imitation interpersonal emotion regulation (subjects imitated experimenter's smile while followed the interpersonal emotion regulation guidance) than in normal interpersonal emotion regulation (subjects followed the interpersonal emotion regulation guidance) and Watch conditions. Mirror neural system (e.g. inferior frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobe) and empathy network exhibited greater activations in facial imitation interpersonal emotion regulation compared with normal interpersonal emotion regulation condition. Moreover, facial imitation interpersonal emotion regulation compared with normal interpersonal emotion regulation exhibited increased functional coupling from mirror neural system to empathic and affective networks during interpersonal emotion regulation. Furthermore, the connectivity of the right orbital inferior frontal gyrus-rolandic operculum lobe mediated the association between the accuracy of facial imitation and the interpersonal emotion regulation effect. These results show that the interpersonal emotion regulation effect can be enhanced by the target's facial imitation through increased functional coupling from mirror neural system to empathic and affective neural networks.

Cognitive Reappraisal and Expressive Suppression Evoke Distinct Neural Connections during Interpersonal Emotion Regulation

Interpersonal emotion regulation is the dynamic process where the regulator aims to change the target's emotional state, which is presumed to engage three neural systems: cognitive control (i.e., dorsal and ventral lateral PFC, etc.), empathy/social cognition (i.e., dorsal premotor regions, temporal-parietal junction, etc.), and affective response (i.e., insula, amygdala, etc.). This study aimed to identify the underlying neural correlate (especially the interpersonal one), of interpersonal emotion regulation based on two typical strategies (cognitive appraisal, expressive suppression). Thirty-four female dyads (friends) were randomly assigned into two strategy groups, with one assigned as the target and the other as the regulator to downregulate the target's negative emotions using two strategies. A functional near-infrared spectroscopy system was used to simultaneously measure participants' neural activity. Results showed that these two strategies could successfully downregulate the targets' negative emotions. Both strategies evoked intrapersonal and interpersonal neural couplings between the cognitive control, social cognition, and mirror neuron systems (e.g., PFC, temporal-parietal junction, premotor cortex, etc.), whereas cognitive reappraisal (vs expressive suppression) evoked a broader pattern. Further, cognitive reappraisal involved increased interpersonal brain synchronization between the prefrontal and temporal areas at the sharing stage, whereas expressive suppression evoked increased interpersonal brain synchronization associated with the PFC at the regulation stage. These findings indicate that intrapersonal and interpersonal neural couplings associated with regions within the abovementioned systems, possibly involving mental processes, such as cognitive control, mentalizing, and observing, underlie interpersonal emotion regulation based on cognitive reappraisal or expressive suppression.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT As significant as intrapersonal emotion regulation, interpersonal emotion regulation subserves parent-child, couple, and leader-follower relationships. Despite enormous growth in research on intrapersonal emotion regulation, the field lacks insight into the neural correlates underpinning interpersonal emotion regulation. This study aimed to probe the underlying neural correlates of interpersonal emotion regulation using a multibrain neuroimaging (i.e., hyperscanning) based on functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Results showed that both cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression strategies successfully downregulated the target's negative emotions. More importantly, they evoked intrapersonal and interpersonal neural couplings associated with regions within the cognitive control, social cognition, and mirror neuron systems, possibly involving mental processes, such as cognitive control, mentalizing, and observing. These findings deepen our understanding of the neural correlates underpinning interpersonal emotion regulation.

Neurocognitive predictors of food memory in healthy adults - A preregistered analysis

Memory processes have long been known to determine food choices (Rozin & Zellner, 1985) but recognition memory of food and its cognitive, homeostatic and neuroanatomical predictors are still largely understudied. 60 healthy, overweight, non-restrictive eating adults (20 females) took part in a food wanting and subsequent food recognition and lure discrimination task at four time points after a standardized breakfast shake. With advanced tractography of 3 T diffusion-weighted imaging data, we investigated the influence of the uncinate fasciculus' (UF) brain microstructure on the interplay of food wanting and memory processes. The analysis was preregistered in detail and conducted with Bayesian multilevel regression modeling. Target recognition (d') and lure discrimination (LDI) performance of food tended to be higher than of art images while single image food memory accuracy evidently dominated art memory. On this single item level, wanting enhanced recognition accuracy and caloric content enhanced food memory accuracy. The enhancement by reward anticipation was most pronounced during memory encoding. Subjective hunger level did not predict performance on the memory task. The microstructure of the UF did neither evidently affect memory performance outcomes nor moderate the wanting enhancement of the recognition accuracy. Interestingly, female participants outperformed males on the memory task, and individuals with stronger neuroticism showed poorer memory performance. We shed light on to date understudied processes in food decision-making: reward anticipation influenced recognition accuracy and food memory was enhanced by higher caloric content, both effects might shape food decisions. Our findings indicate that brain microstructure does not affect food decision processes in adult populations with overweight. We suggest extending investigation of this interplay to brain activity as well as to populations with eating behaviour disorders.

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.

Neural correlations between cognitive deficits and emotion regulation strategies: understanding emotion dysregulation in depression from the perspective of cognitive control and cognitive biases

The link between cognitive function and emotion regulation may be helpful in better understanding the onset, maintenance, and treatment for depression. However, it remains unclear whether there are neural correlates between emotion dysregulation and cognitive deficits in depression. To address this question, we first review the neural representations of emotion dysregulation and cognitive deficits in depression (including deficits in cognitive control and cognitive biases). Based on the comparisons of neural representations of emotion dysregulation versus cognitive deficits, we propose an accessible and reasonable link between emotion dysregulation, cognitive control, and cognitive biases in depression. Specifically, cognitive control serves the whole process of emotion regulation, whereas cognitive biases are engaged in emotion regulation processes at different stages. Moreover, the abnormal implementation of different emotion regulation strategies in depression is consistently affected by cognitive control, which is involved in the dorsolateral, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex. Besides, the relationship between different emotion regulation strategies and cognitive biases in depression may be distinct: the orbitofrontal cortex contributes to the association between ineffective reappraisal and negative interpretation bias, while the subgenual prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex underline the tendency of depressed individuals to ruminate and overly engage in self-referential bias. This review sheds light on the relationship between cognitive deficits and emotion dysregulation in depression and identifies directions in need of future attention.

Source localization and functional network analysis in emotion cognitive reappraisal with EEG-fMRI integration

Background

The neural activity and functional networks of emotion-based cognitive reappraisal have been widely investigated using electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, single-mode neuroimaging techniques are limited in exploring the regulation process with high temporal and spatial resolution.

Objectives

We proposed a source localization method with multimodal integration of EEG and fMRI and tested it in the source-level functional network analysis of emotion cognitive reappraisal.

Methods

EEG and fMRI data were simultaneously recorded when 15 subjects were performing the emotional cognitive reappraisal task. Fused priori weighted minimum norm estimation (FWMNE) with sliding windows was proposed to trace the dynamics of EEG source activities, and the phase lag index (PLI) was used to construct the functional brain network associated with the process of downregulating negative affect using the reappraisal strategy.

Results

The functional networks were constructed with the measure of PLI, in which the important regions were indicated. In the gamma band source-level network analysis, the cuneus, the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, the superior parietal cortex, the postcentral gyrus, and the pars opercularis were identified as important regions in reappraisal with high betweenness centrality.

Conclusion

The proposed multimodal integration method for source localization identified the key cortices involved in emotion regulation, and the network analysis demonstrated the important brain regions involved in the cognitive control of reappraisal. It shows promise in the utility in the clinical setting for affective disorders.