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Li S, Cao X, Li Y, Tang Y, Cheng S, Zhang D. Enhancing ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation mitigates social pain and modifies subsequent social attitudes: Insights from TMS and fMRI. Neuroimage 2024; 292:120620. [PMID: 38641257 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120620] [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: 12/05/2023] [Revised: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Social pain, a multifaceted emotional response triggered by interpersonal rejection or criticism, profoundly impacts mental well-being and social interactions. While prior research has implicated the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) in mitigating social pain, the precise neural mechanisms and downstream effects on subsequent social attitudes remain elusive. This study employed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) integrated with fMRI recordings during a social pain task to elucidate these aspects. Eighty participants underwent either active TMS targeting the rVLPFC (n = 41) or control stimulation at the vertex (n = 39). Our results revealed that TMS-induced rVLPFC facilitation significantly reduced self-reported social pain, confirming the causal role of the rVLPFC in social pain relief. Functional connectivity analyses demonstrated enhanced interactions between the rVLPFC and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, emphasizing the collaborative engagement of prefrontal regions in emotion regulation. Significantly, we observed that negative social feedback led to negative social attitudes, whereas rVLPFC activation countered this detrimental effect, showcasing the potential of the rVLPFC as a protective buffer against adverse social interactions. Moreover, our study uncovered the impact role of the hippocampus in subsequent social attitudes, a relationship particularly pronounced during excitatory TMS over the rVLPFC. These findings offer promising avenues for improving mental health within the intricate dynamics of social interactions. By advancing our comprehension of the neural mechanisms underlying social pain relief, this research introduces novel intervention strategies for individuals grappling with social distress. Empowering individuals to modulate rVLPFC activation may facilitate reshaping social attitudes and successful reintegration into communal life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sijin Li
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Xueying Cao
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Yiwei Li
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China
| | - Yuyao Tang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China
| | - Si Cheng
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
| | - Dandan Zhang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu 610066, China; Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science, Shenzhen 518055, China; Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China.
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2
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Yu W, Li Y, Cao X, Mo L, Chen Y, Zhang D. The role of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex on voluntary emotion regulation of social pain. Hum Brain Mapp 2023. [PMID: 37376719 PMCID: PMC10400789 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26411] [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: 12/06/2022] [Revised: 05/25/2023] [Accepted: 06/11/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) is highly engaged in emotion regulation of social pain. However, there is still lack of both inhibition and excitement evidence to prove the causal relationship between this brain region and voluntary emotion regulation. This study used high-frequency (10 Hz) and low-frequency (1 Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to separately activate or inhibit the rVLPFC in two groups of participants. We recorded participants' emotion ratings as well as their social attitude and prosocial behaviors following emotion regulation. Also, we used eye tracker to record the changes of pupil diameter to measure emotional feelings objectively. A total of 108 healthy participants were randomly assigned to the activated, inhibitory or sham rTMS groups. They were required to accomplish three sequential tasks: the emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal) task, the favorability rating task, and the donation task. Results show that the rVLPFC-inhibitory group reported more negative emotions and showed larger pupil diameter while the rVLPFC-activated group showed less negative emotions and reduced pupil diameter during emotion regulation (both compared with the sham rTMS group). In addition, the activated group gave more positive social evaluation to peers and donated more money to a public welfare activity than the rVLPFC-inhibitory group, among which the change of social attitude was mediated by regulated emotion. Taken together, these findings reveal that the rVLPFC plays a causal role in voluntary emotion regulation of social pain and can be a potential brain target in treating deficits of emotion regulation in psychiatric disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenwen Yu
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yiwei Li
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
| | - Xueying Cao
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Licheng Mo
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yuming Chen
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Dandan Zhang
- Institute of Brain and Psychological Sciences, Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China
- Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science, Shenzhen, China
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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3
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Green with envy: ostracism increases aggressive tendencies. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-04221-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
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4
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Moses TE, Gray E, Mischel N, Greenwald MK. Effects of neuromodulation on cognitive and emotional responses to psychosocial stressors in healthy humans. Neurobiol Stress 2023; 22:100515. [PMID: 36691646 PMCID: PMC9860364 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2023.100515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 01/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Physiological and psychological stressors can exert wide-ranging effects on the human brain and behavior. Research has improved understanding of how the sympatho-adreno-medullary (SAM) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axes respond to stressors and the differential responses that occur depending on stressor type. Although the physiological function of SAM and HPA responses is to promote survival and safety, exaggerated psychobiological reactivity can occur in psychiatric disorders. Exaggerated reactivity may occur more for certain types of stressors, specifically, psychosocial stressors. Understanding stressor effects and how the body regulates these responses can provide insight into ways that psychobiological reactivity can be modulated. Non-invasive neuromodulation is one way that responding to stressors may be altered; research into these interventions may provide further insights into the brain circuits that modulate stress reactivity. This review focuses on the effects of acute psychosocial stressors and how neuromodulation might be effective in altering stress reactivity. Although considerable research into stress interventions focuses on treating pathology, it is imperative to first understand these mechanisms in non-clinical populations; therefore, this review will emphasize populations with no known pathology and consider how these results may translate to those with psychiatric pathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Mark K. Greenwald
- Corresponding author. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Tolan Park Medical Building, 3901 Chrysler Service Drive, Suite 2A, Detroit, MI, 48201, USA.
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5
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Rajchert J, Zajenkowska A, Nowakowska I, Bodecka-Zych M, Abramiuk A. Hostility bias or sadness bias in excluded individuals: does anodal transcranial direct current stimulation of right VLPFC vs. left DLPFC have a mitigating effect? COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 22:1063-1077. [PMID: 35474567 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-022-01008-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Exclusion has multiple adverse effects on individual's well-being. It induces anger and hostile cognitions leading to aggressive behavior. The purpose of this study was to test whether exclusion would affect recognition of anger on ambivalent faces of the excluders. We hypothesized that exclusion would elicit more anger encoding (hostility bias) than inclusion, but this effect would be mitigated by anodal tDCS of right VLPFC or left DLPFC-regions engaged in negative affect regulation. Participants (N = 96) were recognizing emotions (anger, sadness, happiness) on ambiguous faces of individuals who-as they were told-liked them or not. Results showed that exclusion induced more sadness bias. tDCS to VLPFC decreased anger and increased sadness recognition on excluders' faces compared with includers' faces, expressing a mixture of these two emotions. Additionally, stimulation to VLPFC and DLPFC decreased latencies for faces expressing sadness (sad-angry and happy-sad) but increased for happy-angry faces. Stimulation to VLPFC also increased reaction time to excluders faces while stimulation of DLPFC decreased reaction latency to includers faces. Results were discussed with the reference to the form of exclusion, motivational mechanism affected by disliking but also to lateralization (valence vs. arousal theory) and cortical regions engaged in encoding sadness after a threat to belonging.
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6
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Wei D, Tsheringla S, McPartland JC, Allsop AZASA. Combinatorial approaches for treating neuropsychiatric social impairment. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2022; 377:20210051. [PMID: 35858103 PMCID: PMC9274330 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/13/2022] [Indexed: 01/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Social behaviour is an essential component of human life and deficits in social function are seen across multiple psychiatric conditions with high morbidity. However, there are currently no FDA-approved treatments for social dysfunction. Since social cognition and behaviour rely on multiple signalling processes acting in concert across various neural networks, treatments aimed at social function may inherently require a combinatorial approach. Here, we describe the social neurobiology of the oxytocin and endocannabinoid signalling systems as well as translational evidence for their use in treating symptoms in the social domain. We leverage this systems neurobiology to propose a network-based framework that involves pharmacology, psychotherapy, non-invasive brain stimulation and social skills training to combinatorially target trans-diagnostic social impairment. Lastly, we discuss the combined use of oxytocin and endocannabinoids within our proposed framework as an illustrative strategy to treat specific aspects of social function. Using this framework provides a roadmap for actionable treatment strategies for neuropsychiatric social impairment. This article is part of the theme issue 'Interplays between oxytocin and other neuromodulators in shaping complex social behaviours'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Don Wei
- Department of Psychiatry, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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7
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Asbee J, Parsons TD. Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Cognitive and Affective Outcomes Using Virtual Stimuli: A Systematic Review. CYBERPSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIOR AND SOCIAL NETWORKING 2021; 24:699-714. [PMID: 33625878 DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2020.0301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive form of brain stimulation used to influence neural activity. While early tDCS studies primarily used static stimuli, there is growing interest in dynamic stimulus presentations using virtual environments (VEs). This review attempts to convey the state of the field. This is not a quantitative meta-analysis as there are not yet enough studies following consistent protocols and/or reporting adequate data. In addition to reviewing the state of the literature, this review includes an exploratory analysis of the available data. Following preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, studies were culled from several databases. Results from this review reveal differences between online and offline stimulation. While offline stimulation did not influence affective and cognitive outcomes, online stimulation led to small changes in affect and cognition. Future studies should include randomized controlled trials with larger samples. Furthermore, greater care needs to be applied to full data reporting (e.g., means, standard deviations, and data for their nonsignificant findings) to improve our understanding of the combined effects of virtual stimuli with tDCS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Asbee
- Department of Psychology, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA
- Computational Neuropsychology & Simulation (CNS) Laboratory, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA
| | - Thomas D Parsons
- Computational Neuropsychology & Simulation (CNS) Laboratory, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA
- College of Information, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA
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8
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Wang J, Li Y, Wang S, Guo W, Ye H, Shi J, Luo J. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) over the Frontopolar Cortex (FPC) Alters the Demand for Precommitment. Behav Brain Res 2021; 414:113487. [PMID: 34302873 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113487] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Revised: 05/24/2021] [Accepted: 07/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Caving into temptation leads to deviation from the planned path, which reduces our performance, adds trouble to our daily life, and can even bring about psychiatric disorders. Precommitment is an effective way to remedy the failure of willpower by removing the tempting short-term option. This paper aims to test the neural mechanisms of precommitment through a monetary task that excluded the interference of heterogeneous individual preferences and complements present researches. We examined whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the frontopolar cortex (FPC) could affect the demand for precommitment. The participants were required to make a decision regarding whether they were willing to precommit to binding later-lar ger rewards and remove the sooner-smaller rewards. Three conditions, including no precommitment, loose precommitment and strict precommitment, were established to perform a comprehensive investigation. We found that tDCS over the FPC altered the demand for precommitment in the condition involving loose precommitment with the control of delay discounting, specifically, anodal stimulation led to more precommitment, whereas cathodal stimulation reduced the demand for precommitment. Our findings established a causal correlation between the FPC and willingness to precommit and suggested a feasible method to enhance self-control in addition to exercising willpower.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinjin Wang
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yuzhen Li
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China; Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Siqi Wang
- Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China; School of Economics, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wenmin Guo
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China; Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hang Ye
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China; Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jinchuan Shi
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jun Luo
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China; Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.
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9
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Andò A, Vasilotta ML, Zennaro A. The modulation of emotional awareness using non-invasive brain stimulation techniques: a literature review on TMS and tDCS. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/20445911.2021.1954013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Agata Andò
- Department of Psychology, University of Turin, Turin, Italy
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10
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Smits FM, Schutter DJLG, van Honk J, Geuze E. Does non-invasive brain stimulation modulate emotional stress reactivity? Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 15:23-51. [PMID: 31993648 PMCID: PMC7171378 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsaa011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2019] [Revised: 12/09/2019] [Accepted: 01/08/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Excessive emotional responses to stressful events can detrimentally affect psychological functioning and mental health. Recent studies have provided evidence that non-invasive brain stimulation (NBS) targeting the prefrontal cortex (PFC) can affect the regulation of stress-related emotional responses. However, the reliability and effect sizes have not been systematically analyzed. In the present study, we reviewed and meta-analyzed the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the PFC on acute emotional stress reactivity in healthy individuals. Forty sham-controlled single-session rTMS and tDCS studies were included. Separate random effects models were performed to estimate the mean effect sizes of emotional reactivity. Twelve rTMS studies together showed no evidence that rTMS over the PFC influenced emotional reactivity. Twenty-six anodal tDCS studies yielded a weak beneficial effect on stress-related emotional reactivity (Hedges’ g = −0.16, CI95% = [−0.33, 0.00]). These findings suggest that a single session of NBS is insufficient to induce reliable, clinically significant effects but also provide preliminary evidence that specific NBS methods can affect emotional reactivity. This may motivate further research into augmenting the efficacy of NBS protocols on stress-related processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fenne M Smits
- Brain Research & Innovation Centre, Ministry of Defence, Lundlaan 1, 3584 EZ, Utrecht, The Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Dennis J L G Schutter
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Jack van Honk
- Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 1, 3584 CS, Utrecht, The Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa.,Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Observatory, 7925, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Elbert Geuze
- Brain Research & Innovation Centre, Ministry of Defence, Lundlaan 1, 3584 EZ, Utrecht, The Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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11
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Zheng W, Tao Y, Li Y, Ye H, Luo J. Effect of Modulating Activity in the Right DLPFC on Revenge Behavior: Evidence From a Noninvasive Brain Stimulation Investigation. Front Psychol 2021; 11:608205. [PMID: 33633628 PMCID: PMC7901952 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.608205] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2020] [Accepted: 12/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Revenge is common in our daily lives, and people feel good when engaging in revenge behavior. However, revenge behavior is a complex process and remains somewhat of a puzzle of human behavior. Neuroimaging studies have revealed that revenge behaviors are associated with activation of a neural network containing the anterior cingulate cortex, ventral striatum, inferior frontal gyrus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Recent brain stimulation research using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcranial magnetic stimulation has shown a causal relationship between brain regions and revenge behaviors, but the findings have been mixed. In the present study, we aimed to study whether stimulation in the DLPFC can change participants' revenge behavior in conditions where participants' wealth was taken away in different ways. We adapted the moonlighting game and designed a new paradigm. Our study revealed that revenge behavior increased following activation in the right DLPFC, suggesting that the right DLPFC plays an important role in overriding self-interest and retaliation. In addition, our results revealed that the right DLPFC is crucial in revenge behavior related to the motivation of invasion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanjun Zheng
- Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-Making, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yuanping Tao
- Department of Radiology, The Guangxing Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yuzhen Li
- Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-Making, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hang Ye
- Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-Making, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jun Luo
- Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-Making, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
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12
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Hsu DT, Sankar A, Malik MA, Langenecker SA, Mickey BJ, Love TM. Common neural responses to romantic rejection and acceptance in healthy adults. Soc Neurosci 2020; 15:571-583. [PMID: 32715953 PMCID: PMC7674199 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2020.1801502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2019] [Revised: 06/22/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Although romantic rejection and acceptance have a strong impact on mood in adults, their neural response patterns are relatively unexplored. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine neural responses to romantic rejection and acceptance in 36 healthy men and women, ages 18-53 years. Activations during rejection showed extensive anatomical overlap with activations during acceptance in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and anterior insula (AI). In an analysis of sex differences, men and women did not differ in behavioral responses; however, men showed greater activation to romantic rejection and acceptance in the left vlPFC and AI compared to women. The vlPFC and AI may play a role in social cognition, tuned to detect the intentions and feelings of others whether they are positive or negative. In the context of romantic rejection and acceptance, this activation may signal the intent of others who are desired by the individual, leading to changes in mood, self-esteem, and social motivation.
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Affiliation(s)
- David T Hsu
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University , Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | - Anjali Sankar
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University , Stony Brook, NY, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine , New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Mohammad A Malik
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University , Stony Brook, NY, USA
| | | | - Brian J Mickey
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah , Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Tiffany M Love
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Utah , Salt Lake City, UT, USA
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13
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Hudd T, Moscovitch DA. Coping with social wounds: How social pain and social anxiety influence access to social rewards. J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 2020; 68:101572. [PMID: 32315823 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2020.101572] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Revised: 01/28/2020] [Accepted: 04/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Prior studies have shown that people display signs of increased social approach motivation and affiliative behaviour in response to social exclusion. This response is considered an adaptive strategy that serves to repair damage to social networks and increase access to mood-enhancing social rewards. However, heightened trait social anxiety (SA) has been linked to decreased approach motivation and responsiveness to social rewards. In the current preliminary experimental study, we tested whether trait SA inhibits the expected increase in social approach following the pain of exclusion. We then tested whether diminished social approach is associated with reduced positive affect. METHODS Participants played a game of Cyberball and were randomly assigned to receive significantly fewer passes (exclusion condition) or an equal number of passes (control condition) as other players. Subsequently, participants were given the opportunity to engage in an online social interaction activity with avatars they believed were other participants. RESULTS Analyses revealed that the exclusion condition led to greater social pain than the control condition. Across conditions, greater social pain was associated with higher levels of approach motivation in anticipation of the social interaction activity, but only for individuals with lower levels of trait SA. Finally, when controlling for levels of trait SA, social pain was associated with positive affect following the social interaction activity, but only for individuals with higher levels of approach motivation. LIMITATIONS Participants consisted predominantly of female undergraduates, limiting generalizability of these data. As well, hypotheses were supported for the measure of approach motivation but not the measure of approach behaviour. Finally, this study was not powered to enable moderated mediation analyses, which would have provided the most direct test of the hypothesized model. CONCLUSIONS Heightened approach motivation in the face of social pain may facilitate increased positive affect. However, higher levels of trait SA dampen approach motivation. Future well-powered studies should use moderated mediation analyses to test the hypothesized model more parsimoniously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Taylor Hudd
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Mental Health Research and Treatment, University of Waterloo, Canada.
| | - David A Moscovitch
- Department of Psychology and Centre for Mental Health Research and Treatment, University of Waterloo, Canada
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14
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Sanguinetti JL, Hameroff S, Smith EE, Sato T, Daft CMW, Tyler WJ, Allen JJB. Transcranial Focused Ultrasound to the Right Prefrontal Cortex Improves Mood and Alters Functional Connectivity in Humans. Front Hum Neurosci 2020; 14:52. [PMID: 32184714 PMCID: PMC7058635 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.00052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2019] [Accepted: 02/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) is an emerging method for non-invasive neuromodulation akin to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). tFUS offers several advantages over electromagnetic methods including high spatial resolution and the ability to reach deep brain targets. Here we describe two experiments assessing whether tFUS could modulate mood in healthy human volunteers by targeting the right inferior frontal gyrus (rIFG), an area implicated in mood and emotional regulation. In a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, participants received 30 s of 500 kHz tFUS or a placebo control. Visual Analog Mood Scales (VAMS) assessed mood four times within an hour (baseline and three times after tFUS). Participants who received tFUS reported an overall increase in Global Affect (GA), an aggregate score from the VAMS scale, indicating a positive shift in mood. Experiment 2 examined resting-state functional (FC) connectivity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) following 2 min of 500 kHz tFUS at the rIFG. As in Experiment 1, tFUS enhanced self-reported mood states and also decreased FC in resting state networks related to emotion and mood regulation. These results suggest that tFUS can be used to modulate mood and emotional regulation networks in the prefrontal cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph L Sanguinetti
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.,Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.,Department of Psychology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, United States
| | - Stuart Hameroff
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.,Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.,Department of Anesthesiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
| | - Ezra E Smith
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States.,New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, United States
| | - Tomokazu Sato
- The Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
| | - Chris M W Daft
- River Sonic Solutions LLC, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - William J Tyler
- School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States
| | - John J B Allen
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States
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15
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Kong F, Yang K, Sajjad S, Yan W, Li X, Zhao J. Neural correlates of social well-being: gray matter density in the orbitofrontal cortex predicts social well-being in emerging adulthood. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2020; 14:319-327. [PMID: 30715518 PMCID: PMC6399614 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsz008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2018] [Revised: 01/06/2019] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Social well-being reflects the perception of one’s social functioning, which plays an important role in physical and psychological health. However, the exact neuroanatomical substrate for social well-being remains unclear. To address the issue, we employed the voxel-based morphometry method to probe the neuroanatomical basis of individual variation in social well-being in young healthy adults (n = 136). The results revealed a significant negative association between social well-being and regional gray matter density (rGMD) in an anatomical cluster that mainly includes the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) that has been involved in emotion regulation and social cognition. Furthermore, a balanced 4-fold cross-validation using the machine learning approach revealed that rGMD in the left OFC could be reliably related to social well-being. More importantly, the multiple mediation analysis revealed that neuroticism and dispositional forgiveness independently mediated the association between rGMD in the left OFC and social well-being. In addition, all these results remained stable when subjective socioeconomic status was controlled. Together, our results provide the initial evidence that the OFC is a neuroanatomical substrate for social well-being and demonstrate that the OFC is a crucial neural site linking neuroticism and dispositional forgiveness to social well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng Kong
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Kairong Yang
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Sonia Sajjad
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Wenjing Yan
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Xuewen Li
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
| | - Jingjing Zhao
- School of Psychology, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China
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16
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He Z, Zhao J, Shen J, Muhlert N, Elliott R, Zhang D. The right VLPFC and downregulation of social pain: A TMS study. Hum Brain Mapp 2019; 41:1362-1371. [PMID: 31789480 PMCID: PMC7267938 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2019] [Revised: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (RVLPFC) is crucially involved in downregulating physical and social pain. However, it remains unclear whether the RVLPFC is more specific to either physical or social pain. The present study compares the role of RVLPFC in emotion regulation in physical‐ and social‐pain conditions using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). A total of 60 healthy participants underwent active (n = 30) or sham (n = 30) rTMS over the RVLPFC. Following each TMS session, participants performed a non‐reappraisal and then a reappraisal task to downregulate imagined physical or social pain evoked by pictures. Self‐reported negative emotional ratings and electroencephalogram data were recorded during the emotion regulation task. Participants were then required to rate the valence and arousal of those pictures 30 min after the task. It is found that rTMS‐activated RVLPFC led to reductions in subjective negative feelings and amplitudes of the late positive potential during reappraisal; however, these effects were found exclusively in the social‐pain condition. Participants also reported higher positive valence for socially, compared to physically, painful pictures after 30 min of the task. Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence both supported the functional specificity of RVLPFC in regulation of social pain. The prominent delayed effect of rTMS makes it possible to consider the potential application of rTMS‐VLPFC in clinical practice for social pain relief.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenhong He
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Jun Zhao
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Junshi Shen
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
| | - Nils Muhlert
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Rebecca Elliott
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Science, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Dandan Zhang
- School of Psychology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.,Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China
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17
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Wang S, Wang J, Guo W, Ye H, Lu X, Luo J, Zheng H. Gender Difference in Gender Bias: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Reduces Male's Gender Stereotypes. Front Hum Neurosci 2019; 13:403. [PMID: 31849626 PMCID: PMC6889476 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2019.00403] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2018] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Stereotypes exist in the interactions between different social groups, and gender stereotypes are particularly prevalent. Previous studies have suggested that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is involved in the social cognition that plays an important role in gender stereotypes, but the specific causal effect of the mPFC remains controversial. In this study, we aimed to use transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to identify a direct link between the mPFC and gender bias. Implicit stereotypes were measured by the gender implicit association test (IAT), and explicit prejudice was measured by the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI). We found that male and female participants had different behavioral and neural correlates of gender stereotypes. Anodal tDCS significantly reduced male participants’ gender D-IAT scores compared with cathodal and sham stimulation, while the stimulation had an insignificant effect in female participants. The reduction in male participants’ gender bias mainly resulted from a decrease in the difference in reaction time (RT) between congruent and incongruent blocks. Regarding the explicit bias measurement, male and female participants had distinct attitudes, but tDCS had no effect on ASI. Our results revealed that the mPFC played a causal role in controlling implicit gender stereotypes, which is consistent with previous observations and complements past lesion, neuroimaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies and suggests that males and females have different neural bases for gender stereotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siqi Wang
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jinjin Wang
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Wenmin Guo
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.,Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Hang Ye
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Xinbo Lu
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jun Luo
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Haoli Zheng
- School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Center for Economic Behavior and Decision-making (CEBD), Neuro & Behavior EconLab (NBEL), Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China.,Interdisciplinary Center for Social Sciences (ICSS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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18
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Allaert J, Sanchez-Lopez A, De Raedt R, Baeken C, Vanderhasselt MA. Inverse effects of tDCS over the left versus right DLPC on emotional processing: A pupillometry study. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0218327. [PMID: 31216313 PMCID: PMC6583989 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2019] [Accepted: 05/31/2019] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Background and objectives The Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is implicated in cognitive and emotional responses. Yet, research that investigates the causal role of the left versus right DLPFC during the processes of emotion appraisal is lacking. In the current study, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) was used to disentangle the functional lateralization of the DLPFC on emotional processing in response to the anticipation of, and subsequent confrontation with emotional stimuli in healthy volunteers. Methods Forty-eight subjects received both active and sham (on separate days) anodal tDCS over either the left (N = 24) or right (N = 24) DLPFC. Subjects’ pupil dilation (PD, a physiological marker of cognitive resource allocation) was recorded while performing an appraisal task in which negative and positive emotion eliciting images were presented, each preceded by an informative cue indicating the valence of the upcoming stimulus. Results As compared to sham stimulation, left DLPFC anodal tDCS resulted in increased PD when confronted with negative emotional images, whereas right DLPFC anodal tDCS resulted in decreased PD when confronted with emotional images, irrespective of valence. Limitations The interpretation of pupil dilation in response to emotional stimuli is limited. Conclusion These findings suggest inverse lateralized DLPFC effects on cognitive resource allocation (as measured by pupillary responses) when confronted with emotional stimuli. The current findings may shed some light on mechanisms that explain the antidepressant effects of non-invasive brain stimulation of the left DLPFC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jens Allaert
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, University Hospital Ghent (UZ Ghent), Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent, Belgium
- Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- * E-mail:
| | - Alvaro Sanchez-Lopez
- Department of Clinical Psychology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rudi De Raedt
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Chris Baeken
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, University Hospital Ghent (UZ Ghent), Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent, Belgium
- Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Psychiatry, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), University Hospital UZ Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Marie-Anne Vanderhasselt
- Department of Head and Skin, Ghent University, University Hospital Ghent (UZ Ghent), Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent, Belgium
- Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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19
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Duffy KA, Luber B, Adcock RA, Chartrand TL. Enhancing activation in the right temporoparietal junction using theta-burst stimulation: Disambiguating between two hypotheses of top-down control of behavioral mimicry. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0211279. [PMID: 30682141 PMCID: PMC6347431 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2018] [Accepted: 01/10/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Whereas previous research has focused on the role of the rTPJ when consciously inhibiting mimicry, we test the role of the rTPJ on mimicry within a social interaction, during which mimicking occurs nonconsciously. We wanted to determine whether higher rTPJ activation always inhibits the tendency to imitate (regardless of the context) or whether it facilitates mimicry during social interactions (when mimicking is an adaptive response). Participants received either active or sham intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS: a type of stimulation that increases cortical activation) to the rTPJ. Next, we measured how much participants mimicked the hair and face touching of another person. Participants in the active stimulation condition engaged in significantly less mimicry than those in the sham stimulation condition. This finding suggests that even in a context in which mimicking is adaptive, rTPJ inhibits mimicry rather than facilitating it, supporting the hypothesis that rTPJ enhances representations of self over other regardless of the goals within a given context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Korrina A. Duffy
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Bruce Luber
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - R. Alison Adcock
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
- Department of Neurobiology, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
| | - Tanya L. Chartrand
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
- Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States of America
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20
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du Plessis MR, Smeekens S, Cillessen AHN, Whittle S, Güroǧlu B. Bullying the Brain? Longitudinal Links Between Childhood Peer Victimization, Cortisol, and Adolescent Brain Structure. Front Psychol 2019; 9:2706. [PMID: 30692951 PMCID: PMC6340095 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02706] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2018] [Accepted: 12/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Childhood peer victimization is a stressful life experience associated with long-lasting adverse psychological consequences. While there is some evidence that victimization is associated with alterations in brain function, little is known about effects on brain structure. This study explored the relationships between childhood peer victimization, cortisol, and adolescent ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) structure in a sample of healthy children. Methods: A total of 50 (Mage = 9.29 years at baseline) children participated in this longitudinal study. We examined whether diurnal cortisol levels (assessed at baseline) moderated the link between children’s self-reported peer victimization (assessed at baseline) and vlPFC surface area, gray matter volume, and thickness 5 years later. Results: For boys, cortisol levels moderated the association between victimization and brain structure. For boys with a low daily cortisol output (assessed as area under the curve; AUC), high victimization was associated with a smaller right vlPFC surface area, and for boys with a high AUC, high victimization was associated with a larger right vlPFC surface area. In addition, for boys with a steeper diurnal slope, high victimization was associated with a smaller right vlPFC surface area, and for boys with a low flatter diurnal slope, high victimization was associated with a larger right vlPFC surface area. Conclusion: These results indicate the differential influence of cortisol on the relationship between victimization and brain structure. Findings suggest that victimization may have differential effects on brain development in boys who are more versus less biologically sensitive to stress.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sanny Smeekens
- Department of Psychology, Open University, Heerlen, Netherlands
| | | | - Sarah Whittle
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne and Melbourne Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Berna Güroǧlu
- Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, Netherlands
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21
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The role of right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex on social emotional regulation in subclinical depression: An tDCS study. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2019. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2019.00207] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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22
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Right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex involvement in proactive and reactive aggression. Neuroreport 2018; 29:1509-1515. [DOI: 10.1097/wnr.0000000000001144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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23
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Selective changes in moral judgment by noninvasive brain stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2018; 19:797-810. [PMID: 30411201 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-018-00664-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Multiple cortical networks intervene in moral judgment, among which the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the medial prefrontal structures (medial PFC) emerged as two major territories, which have been traditionally attributed, respectively, to cognitive control and affective reactions. However, some recent theoretical and empirical accounts disputed this dualistic approach to moral evaluation. In the present study, to further assess the functional contribution of the medial PFC in moral judgment, we modulated its cortical excitability by means of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and tracked the change in response to different types of moral dilemmas, including switch-like and footbridge-like moral dilemmas, with and without personal involvement. One hundred participants (50 males) completed a questionnaire to assess the baseline levels of deontology. Next, participants were randomly assigned to receive anodal, sham, or cathodal tDCS over the medial prefrontal structures and then were asked to address a series of dilemmas. The results showed that participants who received anodal stimulation over the medial PFC provided more utilitarian responses to switch-like (but not footbridge-like) dilemmas than those who received cathodal tDCS. We also found that neurostimulation modulated the influence that deontology has on moral choices. Specifically, in the anodal tDCS group, participants' decisions were less likely to be influenced by their baseline levels of deontology compared with the sham or cathodal groups. Overall, our results seem to refute a functional role of the medial prefrontal structures purely restricted to affective reactions for moral dilemmas, providing new insights on the functional contribution of the medial PFC in moral judgment.
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24
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Ponsi G, Monachesi B, Panasiti V, Aglioti SM, Panasiti MS. Physiological and behavioral reactivity to social exclusion: a functional infrared thermal imaging study in patients with psoriasis. J Neurophysiol 2018; 121:38-49. [PMID: 30379630 DOI: 10.1152/jn.00555.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity can be heavily impacted not only by basic threats to survival but also by threats to social bonds. In this study we explored the behavioral and physiological consequences of social exclusion/inclusion in patients with psoriasis, a disease frequently associated with the experience of being ostracized and with deficient emotion regulation skills. We employed a virtual ball-tossing game (Cyberball) to induce the experience of social exclusion/inclusion. We then used a Trust Game to measure the effects of this social modulation on trust. During Cyberball, infrared thermal imaging was used to record participants' facial temperature and thus obtain an online measure of SNS activation. Behavioral data showed that social exclusion shifted participants' trust toward unfamiliar players who had not previously excluded them. Physiological data indicated that in control participants, social exclusion triggered higher SNS activation than inclusion. No such effect was found in patients with psoriasis, whose SNS activity was the same during inclusion as it was during exclusion, suggesting that they benefit less from inclusive experiences than control participants. In addition, in patients but not in controls, higher SNS activation during social exclusion was linked to higher monetary investment toward unfamiliar players, a result in keeping with the social reconnection hypothesis, according to which emotions triggered by social rejection can be regulated by investing in new social interactions. We also found that an increase in periorbital temperature is accompanied by a decrease in happiness ratings after social exclusion was experienced during the Cyberball game. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Previous research on emotional processes in psoriasis has mainly employed self-report measures. In this study we used thermal imaging to obtain an online measure of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity during social exclusion and tested how this experience influenced subsequent trust. We found that being included was a less positive experience for patients compared with controls and that SNS activity during exclusion had a stronger influence on subsequent trust in patients than in controls.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giorgia Ponsi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome , Rome , Italy.,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation , Rome , Italy
| | - Bianca Monachesi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome , Rome , Italy
| | - Vincenzo Panasiti
- Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome , Rome , Italy
| | - Salvatore Maria Aglioti
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome , Rome , Italy.,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation , Rome , Italy
| | - Maria Serena Panasiti
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome , Rome , Italy.,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation , Rome , Italy
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25
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Panasiti MS, Ponsi G, Monachesi B, Lorenzini L, Panasiti V, Aglioti SM. Cognitive load and emotional processing in psoriasis: a thermal imaging study. Exp Brain Res 2018; 237:211-222. [PMID: 30374785 DOI: 10.1007/s00221-018-5416-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2018] [Accepted: 10/24/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
Abstract
Psoriasis is a chronic dermatologic disease which is frequently associated with psychological distress. Although studies suggest a relationship between this condition and difficulties in emotion regulation, behavioral and physiological evidence about this link is scarce. We measured implicit emotion regulation abilities of psoriasis patients and a healthy control group by examining the impact of distracting emotional (positive, negative or neutral) images on a working memory task ("Emotional N-Back") which could present high (2-back) or low (1-back) cognitive workload. Moreover, we used Functional Infrared Thermal Imaging to record participants' facial temperature and obtain a measure of the activation of the autonomic system. Rising of temperature over the peri-orbital areas and the nose tip are believed to reflect the activation and the de-activation of the sympathetic system, respectively. Patients scored higher than controls on the "Lack of emotional clarity" sub-scale of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Compared to controls, who performed much better in the low vs. high cognitive load condition, patients showed a smaller accuracy difference between the two conditions. Moreover, patients showed less sympathetic (lower peri-orbital and higher nasal tip temperature) activity (especially in the negative and neutral blocks) during the high vs. low cognitive load condition, suggesting that the former condition might be less emotionally demanding for them. Patients benefit more than controls from the load-dependent interference effect when dealing with emotional information; thus, therapeutic techniques aiming at teaching how to use cognitive strategies to downregulate emotions might be particularly appropriated for them.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Serena Panasiti
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy. .,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy.
| | - Giorgia Ponsi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Bianca Monachesi
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Luigi Lorenzini
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
| | - Vincenzo Panasiti
- Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Unit, Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Salvatore Maria Aglioti
- Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.,IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy
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26
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Vergallito A, Riva P, Pisoni A, Romero Lauro LJ. Modulation of negative emotions through anodal tDCS over the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychologia 2018; 119:128-135. [PMID: 30089234 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2018.07.037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2018] [Revised: 07/27/2018] [Accepted: 07/31/2018] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) plays a critical role in emotion regulation, in particular concerning negative feelings. In the present research, we applied anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the rVLPFC with a twofold purpose. First, we aimed at exploring the feasibility of modulating the subjective experience of emotions through tDCS in healthy participants. Second, we wanted to assess which specific emotion can be regulated (and which cannot) with this brain stimulation approach. We designed a double-blind, between-subjects, sham-controlled study in which 96 participants watched short video clips eliciting different emotions during anodal or sham tDCS over the rVLPFC. Emotional reactions to each video clip were assessed with self-report scales measuring eight basic emotions. Results showed that, in contrast to the sham condition, tDCS over the rVLPFC reduced the perceived extent of specific negative emotions, namely, fear, anxiety, and sadness, compared to other negative or positive feelings. Overall, these results support the role of rVLPFC in regulating negative emotions, mostly associated with the prevention of dangerous situations (i.e., fear, anxiety, and sadness).
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27
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Gorka SM, Phan KL, Hosseini B, Chen EY, McCloskey MS. Ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation during social exclusion mediates the relation between intolerance of uncertainty and trait aggression. Clin Psychol Sci 2018; 6:810-821. [PMID: 30643671 DOI: 10.1177/2167702618776947] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Intolerance of uncertainty (IU) is an important individual difference factor that may contribute to trait-like aggression. Deficient engagement of the ventrolateral PFC (vlPFC) during social situations may also be a mechanism that links these two constructs. The aim of the current study was to test a proposed mediation model whereby IU is associated with trait aggression through neural activation of the vlPFC during a social exclusion task. Fifty-three adults with a range of impulsive-aggressive traits completed validated assessments of IU and trait aggression, and the 'Cyberball' social exclusion task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Results supported the mediation model such that greater levels of IU were associated with greater trait aggression through hypoactivation of the vlPFC during social exclusion. This study is the first to provide evidence suggesting that individuals higher in IU have difficulties engaging regulatory neural processes, which in-turn may increase the propensity for aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephanie M Gorka
- University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Psychiatry, 1747 West Roosevelt Road Chicago, IL 60608
| | - K Luan Phan
- University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Psychiatry, 1747 West Roosevelt Road Chicago, IL 60608.,Jesse Brown VA Medical Center; Mental Health Service Line, 820 S. Damen Avenue Chicago, IL 60612.,University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, & the Graduate Program in Neuroscience, 808 S. Wood Street Chicago, IL 60612
| | - Bobak Hosseini
- University of Illinois-Chicago; Department of Psychiatry, 1747 West Roosevelt Road Chicago, IL 60608
| | - Eunice Y Chen
- Temple University; Department of Psychology, 1701 North 13 Street Philadelphia, PA 19122
| | - Michael S McCloskey
- Temple University; Department of Psychology, 1701 North 13 Street Philadelphia, PA 19122
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28
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He Z, Lin Y, Xia L, Liu Z, Zhang D, Elliott R. Critical role of the right VLPFC in emotional regulation of social exclusion: a tDCS study. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2018; 13:357-366. [PMID: 29618116 PMCID: PMC5928413 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2017] [Revised: 02/28/2018] [Accepted: 03/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
There is abundant evidence suggesting that the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) plays an important role in down-regulating the emotional response to social exclusion. However, a causal relationship between rVLPFC function and explicit emotional regulation is not clear in the context of social exclusion. This study employed anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to activate rVLPFC while participants used emotional regulation to reappraise pictures of social exclusion. Forty-four participants were randomly assigned to an active tDCS group or a sham group. Both groups viewed social exclusion images under two conditions: in the no-reappraisal condition, participants were instructed to passively view social exclusion images; in the reappraisal condition, they reappraised the images to down-regulate negative emotional responses. Compared to sham stimulation, anodal tDCS over the rVLPFC resulted in less negative emotion ratings, and produced significantly smaller pupil diameter in the reappraisal, compared to no-reappraisal block. The tDCS also led to longer fixation durations to rejectees and shorter fixation durations to rejecters. Taken together, these findings suggest a causal role for rVLPFC in down-regulation of negative emotions produced by social exclusion. This study has implications for clinical interventions targeting emotional regulation deficits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenhong He
- Department of Psychology, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China.,Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
| | - Yiqin Lin
- Department of Psychology, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Lisheng Xia
- College of Information Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Zhenli Liu
- Department of Psychology, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Dandan Zhang
- Department of Psychology, College of Psychology and Sociology, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China.,Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Affective and Social Cognitive Science, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China
| | - Rebecca Elliott
- Division of Neuroscience and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK
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Ironside M, Perlo S. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for the Treatment of Depression: a Review of the Candidate Mechanisms of Action. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 2018. [DOI: 10.1007/s40473-018-0138-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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30
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Peters JR, Chester DS, Walsh EC, DeWall CN, Baer RA. The rewarding nature of provocation-focused rumination in women with borderline personality disorder: a preliminary fMRI investigation. Borderline Personal Disord Emot Dysregul 2018; 5:1. [PMID: 29372058 PMCID: PMC5771000 DOI: 10.1186/s40479-018-0079-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2017] [Accepted: 01/04/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Understanding why individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) ruminate on prior provocations, despite its negative outcomes, is crucial to improving interventions. Provocation-focused rumination may be rewarding in the short term by amplifying anger and producing feelings of justification, validation, and increased energy, while reducing self-directed negative affect. If provocation-focused rumination is utilized regularly as a rewarding emotion regulation strategy, it could result in increased activation in reward-related neural regions. The present pilot study examined neural correlates of provocation-focused rumination, relative to other forms of thought, in BPD. METHOD Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was utilized to examine this theory in a pilot study of women diagnosed with BPD (n = 13) and healthy controls (n = 16). All participants received highly critical feedback on a previously written essay in the scanner, followed by prompts to engage in provocation-focused, self-focused, and neutral thought. RESULTS Whole-brain analyses showed that in response to the provocation, participants with BPD (compared to controls) demonstrated increased activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). BPD participants also showed greater activation in the dorsomedial PFC during provocation-focused rumination (relative to neutral-focus). Subsequent ROI analyses revealed that provocation-focused rumination (compared to neutral-focus) increased activation in the nucleus accumbens for the BPD group only. CONCLUSIONS These findings, while preliminary due to the small sample size and limitations of the protocol, provide initial data consistent with the proposed neurobiological mechanism promoting provocation-focused rumination in BPD. Directions for further research are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica R Peters
- 1Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital, 700 Butler Drive, Providence, RI 02906 USA
| | - David S Chester
- 2Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA USA
| | - Erin C Walsh
- 3Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC USA
| | - C Nathan DeWall
- 4Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY USA
| | - Ruth A Baer
- 4Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY USA
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Sellaro R, Nitsche MA, Colzato LS. The stimulated social brain: effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on social cognition. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2017; 1369:218-39. [PMID: 27206250 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.13098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an increasingly popular noninvasive neuromodulatory tool in the fields of cognitive and clinical neuroscience and psychiatry. It is an inexpensive, painless, and safe brain-stimulation technique that has proven to be effective in modulating cognitive and sensory-perceptual functioning in healthy individuals and clinical populations. Importantly, recent findings have shown that tDCS may also be an effective and promising tool for probing the neural mechanisms of social cognition. In this review, we present the state-of-the-art of the field of tDCS research in social cognition. By doing so, we aim to gather knowledge of the potential of tDCS to modulate social functioning and social decision making in healthy humans, and to inspire future research investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberta Sellaro
- Cognitive Psychology Unit & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, the Netherlands
| | - Michael A Nitsche
- Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany.,Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Resources, Dortmund, Germany.,Department of Neurology, University Medical Hospital Bergmannsheil, Bochum, Germany
| | - Lorenza S Colzato
- Cognitive Psychology Unit & Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden University, the Netherlands
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Darby RR, Pascual-Leone A. Moral Enhancement Using Non-invasive Brain Stimulation. Front Hum Neurosci 2017; 11:77. [PMID: 28275345 PMCID: PMC5319982 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2017.00077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2016] [Accepted: 02/08/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Biomedical enhancement refers to the use of biomedical interventions to improve capacities beyond normal, rather than to treat deficiencies due to diseases. Enhancement can target physical or cognitive capacities, but also complex human behaviors such as morality. However, the complexity of normal moral behavior makes it unlikely that morality is a single capacity that can be deficient or enhanced. Instead, our central hypothesis will be that moral behavior results from multiple, interacting cognitive-affective networks in the brain. First, we will test this hypothesis by reviewing evidence for modulation of moral behavior using non-invasive brain stimulation. Next, we will discuss how this evidence affects ethical issues related to the use of moral enhancement. We end with the conclusion that while brain stimulation has the potential to alter moral behavior, such alteration is unlikely to improve moral behavior in all situations, and may even lead to less morally desirable behavior in some instances.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Ryan Darby
- Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Cognitive Neurology Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA
| | - Alvaro Pascual-Leone
- Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Cognitive Neurology Unit at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School Boston, MA, USA
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Neuromodulation can reduce aggressive behavior elicited by violent video games. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2016; 17:452-459. [DOI: 10.3758/s13415-016-0490-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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Choi KM, Scott DT, Lim SL. The modulating effects of brain stimulation on emotion regulation and decision-making. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1186/s40810-016-0018-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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