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Xu HZ, Peng XR, Huan SY, Xu JJ, Yu J, Ma QG. Are older adults less generous? Age differences in emotion-related social decision making. Neuroimage 2024; 297:120756. [PMID: 39074759 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2024] [Revised: 07/09/2024] [Accepted: 07/24/2024] [Indexed: 07/31/2024] Open
Abstract
In social interaction, age-related differences in emotional processing may lead to varied social decision making between young and older adults. However, previous studies of social decision making have paid less attention to the interactants' emotions, leaving age differences and underlying neural mechanisms unexplored. To address this gap, the present study combined functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, employing a modified dictator game task with recipients displaying either neutral or sad facial expressions. Behavioral results indicated that although older adults' overall allocations did not differ significantly from those of young adults, older adults' allocations showing a decrease in emotion-related generosity compared to young adults. Using representational similarity analysis, we found that older adults showed reduced neural representations of recipients' emotions and gray matter volume in the right anterior cingulate gyrus (ACC), right insula, and left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) compared to young adults. More importantly, mediation analyses indicated that age influenced allocations not only through serial mediation of neural representations of the right insula and left DMPFC, but also through serial mediation of the mean gray matter volume of the right ACC and left DMPFC. This study identifies the potential neural pathways through which age affects emotion-related social decision making, advancing our understanding of older adults' social interaction behavior that they may not be less generous unless confronted with individuals with specific emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hong-Zhou Xu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Xue-Rui Peng
- Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden 01062, Germany; Centre for Tactile Internet with Human-in-the-Loop, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden 01062, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Shen-Yin Huan
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Jia-Jie Xu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
| | - Jing Yu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
| | - Qing-Guo Ma
- Neuromanagement Laboratory, School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; Institute of Neural Management Sciences, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China
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2
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R K Roy A, Noohi F, Morris NA, Ljubenkov P, Heuer H, Fong J, Hall M, Lario Lago A, Rankin KP, Miller BL, Boxer AL, Rosen HJ, Seeley WW, Perry DC, Yokoyama JS, Lee SE, Sturm VE. Basal parasympathetic deficits in C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion carriers relate to smaller frontoinsula and thalamus volume and lower empathy. Neuroimage Clin 2024; 43:103649. [PMID: 39098187 PMCID: PMC11342757 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2024.103649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 07/16/2024] [Accepted: 07/29/2024] [Indexed: 08/06/2024]
Abstract
Diminished basal parasympathetic nervous system activity is a feature of frontotemporal dementia that relates to left frontoinsula dysfunction and empathy impairment. Individuals with a pathogenic expansion of the hexanucleotide repeat in chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9orf72), the most common genetic cause of frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, provide a unique opportunity to examine whether parasympathetic activity is disrupted in genetic forms of frontotemporal dementia and to investigate when parasympathetic deficits manifest in the pathophysiological cascade. We measured baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia, a parasympathetic measure of heart rate variability, over two minutes in a sample of 102 participants that included 19 asymptomatic expansion carriers (C9+ asymp), 14 expansion carriers with mild cognitive impairment (C9+ MCI), 16 symptomatic expansion carriers with frontotemporal dementia (C9+ FTD), and 53 expansion-negative healthy controls (C9- HC) who also underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. In follow-up analyses, we compared baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia in the C9+ FTD group with an independent age-, sex-, and clinical severity-matched group of 26 people with sporadic behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. The Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration-modified Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes score was used to quantify behavioral symptom severity, and informant ratings on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index provided measures of participants' current emotional (empathic concern) and cognitive (perspective-taking) empathy. Results indicated that the C9+ FTD group had lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia than the C9+ MCI, C9+ asymp, and C9- HC groups, a deficit that was comparable to that of sporadic behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Linear regression analyses indicated that lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia was associated with worse behavioral symptom severity and lower empathic concern and perspective-taking across the C9orf72 expansion carrier clinical spectrum. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analyses in participants with C9orf72 pathogenic expansions found that lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia correlated with smaller gray matter volume in the left frontoinsula and bilateral thalamus, key structures that support parasympathetic function, and in the bilateral parietal lobes, occipital lobes, and cerebellum, regions that are also vulnerable in individuals with C9orf72 expansions. This study provides novel evidence that basal parasympathetic functioning is diminished in FTD due to C9orf72 expansions and suggests that baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia may be a potential non-invasive biomarker that is sensitive to behavioral symptoms in the early stages of disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashlin R K Roy
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Fate Noohi
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Nathaniel A Morris
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Peter Ljubenkov
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Hilary Heuer
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Jamie Fong
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Matthew Hall
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | | | - Katherine P Rankin
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Adam L Boxer
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - William W Seeley
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - David C Perry
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Jennifer S Yokoyama
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Suzee E Lee
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA
| | - Virginia E Sturm
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
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Al Mohaddesin FR, Moghimi A, Fadardi JS. Disgust-reduction evaluative conditioning (DREC) and brain stimulation in patients with contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder: a protocol for a randomized control trial. Trials 2023; 24:750. [PMID: 38001473 PMCID: PMC10675853 DOI: 10.1186/s13063-023-07791-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/26/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The negative emotional valence of a stimulus can be altered if paired with a pleasant stimulus, a phenomenon referred to as evaluative conditioning. Disgust, as a central emotion in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), particularly in the contamination subtype, may be an appropriate target for such a method. We know that disgust processing and OCD pathophysiology share in some brain areas, including the orbitofrontal cortex, as the neuromodulation techniques targeted in this area have been able to decrease OCD symptoms. We aim to conduct a randomized clinical trial to investigate the evaluative conditioning effect on disgust reduction in patients with contamination-based OCD when administered with or without neuromodulation targeted orbitofrontal cortex. METHOD In a single-blind randomized control trial (RCT), 55 patients with contamination-based OCD will be randomly assigned to four arms. In a factorial design, they will receive 10 sessions of evaluative conditioning training (either sham or real) plus cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the orbitofrontal cortex (either sham or real). The intensity of disgust experience and clinical symptoms will be investigated as primary outcomes and quantitative electroencephalogram and cognitive functions as secondary outcomes. The data will be collected at three assessment levels: baseline, after completing intervention sessions, and 2-month follow-up. DISCUSSION The present RCT is the first study that applies evaluative conditioning training in the OCD clinical sample. It will clarify the effect of the evaluative conditioning method alone and with tDCS on disgust reduction in patients with contamination-based OCD. It will provide initial evidence for such an emotion modulation method in the OCD population. The effect of this emotion-focused protocol on cognitive functions and electroencephalogram components is also of interest. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05907369. Registered on 16 June 2023. Retrospectively registered.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ali Moghimi
- Rayan Research Center for Neuroscience and Behavior, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran.
| | - Javad Salehi Fadardi
- School of Community and Global Health, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, USA
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
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Roy ARK, Datta S, Hardy E, Sturm VE, Kramer JH, Seeley WW, Rankin KP, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, Perry DC. Behavioural subphenotypes and their anatomic correlates in neurodegenerative disease. Brain Commun 2023; 5:fcad038. [PMID: 36910420 PMCID: PMC9999361 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcad038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2022] [Revised: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Patients with neurodegenerative disorders experience a range of neuropsychiatric symptoms. The neural correlates have been explored for many individual symptoms, such as apathy and disinhibition. Atrophy patterns have also been associated with broadly recognized syndromes that bring together multiple symptoms, such as the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia. There is substantial heterogeneity of symptoms, with partial overlap of behaviour and affected neuroanatomy across and within dementia subtypes. It is not well established if there are anatomically distinct behavioural subphenotypes in neurodegenerative disease. The objective of this study was to identify shared behavioural profiles in frontotemporal dementia-spectrum and Alzheimer's disease-related syndromes. Additionally, we sought to determine the underlying neural correlates of these symptom clusters. Two hundred and eighty-one patients diagnosed with one of seven different dementia syndromes, in addition to healthy controls and individuals with mild cognitive impairment, completed a 109-item assessment capturing the severity of a range of clinical behaviours. A principal component analysis captured distinct clusters of related behaviours. Voxel-based morphometry analyses were used to identify regions of volume loss associated with each component. Seven components were identified and interpreted as capturing the following behaviours: Component 1-emotional bluntness, 2-emotional lability and disinhibition, 3-neuroticism, 4-rigidity and impatience, 5-indiscriminate consumption, 6-psychosis and 7-Geschwind syndrome-related behaviours. Correlations with structural brain volume revealed distinct neuroanatomical patterns associated with each component, including after controlling for diagnosis, suggesting that localized neurodegeneration can lead to the development of behavioural symptom clusters across various dementia syndromes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashlin R K Roy
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
| | - Samir Datta
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
| | - Emily Hardy
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
| | - Virginia E Sturm
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco 94143, USA
| | - Joel H Kramer
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
| | - William W Seeley
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
| | - Katherine P Rankin
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
| | - David C Perry
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco 94158, USA
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Culicetto L, Ferraioli F, Lucifora C, Falzone A, Martino G, Craparo G, Avenanti A, Vicario CM. Disgust as a transdiagnostic index of mental illness: A narrative review of clinical populations. Bull Menninger Clin 2023; 87:53-91. [PMID: 37871195 DOI: 10.1521/bumc.2023.87.suppa.53] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2023]
Abstract
Disgust is a basic emotion of rejection, providing an ancestral defensive mechanism against illness. Based on research that documents altered experiences of disgust across several psychopathological conditions, we conducted a narrative review to address the hypothesis that altered disgust may serve as a transdiagnostic index of mental illness. Our synthesis of the literature from past decades suggests that, compared to healthy populations, patients with mental disorders exhibit abnormal processing of disgust in at least one of the analyzed dimensions. We also outline evidence of alterations in brain areas relevant to disgust processing, such as the insula and the interconnected limbic network. Overall, we provide preliminary support for the hypothesis that altered disgust processing may serve as a transdiagnostic index of mental illness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Culicetto
- Department of Cognitive Science, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | | | - Chiara Lucifora
- Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology, ISTC-CNR, Rome, Italy
| | | | - Gabriella Martino
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Craparo
- Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, UKE-Kore University of Enna, Cittadella Universitaria, Enna, Italy
| | - Alessio Avenanti
- Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neurosciences Research Center, Universidad Católica del Maule, Talca, Chile, and the Center for Studies and Research in Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari," Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna, Cesena Campus, Cesena, Italy
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Baez S, Trujillo-Llano C, de Souza LC, Lillo P, Forno G, Santamaría-García H, Okuma C, Alegria P, Huepe D, Ibáñez A, Decety J, Slachevsky A. Moral Emotions and Their Brain Structural Correlates Across Neurodegenerative Disorders. J Alzheimers Dis 2023; 92:153-169. [PMID: 36710684 PMCID: PMC11181819 DOI: 10.3233/jad-221131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although social cognition is compromised in patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD), research on moral emotions and their neural correlates in these populations is scarce. No previous study has explored the utility of moral emotions, compared to and in combination with classical general cognitive state tools, to discriminate bvFTD from AD patients. OBJECTIVE To examine self-conscious (guilt and embarrassment) and other-oriented (pity and indignation) moral emotions, their subjective experience, and their structural brain underpinnings in bvFTD (n = 31) and AD (n = 30) patients, compared to healthy controls (n = 37). We also explored the potential utility of moral emotions measures to discriminate bvFTD from AD. METHODS We used a modified version of the Moral Sentiment Task measuring the participants' accuracy scores and their emotional subjective experiences. RESULTS bvFTD patients exhibited greater impairments in self-conscious and other-oriented moral emotions as compared with AD patients and healthy controls. Moral emotions combined with general cognitive state tools emerged as useful measures to discriminate bvFTD from AD patients. In bvFTD patients, lower moral emotions scores were associated with lower gray matter volumes in caudate nucleus and inferior and middle temporal gyri. In AD, these scores were associated with lower gray matter volumes in superior and middle frontal gyri, middle temporal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule and supramarginal gyrus. CONCLUSION These findings contribute to a better understanding of moral emotion deficits across neurodegenerative disorders, highlighting the potential benefits of integrating this domain into the clinical assessment.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Catalina Trujillo-Llano
- Facultad de Psicología, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
- Department of Neurology, Universitätsmedizin Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Leonardo Cruz de Souza
- Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Patricia Lillo
- Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism, Santiago, Chile
- Departamento de Neurologia Sur, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Gonzalo Forno
- Universidad de los Andes, Santiago, Chile
- Neuropsychology and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory, Physiopathology Department - ICBM, Neuroscience and East Neuroscience Departments, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
| | - Hernando Santamaría-García
- Centro de Memoria y Cognición Intellectus, Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá, Colombia
- Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Universidad Javeriana, PhD Program of Neuroscience, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Cecilia Okuma
- Neuroscience and East Neuroscience Departments, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Servicio de Neurorradiología, Instituto de Neurocirugía Dr. Asenjo, Servicio de Salud Metropolitano Oriente, Santiago, Chile
| | - Patricio Alegria
- Servicio de Radiología, Hospital Barros Luco Trudeau, San Miguel, Chile
| | - David Huepe
- Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
| | - Agustín Ibáñez
- Center for Social and Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
- Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
- Latin American Brain Health Institute, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Santiago, Chile
- Cognitive Neuroscience Center, Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires, Argentina
- National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | - Andrea Slachevsky
- Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism, Santiago, Chile
- Neuropsychology and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory, Physiopathology Department - ICBM, Neuroscience and East Neuroscience Departments, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Memory and Neuropsychiatric Center, Neurology Department, Hospital del Salvador and Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
- Servicio de Neurología, Departamento de Medicina, Clínica Alemana-Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago, Chile
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Susta M, Bizik G, Yamamotova A, Petranek S, Kadochova M, Papezova H. The sight of one’s own body: Could qEEG help predict the treatment response in anorexia nervosa? Front Psychol 2022; 13:958501. [PMID: 36300071 PMCID: PMC9592122 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.958501] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Aims of the studyThe study aims to identify the differences in brain activity between participants with anorexia nervosa and healthy control using visual stimulus conditions combined with the quantitative dense-array EEG recording analysis method called Brain Activation Sequences (BAS).Materials and methods23 participants with anorexia nervosa and 21 healthy controls were presented with visual stimuli, including the subject’s facial expressions and body images. The 128-channel EEG data were processed using BAS and displayed as activity in up to 66 brain regions. Subsequent cluster analysis was used to identify groups of participants exhibiting area-specific activation patterns.ResultsCluster analysis identified three distinct groups: one including all healthy controls (HC) and two consisting of all participants with anorexia (AN-I with 19 participants and AN-II with four participants). The AN-I and AN-II groups differed in their response to treatment. Comparisons of HC vs. AN confirmed the dominance of the right cerebral hemisphere in participants with anorexia nervosa in two of the three reported conditions. The facial expressions condition, specifically the facial reaction expressing disgust, indicates the existence of a social attentional bias toward faces, whereas emotions remained undetected in participants. High limbic activity, medial frontal gyrus involvement, low fusiform cortex activity, and milder visual cortex activity in healthy controls compared to participants indicate that the facial expression stimulus is perceived by healthy subjects primarily as an emotion, not as the face itself. In the body image condition, participants showed higher activity in the fusiform gyrus and right insula, indicating activation of the brain’s “fear network.”ConclusionThe study describes a specific pattern of brain activation in response to facial expression of disgust and body images that likely contributes to social-cognitive and behavioral impairments in anorexia. In addition, the substantial difference in the pattern of brain activation within the participants with AN and its association with treatment resistance deserves special attention because of its potential to develop a clinically useful prediction tool and identify potential targets for, for example, neuromodulatory treatments and/or individualized psychotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marek Susta
- Department of Public Health, St. Elisabeth University, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Gustav Bizik
- Department of Psychiatry, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark
- *Correspondence: Gustav Bizik,
| | - Anna Yamamotova
- Department of Physiology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Svojmil Petranek
- Health Care Facility, Department of the Interior, Prague, Czechia
| | - Marie Kadochova
- Department of Public Health, St. Elisabeth University, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Hana Papezova
- Department of Psychiatry, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and General University Hospital, Prague, Czechia
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8
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Infection, Learning, and Memory: Focus on Immune Activation and Aversive Conditioning. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 142:104898. [PMID: 36183862 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2022] [Revised: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Here we review the effects of immune activation primarily via lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a cell wall component of Gram-negative bacteria, on hippocampal and non-hippocampal-dependent learning and memory. Rodent studies have found that LPS alters both the acquisition and consolidation of aversive learning and memory, such as those evoking evolutionarily adaptive responses like fear and disgust. The inhibitory effects of LPS on the acquisition and consolidation of contextual fear memory are discussed. LPS-induced alterations in the acquisition of taste and place-related conditioned disgust memory within bottle preference tasks and taste reactivity tests (taste-related), in addition to conditioned context avoidance tasks and the anticipatory nausea paradigm (place-related), are highlighted. Further, conditioned disgust memory consolidation may also be influenced by LPS-induced effects. Growing evidence suggests a central role of immune activation, especially pro-inflammatory cytokine activity, in eliciting the effects described here. Understanding how infection-induced immune activation alters learning and memory is increasingly important as bacterial and viral infections are found to present a risk of learning and memory impairment.
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9
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Shdo SM, Roy ARK, Datta S, Sible IJ, Lukic S, Perry DC, Rankin KP, Kramer JH, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, Seeley WW, Holley SR, Gorno-Tempini ML, Sturm VE. Enhanced positive emotional reactivity in frontotemporal dementia reflects left-lateralized atrophy in the temporal and frontal lobes. Cortex 2022; 154:405-420. [PMID: 35930892 PMCID: PMC9867572 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.02.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Revised: 01/03/2022] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
In frontotemporal dementia (FTD), left-lateralized atrophy patterns have been associated with elevations in certain positive emotions. Here, we investigated whether positive emotional reactivity was enhanced in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA), an FTD syndrome that targets the left anterior temporal lobe. Sixty-one participants (16 people with svPPA, 24 people with behavioral variant FTD, and 21 healthy controls) viewed six 90-sec trials that were comprised of a series of photographs; each trial was designed to elicit a specific positive emotion, negative emotion, or no emotion. Participants rated their positive emotional experience after each trial, and their smiling behavior was coded with the Facial Action Coding System. Results indicated that positive emotional experience and smiling were elevated in svPPA in response to numerous affective and non-affective stimuli. Voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed that greater positive emotional experience and greater smiling in the patients were both associated with smaller gray matter volume in the left superior temporal gyrus (pFWE < .05), among other left-lateralized frontotemporal regions. Whereas enhanced positive emotional experience related to atrophy in middle superior temporal gyrus and structures that promote cognitive control and emotion regulation, heightened smiling related to atrophy in posterior superior temporal gyrus and structures that support motor control. Our results suggest positive emotional reactivity is elevated in svPPA and offer new evidence that atrophy in left-lateralized emotion-relevant systems relates to enhanced positive emotions in FTD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suzanne M Shdo
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; University of California, Berkeley, Department of Psychology, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Ashlin R K Roy
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Samir Datta
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Isabel J Sible
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Sladjana Lukic
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - David C Perry
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Katherine P Rankin
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Joel H Kramer
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - William W Seeley
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Sarah R Holley
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco State University, Department of Psychology, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Maria L Gorno-Tempini
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Virginia E Sturm
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
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Chen KH, Hua AY, Toller G, Lwi SJ, Otero MC, Haase CM, Rankin KP, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, Levenson RW. Diminished preparatory physiological responses in frontotemporal lobar degeneration syndromes. Brain Commun 2022; 4:fcac075. [PMID: 35441132 PMCID: PMC9014451 DOI: 10.1093/braincomms/fcac075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2021] [Revised: 12/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Researchers typically study physiological responses either after stimulus onset or when the emotional valence of an upcoming stimulus is revealed. Yet, participants may also respond when they are told that an emotional stimulus is about to be presented even without knowing its valence. Increased physiological responding during this time may reflect a 'preparation for action'. The generation of such physiological responses may be supported by frontotemporal regions of the brain that are vulnerable to damage in frontotemporal lobar degeneration. We examined preparatory physiological responses and their structural and functional neural correlate in five frontotemporal lobar degeneration clinical subtypes (behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, n = 67; semantic variant primary progressive aphasia, n = 35; non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia, n = 30; corticobasal syndrome, n = 32; progressive supranuclear palsy, n = 30). Comparison groups included patients with Alzheimer's disease (n = 56) and healthy controls (n = 35). Preparatory responses were quantified as cardiac interbeat interval decreases (i.e. heart rate increases) from baseline to an 'instruction period', during which participants were told to watch the upcoming emotional film but not provided the film's valence. Patients' behavioural symptoms (apathy and disinhibition) were also evaluated via a caregiver-reported measure. Compared to healthy controls and Alzheimer's disease, the frontotemporal lobar degeneration group showed significantly smaller preparatory responses. When comparing each frontotemporal lobar degeneration clinical subtype with healthy controls and Alzheimer's disease, significant group differences emerged for behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and progressive supranuclear palsy. Behavioural analyses revealed that frontotemporal lobar degeneration patients showed greater disinhibition and apathy compared to Alzheimer's disease patients. Further, these group differences in disinhibition (but not apathy) were mediated by patients' smaller preparatory responses. Voxel-based morphometry and resting-state functional MRI analyses revealed that across patients and healthy controls, smaller preparatory responses were associated with smaller volume and lower functional connectivity in a circuit that included the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and cortical and subcortical regions of the salience network. Diminished preparatory physiological responding in frontotemporal lobar degeneration may reflect a lack of preparation for actions that are appropriate for an upcoming situation, such as approaching or withdrawing from emotional stimuli. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex and salience network are critical for evaluating stimuli, thinking about the future, triggering peripheral physiological responses, and processing and interpreting interoceptive signals. Damage to these circuits in frontotemporal lobar degeneration may impair preparatory responses and help explain often-observed clinical symptoms such as disinhibition in these patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kuan-Hua Chen
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
| | - Alice Y. Hua
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
- Memory & Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Gianina Toller
- Memory & Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Sandy J. Lwi
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
| | - Marcela C. Otero
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Sierra Pacific Mental Illness, Research, Education and Clinical Centers (MIRECC), Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA
| | - Claudia M. Haase
- Department of Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA
| | - Katherine P. Rankin
- Memory & Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Howard J. Rosen
- Memory & Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Bruce L. Miller
- Memory & Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA
| | - Robert W. Levenson
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2121 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650, USA
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11
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Ye S, Li W, Zhu B, Lv Y, Yang Q, Krueger F. Altered effective connectivity from the posterior insula to the amygdala mediates the relationship between psychopathic traits and endorsement of the Harm foundation. Neuropsychologia 2022; 170:108216. [PMID: 35339504 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Revised: 03/20/2022] [Accepted: 03/20/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Psychopathic traits have been demonstrated to be associated with different moral foundations. However, the neuropsychological mechanism underlying the relationship between psychopathic traits and moral foundations remains obscure. Our study examined the effective connectivity (EC) of psychopathy-related brain regions and its association with endorsement to moral foundations (Harm, Fairness, Loyalty, Authority, and Purity)-combining questionnaire measures, resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI), and Granger causality analysis. We administered the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale and Moral Foundation Questionnaire to 78 college students after RS-fMRI scanning. Our results showed that total and primary psychopathy negatively predicted endorsement of the Harm foundation. The EC from the posterior insula to the amygdala was negatively associated with primary psychopathy but positively associated with endorsement of the Harm foundation. Altered posterior insula-amygdala EC partially mediated the relationship between primary psychopathy and endorsement of the Harm foundation. Our findings demonstrated that individuals with elevated psychopathic traits may have atypical processes in recognizing and integrating bodily state information into emotional responses -leading to less concern for harm-related morality. Our findings deepen the understanding of the neuropsychological mechanism underlying the relationship between psychopathic traits and morality, providing potential neurobiological explanations for increased moral transgressions, especially those harm-related transgressions, committed by psychopathic individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuer Ye
- Department of Psychology, School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wei Li
- Department of Psychology, School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Bing Zhu
- School of Marxism, Zhejiang Yuexiu University, China
| | - Yating Lv
- Centre for Cognition and Brain Disorder, The Affiliated Hospital of Hangzhou Normal University, China.
| | - Qun Yang
- Department of Psychology, School of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
| | - Frank Krueger
- School of Systems Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
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12
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Doobay M, Cross-Mellor SK, Wah DTO, Kavaliers M, Ossenkopp KP. Toxin-induced aversive context conditioning: Assessing active aversive behaviors conditioned to the context of an automated activity monitor. Physiol Behav 2021; 240:113559. [PMID: 34416259 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2021.113559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Lithium chloride (LiCl) is an emetic drug that has been used to create animal models of anticipatory nausea and conditioned place aversion. In this study we examined escape behaviours from a context in which rats experienced the aversive effects of LiCl treatments. The experiment had two phases: acquisition of context conditioning, which consisted of pairing a distinct context with the pharmacological effects of a moderate dose of the toxin LiCl, and extinction of context conditioning, which consisted of placement in the distinct context in a drug free state. During context conditioning, 16 adult male Long-Evans rats were injected intraperitoneally with 96 mg/kg lithium chloride (LiCl; n = 8) or 0.9% saline (NaCl; n = 8) and placed individually in an automated locomotor activity apparatus for 30 min every other day for 4 days. During the extinction phase, rats were placed in the apparatus for 30 min every other day without injections during a 4 day extinction phase. A significant Drug x Trial interaction was found for the time spent in vertical position in the open field apparatus during trials 1-3 of the extinction phase. The LiCl treated rats exhibited significantly increased rearing behavior, relative to the control rats, indicative of conditioned aversion. The results of this study suggest that escape behavior (vertical activity) occurs in rats experiencing the aversive conditioned effects of LiCl in a distinct context. In the context of current theoretical accounts, the LiCl-conditioned increase in apparent escape behaviors can be considered a reflection of anticipatory nausea.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minakshi Doobay
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario Canada
| | | | - Deanne T O Wah
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario Canada
| | - Martin Kavaliers
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario Canada; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario Canada
| | - Klaus-Peter Ossenkopp
- Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario Canada; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario Canada.
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13
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Armstrong T, Wilbanks D, Leong D, Hsu K. Beyond vernacular: Measurement solutions to the lexical fallacy in disgust research. J Anxiety Disord 2021; 82:102408. [PMID: 34022510 DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2021.102408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Revised: 03/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Disgust may play an important role in several mental disorders, in part because disgust seems impervious to corrective information, a feature noted long before it was studied by clinical psychologists. A deeper understanding of disgust could improve not only the treatment of mental disorders, but also other societal problems involving this peculiar emotion. In this paper, we review the measurement of disgust and identify issues that hold back progress in understanding how to treat this emotion. First, self-report measures of disgust, although optimized in terms of reliability, are compromised in terms of validity due to the "lexical fallacy," that is, the assumption that vernacular usage of emotion terms reveals natural kinds. Improved self-report measures that parse disgust from neighboring states of discomfort and disapproval can address this limitation, but these approaches are absent in clinical psychology. Second, "objective" measures of disgust, although free of vernacular limitations, require greater psychometric scrutiny. In a critical review, we find that most instrument-based measures fail to demonstrate adequate reliability, rendering them unsuitable for the individual differences research crucial to clinical psychology. In light of this assessment, we provide several recommendations for improving the reliability and validity of disgust measurement, including renewed attention to theory.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Kean Hsu
- Georgetown University Medical Center, WA, United States
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14
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Hua AY, Wells JL, Brown CL, Levenson RW. Emotional and Cognitive Empathy in Caregivers of Persons with Neurodegenerative Disease: Relationships with Caregiver Mental Health. Clin Psychol Sci 2021; 9:449-466. [PMID: 34194871 PMCID: PMC8240761 DOI: 10.1177/2167702620974368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Caregiving for a person with dementia or neurodegenerative disease (PWD) is associated with increased rates of depression and anxiety. As the population ages and dementia prevalence increases worldwide, mental health problems related to dementia caregiving will become an even more pressing public health concern. The present study assessed emotional empathy (physiological, behavioral, and self-reported emotional responses to a film depicting others suffering) and two measures of cognitive empathy (identifying the primary emotion experienced by another person; providing continuous ratings of the valence of another person's changing emotions) in relation to mental health (standard questionnaires) in 78 caregivers of PWDs. Greater emotional empathy (self-reported emotional responses) was associated with worse mental health, even after accounting for known risk factors. Neither measure of cognitive empathy was associated with mental health. A relationship between high levels of emotional empathy and poor mental health in caregivers suggests possible risk indicators and intervention targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Y Hua
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
| | - Jenna L Wells
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
| | - Casey L Brown
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
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15
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Chen KH, Hua AY, Lwi SJ, Haase CM, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, Levenson RW. Smaller Volume in Left-Lateralized Brain Structures Correlates with Greater Experience of Negative Non-target Emotions in Neurodegenerative Diseases. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:15-31. [PMID: 32820325 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Revised: 05/27/2020] [Accepted: 06/11/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Subjective emotional experience that is congruent with a given situation (i.e., target emotions) is critical for human survival (e.g., feeling disgusted in response to contaminated food motivates withdrawal behaviors). Neurodegenerative diseases including frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease affect brain regions critical for cognitive and emotional functioning, resulting in increased experience of emotions incongruent with the situation (i.e., non-target emotions, such as feeling happy when seeing someone grieving). We examined neuroanatomical correlates of subjective experience of non-target emotions in 147 patients with neurodegenerative diseases and 26 healthy individuals. Participants watched three films intended to elicit particular target emotions and rated their experience of negative and positive target and non-target emotions after watching each film. We found that smaller volume in left hemisphere regions (e.g., caudate, putamen, and dorsal anterior insula) was associated with greater experience of negative non-target emotions. Follow-up analyses confirmed that these effects were left-lateralized. No correlates emerged for positive non-target emotions. These findings suggest that volume loss in left-hemisphere regions produces a more diffuse, incongruent experience of non-target emotions. These findings provide a potential neuroanatomical basis for understanding how subjective emotional experience is constructed in the brain and how this can be disrupted in neurodegenerative disease.
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16
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17
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Holtmann O, Bruchmann M, Mönig C, Schwindt W, Melzer N, Miltner WHR, Straube T. Lateralized Deficits of Disgust Processing After Insula-Basal Ganglia Damage. Front Psychol 2020; 11:1429. [PMID: 32714249 PMCID: PMC7347022 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Accepted: 05/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests a role of the insular cortex (IC) and the basal ganglia (BG) in the experience, expression, and recognition of disgust. However, human lesion research, probing this structure-function link, has yielded rather disparate findings in single cases of unilateral and bilateral damage to these areas. Comparative group approaches are needed to elucidate whether disgust-related deficits specifically follow damage to the IC-BG system, or whether there might be a differential hemispheric contribution to disgust processing. We examined emotional processing by means of a comprehensive emotional test battery in four patients with left- and four patients with right-hemispheric lesions to the IC-BG system as well as in 19 healthy controls. While single tests did not provide clear-cut separations of patient groups, composite scores indicated selective group effects for disgust. Importantly, left-lesioned patients presented attenuated disgust composites, while right-lesioned patients showed increased disgust composites, as compared to each other and controls. These findings propose a left-hemispheric basis of disgust, potentially due to asymmetrical representations of autonomic information in the human forebrain. The present study provides the first behavioral evidence of hemispheric lateralization of a specific emotion in the human brain, and contributes to neurobiological models of disgust.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Holtmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Maximilian Bruchmann
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Constanze Mönig
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Wolfram Schwindt
- Institute of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Nico Melzer
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Wolfgang H R Miltner
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Thomas Straube
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Systems Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
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18
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Abstract
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) encompasses a group of clinical syndromes, including behavioral-variant FTD, nonfluent variant primary progressive aphasia, semantic variant primary progressive aphasia, FTD motor neuron disease, progressive supranuclear palsy syndrome, and corticobasal syndrome. Early on in its course, FTD is commonly seen in psychiatric clinics. We review the clinical features and diagnostic criteria in FTD spectrum disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyan Younes
- UCSF Memory and Aging Center, Box 1207, 675 Nelson Rising Lane, Suite 190, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA.
| | - Bruce L Miller
- UCSF Memory and Aging Center, Box 1207, 675 Nelson Rising Lane, Suite 190, San Francisco, CA 94143, USA. https://twitter.com/brucemillerucsf
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19
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Hua AY, Chen KH, Brown CL, Lwi SJ, Casey JJ, Rosen HJ, Miller BL, Levenson RW. Physiological, behavioral and subjective sadness reactivity in frontotemporal dementia subtypes. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2019; 14:1453-1465. [PMID: 31993653 PMCID: PMC7137727 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Revised: 10/29/2019] [Accepted: 01/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a neurodegenerative disease broadly characterized by socioemotional impairments, includes three clinical subtypes: behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD), semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) and non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA). Emerging evidence has shown emotional reactivity impairments in bvFTD and svPPA, whereas emotional reactivity in nfvPPA is far less studied. In 105 patients with FTD (49 bvFTD, 31 svPPA and 25 nfvPPA) and 27 healthy controls, we examined three aspects of emotional reactivity (physiology, facial behavior and subjective experience) in response to a sad film. In a subset of the sample, we also examined the neural correlates of diminished aspects of reactivity using voxel-based morphometry. Results indicated that all three subtypes of FTD showed diminished physiological responding in respiration rate and diastolic blood pressure; patients with bvFTD and svPPA also showed diminished subjective experience, and no subtypes showed diminished facial behavior. Moreover, there were differences among the clinical subtypes in brain regions where smaller volumes were associated with diminished sadness reactivity. These results show that emotion impairments extend to sadness reactivity in FTD and underscore the importance of considering different aspects of sadness reactivity in multiple clinical subtypes for characterizing emotional deficits and associated neurodegeneration in FTD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Y Hua
- Berkeley Psychophysiology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
| | - Kuan-Hua Chen
- Berkeley Psychophysiology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
| | - Casey L Brown
- Berkeley Psychophysiology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
| | - Sandy J Lwi
- Berkeley Psychophysiology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
| | - James J Casey
- Berkeley Psychophysiology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, USA
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, USA
| | - Robert W Levenson
- Berkeley Psychophysiology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
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20
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Muhtadie L, Haase CM, Verstaen A, Sturm VE, Miller BL, Levenson RW. Neuroanatomy of expressive suppression: The role of the insula. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 21:405-418. [PMID: 31855010 DOI: 10.1037/emo0000710] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Expressive suppression is a response-focused regulatory strategy aimed at concealing the outward expression of emotion that is already underway. Expressive suppression requires the integration of interoception, proprioception, and social awareness to guide behavior in alignment with personal and interpersonal goals-all processes known to involve the insular cortex. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) provides a useful patient model for studying the insula's role in socioemotional regulation. The insula is a key target of early atrophy in FTD, causing patients to lose the ability to represent the salience of internal and external conditions and to use these representations to guide behavior. We examined a sample of 59 patients with FTD, 52 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 38 neurologically healthy controls. Subjects viewed 2 disgust-eliciting films in the laboratory. During the first film, subjects were instructed to simply watch (emotional reactivity trial); during the second, they were instructed to hide their emotions (expressive suppression trial). Structural images from a subsample of participants (n = 42; 11 FTD patients, 11 AD patients, and 20 controls) were examined in conjunction with behavior. FreeSurfer was used to quantify regional gray matter volume in 41 empirically derived neural regions in both hemispheres. Of the 3 groups studied, FTD patients showed the least expressive suppression and had the smallest insula volumes, even after controlling for age, gender, and emotional reactivity. Among the brain regions examined, the insula was the only significant predictor of expressive suppression ability, with lower insula gray matter volume in both hemispheres predicting less expressive suppression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).
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21
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Shiota MN, Simpson ML, Kirsch HE, Levenson RW. Emotion recognition in objects in patients with neurological disease. Neuropsychology 2019; 33:1163-1173. [PMID: 31478721 PMCID: PMC6823118 DOI: 10.1037/neu0000587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Considerable research indicates that individuals with dementia have deficits in the ability to recognize emotion in other people. The present study examined ability to detect emotional qualities of objects. METHOD Fifty-two patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), 20 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), 18 patients awaiting surgery for intractable epilepsy, and 159 healthy controls completed a newly developed test of ability to recognize emotional qualities of art (music and paintings), and pleasantness in simple sensory stimuli (tactile, olfactory, auditory), and to make aesthetic judgments (geometric shapes, room décor). A subset of participants also completed a test of ability to recognize emotions in other people. RESULTS Patients with FTD showed a marked deficit in ability to recognize the emotions conveyed in art, compared with both healthy individuals and patients with AD (relative to controls, deficits in patients with AD only approached significance). This deficit remained robust after controlling for FTD patients' ability to recognize pleasantness in simple sensory stimuli, make aesthetic judgments, identify odors, and identify emotions in other people. Neither FTD nor AD patients showed deficits in recognizing pleasant sensory stimuli or making aesthetic judgments. Exploratory analysis of patients with epilepsy revealed no deficits in any of these domains. CONCLUSION Patients with FTD (but not AD) showed a significant, specific deficit in ability to interpret emotional messages in art, echoing FTD-related deficits in recognizing emotions in other people. This finding adds to our understanding of the impact these diseases have on the lives of patients and their caregivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Abstract
Research on stress and disease has often afforded an important role to emotion, typically conceptualized in broad categories (e.g., negative emotions), viewed as playing a causal role (e.g., anger contributing to pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease), and measured using self-report inventories. In this article, I argue for the value of evaluating specific emotions, considering bidirectional causal influences, and assessing actual emotional responding when considering the role that emotions play in the stress-disease relationship. In terms of specificity, specific emotions (e.g., anger, sadness, and embarrassment) can be linked with particular health outcomes (e.g., cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal disease). In terms of bidirectionality, the influences of emotions on disease as well as the influences of disease on emotional functioning can be considered. In terms of assessing actual emotional responding, emotions can be studied in vivo under controlled conditions that allow behavioral, physiological, and subjective responses to be measured during different kinds of emotional functioning (e.g., responding to emotional stimuli, interacting with relationship partners, and downregulating emotional responses). With these considerations in mind, I review early theories and empirical studies in psychosomatic medicine that considered the role of specific emotions and emotion-related behaviors. Studies from our laboratory are presented that illustrate a) differences in patterns of autonomic nervous system responding associated with specific emotions, b) relationships between specific emotions and particular health outcomes in the context of social relationships, c) age as a moderator of the relationship between specific emotions and well-being, d) bidirectional influences (emotions influencing disease and disease influencing emotional functioning), and e) impact of changes in emotional functioning in individuals with neurodegenerative diseases on the health of familial caregivers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert W Levenson
- From the Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California
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23
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Abstract
The functional basis of disgust in disease avoidance is widely accepted; however, there is disagreement over what disgust is. This is a significant problem, as basic questions about disgust require knowing if single/multiple forms/processes exist. We address this issue with a new model with one form of disgust generated by multiple processes: (a) pure disgust experienced during gastrointestinal illness; (b) somatosensory disgust elicited by specific cues that activate the pure disgust state; (c) anticipatory disgust elicited by associations between distance cues for somatosensory disgust and requiring threat evaluation; (d) simulated disgusts elicited by imagining somatosensory and anticipatory disgust and frequently involving other emotions. Different contamination processes interlink (a–d). The implications of our model for fundamental questions about disgust (e.g., emotion status; continuation into animals) are examined.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Trevor I. Case
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Australia
| | - Megan J. Oaten
- School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Australia
| | | | - Supreet Saluja
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Australia
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24
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Johnen A, Bertoux M. Psychological and Cognitive Markers of Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia-A Clinical Neuropsychologist's View on Diagnostic Criteria and Beyond. Front Neurol 2019; 10:594. [PMID: 31231305 PMCID: PMC6568027 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00594] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Accepted: 05/20/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is the second leading cognitive disorder caused by neurodegeneration in patients under 65 years of age. Characterized by frontal, insular, and/or temporal brain atrophy, patients present with heterogeneous constellations of behavioral and psychological symptoms among which progressive changes in social conduct, lack of empathy, apathy, disinhibited behaviors, and cognitive impairments are frequently observed. Since the histopathology of the disease is heterogeneous and identified genetic mutations only account for ~30% of cases, there are no reliable biomarkers for the diagnosis of bvFTD available in clinical routine as yet. Early detection of bvFTD thus relies on correct application of clinical diagnostic criteria. Their evaluation however, requires expertise and in-depth assessments of cognitive functions, history taking, clinical observations as well as caregiver reports on behavioral and psychological symptoms and their respective changes. With this review, we aim for a critical appraisal of common methods to access the behavioral and psychological symptoms as well as the cognitive alterations presented in the diagnostic criteria for bvFTD. We highlight both, practical difficulties as well as current controversies regarding an overlap of symptoms and particularly cognitive impairments with other neurodegenerative and primary psychiatric diseases. We then review more recent developments and evidence on cognitive, behavioral and psychological symptoms of bvFTD beyond the diagnostic criteria which may prospectively enhance the early detection and differential diagnosis in clinical routine. In particular, evidence on specific impairments in social and emotional processing, praxis abilities as well as interoceptive processing in bvFTD is summarized and potential links with behavior and classic cognitive domains are discussed. We finally outline both, future opportunities and major challenges with regard to the role of clinical neuropsychology in detecting bvFTD and related neurocognitive disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andreas Johnen
- Section for Neuropsychology, Department of Neurology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Maxime Bertoux
- Univ Lille, Inserm UMR 1171 Degenerative and Vascular Cognitive Disorders, CHU Lille, Lille, France
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25
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Otero MC, Levenson RW. Emotion regulation via visual avoidance: Insights from neurological patients. Neuropsychologia 2019; 131:91-101. [PMID: 31082398 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2018] [Revised: 03/19/2019] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Visual avoidance of unpleasant stimuli (i.e., strategic positioning of eyes, head and torso away from an environmental stimulus) is a common attentional control behavior that may down-regulate emotion by reducing visual input. Despite its ubiquity, relatively little is known about how visual avoidance is affected by neurological diseases that impact neural circuits involved in emotional functioning. We examined visual avoidance in 56 behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) patients, 43 Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, and 34 healthy controls. Participants came to our laboratory and viewed an extremely disgusting film clip while visual avoidance was measured using behavioral coding of head, body, and eye position. Controlling for differences in cognitive functioning, bvFTD patients were less likely to engage in visual avoidance behaviors than both AD patients and healthy controls. Additional analyses revealed that diminished visual avoidance in this task was associated with lower levels of real-world emotion regulation but not with emotion reactivity as reported by the primary caregiver.
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Butler PM, Chiong W. Neurodegenerative disorders of the human frontal lobes. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2019; 163:391-410. [PMID: 31590743 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-804281-6.00021-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
The frontal lobes play an integral role in human socioemotional and cognitive function. Sense of self, moral decisions, empathy, and behavioral monitoring of goal-states all depend on key nodes within frontal cortex. While several neurodegenerative diseases can affect frontal function, frontotemporal dementia (FTD) has particularly serious and specific effects, which thus provide insights into the role of frontal circuits in homeostasis and adaptive behavior. FTD represents a collection of disorders with specific clinical-pathologic correlates, imaging, and genetics. Patients with FTD and initial prefrontal degeneration often present with neuropsychiatric symptoms such as loss of social decorum, new obsessions, or lack of empathy. In those patients with early anterior temporal degeneration, language (particularly in patients with left-predominant disease) and socioemotional changes (particularly in patients with right-predominant disease) precede eventual frontal dysregulation. Herein, we review a brief history of FTD, initial clinical descriptions, and the evolution of nomenclature. Next, we consider clinical features, neuropathology, imaging, and genetics in FTD-spectrum disorders in relation to the integrity of frontal circuits. In particular, we focus our discussion on behavioral variant FTD given its profound impact on cortical and subcortical frontal structures. This review highlights the clinical heterogeneity of behavioral phenotypes as well as the clinical-anatomic convergence of varying proteinopathies at the neuronal, regional, and network level. Recent neuroimaging and modeling approaches in FTD reveal varying network dysfunction centered on frontal-insular cortices, which underscores the role of the human frontal lobes in complex behaviors. We conclude the chapter reviewing the cognitive and behavioral neuroscience findings furnished from studies in FTD related to executive and socioemotional function, reward-processing, decision-making, and sense of self.
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Affiliation(s)
- P Monroe Butler
- Department of Neurology, UCSF Memory and Aging Center, UCSF School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Winston Chiong
- Department of Neurology, UCSF Memory and Aging Center, UCSF School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, United States.
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Sturm VE, Sible IJ, Datta S, Hua AY, Perry DC, Kramer JH, Miller BL, Seeley WW, Rosen HJ. Resting parasympathetic dysfunction predicts prosocial helping deficits in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia. Cortex 2018; 109:141-155. [PMID: 30317048 PMCID: PMC6261789 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.09.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2018] [Revised: 08/07/2018] [Accepted: 09/06/2018] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
Abstract
In the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), left-lateralized salience network dysfunction reduces basal activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, a branch of the autonomic nervous system that reduces arousal and fosters empathy and prosociality. Here we examined whether resting parasympathetic deficits in bvFTD related to diminished prosocial behavior. Eighty participants [30 with bvFTD, 25 with Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 25 healthy controls] completed a "helping task" in which we quantified participants' spontaneous reactions to an experimenter who struggled to find a lost key. Participants also underwent an assessment of baseline autonomic nervous system activity and structural magnetic resonance imaging. An exploratory factor analysis of participants' behaviors during the helping task revealed four factors: empathic concern, consolation, disengagement, and impatience. Patients with bvFTD had lower empathic concern and greater disengagement and impatience than the AD and healthy control groups. Patients with bvFTD had lower resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia and faster respiration and heart rates than patients with AD and healthy controls, a pattern consistent with parasympathetic dysfunction. Skin conductance level was also lower in bvFTD than in the other groups. Lower baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia and faster baseline respiration rates, but not skin conductance level, predicted lower prosocial helping behaviors. Voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed that atrophy in the bilateral medial pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus, midcingulate cortex, and caudate was associated with lower empathic concern and consolation, and atrophy in the bilateral medial pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus, left frontoinsula, and left ventral striatum was associated with greater disengagement and impatience. Left-lateralized frontoinsula atrophy was associated with not only lower respiratory sinus arrhythmia but also with lower consolation and greater disengagement. This study offers evidence for prosocial behavior deficits in bvFTD and suggests that left-lateralized salience network atrophy reduces patients' resting parasympathetic activity and motivation to help others in need.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginia E Sturm
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
| | - Isabel J Sible
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Samir Datta
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Alice Y Hua
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - David C Perry
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Joel H Kramer
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - William W Seeley
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA; Department of Pathology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
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28
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Bai L, Niu X, Liu Z, Chen Z, Wang X, Sun C, Wang Z, Wang S, Cao J, Gan S, Fan G, Huang W, Xu H, Chen S, Tian J, Lao L, Zhang M. The role of insula-cerebellum connection underlying aversive regulation with acupuncture. Mol Pain 2018; 14:1744806918783457. [PMID: 29921161 PMCID: PMC6077882 DOI: 10.1177/1744806918783457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Acupuncture at pericardium 6 (PC6) shows a consistently positive efficacy in
nausea response suggested by consensus expert guidelines. Nausea encompasses
aversive symptom as well as strong emotional components. Disgust is a subjective
emotion of uneasy commonly accompanying with a physiological response that is
accompanied by strong visceral sensations (e.g., nausea). Understanding the
brain circuitry by which acupuncture influences the disgust emotion may further
elucidate the modulation effect of acupuncture on aversive experience. In the
present study, a well-established aversive conditioning model on healthy
subjects was combined with acupuncture intervention at PC6, as well as different
acupoints (both local PC7 and distant GB37) as separate controls, to investigate
the brain network involved aversive regulation with acupuncture; 48 healthy
subjects were enrolled and randomized into four parallel groups: group 1
received disgust-induced (DI) stimuli only; groups 2, 3, and 4 received
acupuncture at three single acupoints separately prior to the DI. Disgust
sensations were rated at baseline and following disgust stimuli. Acupuncture PC6
can induce significant attenuations in disgust sensations than that of no
intervention and acupuncture at other acupoints. Neuroimaging further showed
that increased causal interaction strength between the cerebellum (nodulus) and
insula can predict greater attenuations in aversive experiences. We also found
evidence for radical reorganizations of local stronger casual interaction
patterns to disgust-induced brain responses targeted by acupuncture at different
acupoints. This study provided the brain substrate for acupuncture on aversion
modulation. The coupling between the cerebellum (nodulus) and insula supported
interoception system and vestibular control which provided the specific neural
basis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijun Bai
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Xuan Niu
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.,2 Department of Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Zhenyu Liu
- 3 Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Zhen Chen
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Xiaocui Wang
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Chuanzhu Sun
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Zhuonan Wang
- 2 Department of Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Shan Wang
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jieli Cao
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Shuoqiu Gan
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Geng Fan
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Wenming Huang
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Hui Xu
- 1 The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
| | - Shangjie Chen
- 4 Bao'an Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Jie Tian
- 3 Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Lixing Lao
- 5 Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ming Zhang
- 2 Department of Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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29
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Hua AY, Sible IJ, Perry DC, Rankin KP, Kramer JH, Miller BL, Rosen HJ, Sturm VE. Enhanced Positive Emotional Reactivity Undermines Empathy in Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia. Front Neurol 2018; 9:402. [PMID: 29915557 PMCID: PMC5994409 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2018.00402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2018] [Accepted: 05/15/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by profound changes in emotions and empathy. Although most patients with bvFTD become less sensitive to negative emotional cues, some patients become more sensitive to positive emotional stimuli. We investigated whether dysregulated positive emotions in bvFTD undermine empathy by making it difficult for patients to share (emotional empathy), recognize (cognitive empathy), and respond (real-world empathy) to emotions in others. Fifty-one participants (26 patients with bvFTD and 25 healthy controls) viewed photographs of neutral, positive, negative, and self-conscious emotional faces and then identified the emotions displayed in the photographs. We used facial electromyography to measure automatic, sub-visible activity in two facial muscles during the task: Zygomaticus major (ZM), which is active during positive emotional reactions (i.e., smiling), and Corrugator supercilii (CS), which is active during negative emotional reactions (i.e., frowning). Participants rated their baseline positive and negative emotional experience before the task, and informants rated participants' real-world empathic behavior on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index. The majority of participants also underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. A mixed effects model found a significant diagnosis X trial interaction: patients with bvFTD showed greater ZM reactivity to neutral, negative (disgust and surprise), self-conscious (proud), and positive (happy) faces than healthy controls. There was no main effect of diagnosis or diagnosis X trial interaction on CS reactivity. Compared to healthy controls, patients with bvFTD had impaired emotion recognition. Multiple regression analyses revealed that greater ZM reactivity predicted worse negative emotion recognition and worse real-world empathy. At baseline, positive emotional experience was higher in bvFTD than healthy controls and also predicted worse negative emotion recognition. Voxel-based morphometry analyses found that smaller volume in the thalamus, midcingulate cortex, posterior insula, anterior temporal pole, amygdala, precentral gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus—structures that support emotion generation, interoception, and emotion regulation—was associated with greater ZM reactivity in bvFTD. These findings suggest that dysregulated positive emotional reactivity may relate to reduced empathy in bvFTD by making patients less likely to tune their reactions to the social context and to share, recognize, and respond to others' feelings and needs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Y Hua
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States
| | - Isabel J Sible
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - David C Perry
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Katherine P Rankin
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Joel H Kramer
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Howard J Rosen
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Virginia E Sturm
- Department of Neurology, Memory and Aging Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States
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30
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Riva F, Tschernegg M, Chiesa PA, Wagner IC, Kronbichler M, Lamm C, Silani G. Age-related differences in the neural correlates of empathy for pleasant and unpleasant touch in a female sample. Neurobiol Aging 2018; 65:7-17. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2017.12.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2017] [Revised: 12/20/2017] [Accepted: 12/27/2017] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
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31
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Chen KH, Lwi SJ, Hua AY, Haase CM, Miller BL, Levenson RW. Increased subjective experience of non-target emotions in patients with frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2017; 15:77-84. [PMID: 29457053 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.05.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Although laboratory procedures are designed to produce specific emotions, participants often experience mixed emotions (i.e., target and non-target emotions). We examined non-target emotions in patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), other neurodegenerative diseases, and healthy controls. Participants watched film clips designed to produce three target emotions. Subjective experience of non-target emotions was assessed and emotional facial expressions were coded. Compared to patients with other neurodegenerative diseases and healthy controls, FTD patients reported more positive and negative non-target emotions, whereas AD patients reported more positive non-target emotions. There were no group differences in facial expressions of non-target emotions. We interpret these findings as reflecting deficits in processing interoceptive and contextual information resulting from neurodegeneration in brain regions critical for creating subjective emotional experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kuan-Hua Chen
- Institute of Personality and Social Research, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-5050, United States
| | - Sandy J Lwi
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-5050, United States
| | - Alice Y Hua
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-5050, United States
| | - Claudia M Haase
- School of Education and Social Policy and (by courtesy) Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, United States
| | - Bruce L Miller
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143-1207, United States
| | - Robert W Levenson
- Institute of Personality and Social Research, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-5050, United States.,Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-5050, United States
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32
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Core, social and moral disgust are bounded: A review on behavioral and neural bases of repugnance in clinical disorders. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2017; 80:185-200. [PMID: 28506923 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2016] [Revised: 04/19/2017] [Accepted: 05/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Disgust is a multifaceted experience that might affect several aspects of life. Here, we reviewed research on neurological and psychiatric disorders that are characterized by abnormal disgust processing to test the hypothesis of a shared neurocognitive architecture in the representation of three disgust domains: i) personal experience of 'core disgust'; ii) social disgust, i.e., sensitivity to others' expressions of disgust; iii) moral disgust, i.e., sensitivity to ethical violations. Our review provides some support to the shared neurocognitive hypothesis and suggests that the insula might be the "hub" structure linking the three domains of disgust sensitivity, while other brain regions may subserve specific facets of the multidimensional experience. Our review also suggests a role of serotonin core and moral disgust, supporting "neo-sentimentalist" theories of morality, which posit a causal role of affect in moral judgment.
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33
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Upadhyay N, Suppa A, Piattella MC, Bologna M, Di Stasio F, Formica A, Tona F, Colosimo C, Berardelli A, Pantano P. MRI gray and white matter measures in progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal syndrome. J Neurol 2016; 263:2022-31. [PMID: 27411806 DOI: 10.1007/s00415-016-8224-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2016] [Revised: 06/28/2016] [Accepted: 06/29/2016] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
We evaluated MRI measures of gray and white matter damages in 19 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), 11 with corticobasal syndrome (CBS), and 14 healthy subjects (HS) to differentiate patients with PSP from those with CBS. We calculated surface-based maps of the cortical volume, cortical thickness, surface area, and voxel level maps of sub-cortical volume, and diffusion tensor imaging parameters using automated scripts implemented in FreeSurfer and FSL toolboxes. No significant differences in cortical volume loss were observed between PSP and CBS. When cortical volume was divided into cortical thickness and surface area, cortical thickness in peri-rolandic brain regions was significantly smaller in CBS than in PSP patients, whereas surface area was significantly smaller in PSP than HS. We also found widespread volume loss in sub-cortical structures in patients with PSP and CBS in comparison to HS. Both patient groups displayed diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities: compared to HS, widespread fractional anisotropy and radial diffusivity changes were observed in PSP, whereas axial and radial diffusivity changes were prominent in CBS. Mini-mental state examination positively correlated with diffusion changes in patients with PSP. In conclusion, cortical thickness, surface area, and diffusion tensor imaging parameters may be sensitive enough to help differentiate patients with PSP from those with CBS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neeraj Upadhyay
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Antonio Suppa
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS INM Neuromed, Pozzilli, IS, Italy
| | - Maria Cristina Piattella
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Matteo Bologna
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS INM Neuromed, Pozzilli, IS, Italy
| | | | - Alessandra Formica
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Francesca Tona
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Carlo Colosimo
- Department of Neurology, Santa Maria University Hospital, Terni, Italy
| | - Alfredo Berardelli
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy
- IRCCS INM Neuromed, Pozzilli, IS, Italy
| | - Patrizia Pantano
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Viale dell'Università, 30, 00185, Rome, Italy.
- IRCCS INM Neuromed, Pozzilli, IS, Italy.
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