1
|
Gan X, Zhou X, Li J, Jiao G, Jiang X, Biswal B, Yao S, Klugah-Brown B, Becker B. Common and distinct neurofunctional representations of core and social disgust in the brain: Coordinate-based and network meta-analyses. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 135:104553. [PMID: 35122784 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Revised: 01/02/2022] [Accepted: 01/30/2022] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Disgust represents a multifaceted defensive-avoidance response. On the behavioral level, the response includes withdrawal and a disgust-specific facial expression. While both serve the avoidance of pathogens, the latter additionally transmits social-communicative information. Given that common and distinct brain representation of the primary defensive-avoidance response (core disgust) and encoding of the social-communicative signal (social disgust) remain debated, we employed neuroimaging meta-analyses to (1) determine brain systems generally engaged in disgust processing, and (2) segregate common and distinct brain systems for core and social disgust. Disgust processing, in general, engaged a bilateral network encompassing the insula, amygdala, occipital and prefrontal regions. Core disgust evoked stronger reactivity in left-lateralized threat detection and defensive response network including amygdala, occipital and frontal regions, while social disgust engaged a right-lateralized superior temporal-frontal network engaged in social cognition. Anterior insula, inferior frontal and fusiform regions were commonly engaged during core and social disgust, suggesting a shared neurofunctional basis. We demonstrate a common and distinct neural basis of primary disgust responses and encoding of associated social-communicative signals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xianyang Gan
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China
| | - Xinqi Zhou
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China
| | - Jialin Li
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China; Max Planck School of Cognition, Leipzig 04103, Germany
| | - Guojuan Jiao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China
| | - Xi Jiang
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China
| | - Bharat Biswal
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China; Department of Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, NJ 7102, United States
| | - Shuxia Yao
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China
| | - Benjamin Klugah-Brown
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China.
| | - Benjamin Becker
- The Clinical Hospital of Chengdu Brain Science Institute, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Facial expression recognition: A meta-analytic review of theoretical models and neuroimaging evidence. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 127:820-836. [PMID: 34052280 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2020] [Revised: 04/03/2021] [Accepted: 05/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Discrimination of facial expressions is an elementary function of the human brain. While the way emotions are represented in the brain has long been debated, common and specific neural representations in recognition of facial expressions are also complicated. To examine brain organizations and asymmetry on discrete and dimensional facial emotions, we conducted an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis and meta-analytic connectivity modelling on 141 studies with a total of 3138 participants. We found consistent engagement of the amygdala and a common set of brain networks across discrete and dimensional emotions. The left-hemisphere dominance of the amygdala and AI across categories of facial expression, but category-specific lateralization of the vmPFC, suggesting a flexibly asymmetrical neural representations of facial expression recognition. These results converge to characteristic activation and connectivity patterns across discrete and dimensional emotion categories in recognition of facial expressions. Our findings provide the first quantitatively meta-analytic brain network-based evidence supportive of the psychological constructionist hypothesis in facial expression recognition.
Collapse
|
3
|
Ross P, Atkinson AP. Expanding Simulation Models of Emotional Understanding: The Case for Different Modalities, Body-State Simulation Prominence, and Developmental Trajectories. Front Psychol 2020; 11:309. [PMID: 32194476 PMCID: PMC7063097 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Accepted: 02/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent models of emotion recognition suggest that when people perceive an emotional expression, they partially activate the respective emotion in themselves, providing a basis for the recognition of that emotion. Much of the focus of these models and of their evidential basis has been on sensorimotor simulation as a basis for facial expression recognition - the idea, in short, that coming to know what another feels involves simulating in your brain the motor plans and associated sensory representations engaged by the other person's brain in producing the facial expression that you see. In this review article, we argue that simulation accounts of emotion recognition would benefit from three key extensions. First, that fuller consideration be given to simulation of bodily and vocal expressions, given that the body and voice are also important expressive channels for providing cues to another's emotional state. Second, that simulation of other aspects of the perceived emotional state, such as changes in the autonomic nervous system and viscera, might have a more prominent role in underpinning emotion recognition than is typically proposed. Sensorimotor simulation models tend to relegate such body-state simulation to a subsidiary role, despite the plausibility of body-state simulation being able to underpin emotion recognition in the absence of typical sensorimotor simulation. Third, that simulation models of emotion recognition be extended to address how embodied processes and emotion recognition abilities develop through the lifespan. It is not currently clear how this system of sensorimotor and body-state simulation develops and in particular how this affects the development of emotion recognition ability. We review recent findings from the emotional body recognition literature and integrate recent evidence regarding the development of mimicry and interoception to significantly expand simulation models of emotion recognition.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Paddy Ross
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, Durham, United Kingdom
| | | |
Collapse
|
4
|
Berthold-Losleben M, Habel U, Brehl AK, Freiherr J, Losleben K, Schneider F, Amunts K, Kohn N. Implicit Affective Rivalry: A Behavioral and fMRI Study Combining Olfactory and Auditory Stimulation. Front Behav Neurosci 2018; 12:313. [PMID: 30618666 PMCID: PMC6305346 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Aversive odors are highly salient stimuli that serve a protective function. Thus, emotional reactions elicited by negative odors may be hardly influenceable. We aim to elucidate if negative mood induced by negative odors can be modulated automatically by positively valenced stimuli. We included 32 healthy participants (16 men) in an fMRI design combining aversive and neutral olfactory stimuli with positive and neutral auditory stimuli to test the influence of aversive olfactory stimuli on subjective emotional state and brain activation when combined with positive and neutral auditory stimuli. The behavioral results show an interaction of negative olfactory stimuli on ratings of disgust, perceived valence of music, and subjective affective state, while positive auditory stimulation did not show this interaction. On a neuronal level, we observed main effects for auditory and olfactory stimulation, which are largely congruent with previous literature. However, the pairing of both stimuli was associated with attenuated brain activity in a set of brain areas (supplementary motor area, temporal pole, superior frontal gyrus) which overlaps with multisensory processing areas and pave the way for automatic emotion regulation. Our behavioral results and the integrated neural patterns provide evidence of predominance of olfaction in processing of affective rivalry from multiple sensory modalities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Mark Berthold-Losleben
- Division of Mental Healthcare, St. Olavs University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.,Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
| | - Ute Habel
- Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany
| | - Anne-Kathrin Brehl
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Jessica Freiherr
- Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.,Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV), Freising, Germany
| | | | - Frank Schneider
- Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany.,Düsseldorf University Hospital, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Katrin Amunts
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany
| | - Nils Kohn
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Chapman HA, Lee DH, Susskind JM, Bartlett MS, Anderson AK. The Face of Distaste: A Preliminary Study. Chem Senses 2017; 42:457-463. [PMID: 28486601 DOI: 10.1093/chemse/bjx024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Distaste is a primitive rejection impulse triggered by the ingestion of unpleasant tasting substances, many of which are toxic. Theoretical work has suggested that distaste may be the evolutionary precursor for both physical disgust, which serves to defend against disease and other threats to biological fitness, and moral disgust, which defends against threats to the social order. Consistent with this proposal, recent work has found that the facial expression of distaste may be similar to that of disgust. Specifically, raising of the upper lip has been reported in distaste, physical disgust, and moral disgust. However, competing evidence suggests that distaste and disgust expressions may differ, and the facial expressions of adult humans in response to distasteful stimuli remain poorly specified. To address this issue, we conducted a preliminary experiment to investigate the upper lip raise in adult volunteers (N = 15) as they tasted unpleasant, pleasant, and neutral liquids. We found increased raising of the upper lip for bitter and salty tastes relative to water and sweet, suggesting that the upper lip raise is indeed part of the distaste expression. Given evidence that the upper lip raise is also present in physical and moral disgust, these results are consistent with the proposed origins of disgust in distaste.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hanah A Chapman
- Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College, CUNY 2900 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11225, USA
| | - Daniel H Lee
- Institute of Cognitive Science, UCB 344, MUEN PSYCH Building D414 University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - Joshua M Susskind
- Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive - 0523, La Jolla, CA 92093-0523, USA and
| | - Marni S Bartlett
- Institute for Neural Computation, University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive - 0523, La Jolla, CA 92093-0523, USA and
| | - Adam K Anderson
- Department of Human Development, G77 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4401, USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Abstract
Pleasure is mediated by well-developed mesocorticolimbic circuitry and serves adaptive functions. In affective disorders, anhedonia (lack of pleasure) or dysphoria (negative affect) can result from breakdowns of that hedonic system. Human neuroimaging studies indicate that surprisingly similar circuitry is activated by quite diverse pleasures, suggesting a common neural currency shared by all. Wanting for reward is generated by a large and distributed brain system. Liking, or pleasure itself, is generated by a smaller set of hedonic hot spots within limbic circuitry. Those hot spots also can be embedded in broader anatomical patterns of valence organization, such as in a keyboard pattern of nucleus accumbens generators for desire versus dread. In contrast, some of the best known textbook candidates for pleasure generators, including classic pleasure electrodes and the mesolimbic dopamine system, may not generate pleasure after all. These emerging insights into brain pleasure mechanisms may eventually facilitate better treatments for affective disorders.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kent C Berridge
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1043, USA.
| | - Morten L Kringelbach
- Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 7JX, UK; Centre for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, University of Aarhus, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Ho CY, Berridge KC. Excessive disgust caused by brain lesions or temporary inactivations: mapping hotspots of the nucleus accumbens and ventral pallidum. Eur J Neurosci 2014; 40:3556-72. [PMID: 25229197 PMCID: PMC4236281 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.12720] [Citation(s) in RCA: 83] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2014] [Revised: 08/08/2014] [Accepted: 08/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Disgust is a prototypical type of negative affect. In animal models of excessive disgust, only a few brain sites are known in which localized dysfunction (lesions or neural inactivations) can induce intense 'disgust reactions' (e.g. gapes) to a normally pleasant sensation such as sweetness. Here, we aimed to map forebrain candidates more precisely, to identify where either local neuronal damage (excitotoxin lesions) or local pharmacological inactivation (muscimol/baclofen microinjections) caused rats to show excessive sensory disgust reactions to sucrose. Our study compared subregions of the nucleus accumbens shell, ventral pallidum, lateral hypothalamus, and adjacent extended amygdala. The results indicated that the posterior half of the ventral pallidum was the only forebrain site where intense sensory disgust gapes in response to sucrose were induced by both lesions and temporary inactivations (this site was previously identified as a hedonic hotspot for enhancements of sweetness 'liking'). By comparison, for the nucleus accumbens, temporary GABA inactivations in the caudal half of the medial shell also generated sensory disgust, but lesions never did at any site. Furthermore, even inactivations failed to induce disgust in the rostral half of the accumbens shell (which also contains a hedonic hotspot). In other structures, neither lesions nor inactivations induced disgust as long as the posterior ventral pallidum remained spared. We conclude that the posterior ventral pallidum is an especially crucial hotspot for producing excessive sensory disgust by local pharmacological/lesion dysfunction. By comparison, the nucleus accumbens appears to segregate sites for pharmacological disgust induction and hedonic enhancement into separate posterior and rostral halves of the medial shell.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chao-Yi Ho
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
| | | |
Collapse
|
8
|
Interoceptive-reflective regions differentiate alexithymia traits in depersonalization disorder. Psychiatry Res 2013; 214:66-72. [PMID: 23932225 PMCID: PMC4024664 DOI: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2012] [Revised: 11/12/2012] [Accepted: 05/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
It is unclear to what degree depersonalization disorder (DPD) and alexithymia share abnormal brain mechanisms of emotional dysregulation. We compared cerebral processing of facial expressions of emotion in individuals with DPD to normal controls (NC). We presented happy and sad emotion expressions in increasing intensities from neutral (0%) through mild (50%) to intense (100%) to DPD and non-referred NC subjects in an implicit event-related fMRI design, and correlated respective brain activations with responses on the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and its three subscales F1-F3. The TAS-20 predicts clinical diagnosis of DPD with a unique variance proportion of 38%. Differential regression analysis was utilized to ascertain brain regions for each alexithymia subscale. Differential regions of total alexithymia severity for happy emotion were the globus pallidus externus; for identifying feelings (TAS-20 F1 subscale), the right anterior insula; for description of feelings (F2), the right dorsal mid-anterior cingulate gyrus (BA 24); and for externally oriented cognitive style (F3), the left paracingulate gyrus (BA 32). For sad emotion, the differential region for the total TAS-20 score was the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus (BA 24); for TAS-20 F1, the left inferior anterior insula; for TAS-20 F2, the right PCC (BA 31); and for TAS-20 F3, the right orbital gyrus (BA 10). Supporting our hypotheses, the ascertained brain regions for TAS-20 subscales subserve interoception, monitoring and reflection of internal states and emotion. The presented analyses provide evidence that alexithymia plays a substantial role in emotional dysregulation in DPD, presumably based on restrictions in interoception.
Collapse
|
9
|
Luo Y, Shen W, Zhang Y, Feng TY, Huang H, Li H. Core disgust and moral disgust are related to distinct spatiotemporal patterns of neural processing: an event-related potential study. Biol Psychol 2013; 94:242-8. [PMID: 23816951 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2012] [Revised: 06/18/2013] [Accepted: 06/20/2013] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Core disgust is thought to rely more on sensory and perceptual processes, whereas moral disgust is thought to rely more on social evaluation processes. However, little is known about the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying these two types of disgust. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from participants while they performed a lexical decision task in which core- and moral-disgust words were intermixed with neutral words and pseudowords. Lexical judgment was faster for coredisgust words and slower for moral-disgust words, relative to the neutral words. Core-disgust words, relative to neutral words, elicited a larger early posterior negative (EPN), a larger N320, a smaller N400, and a larger late positive component (LPC), whereas moral disgust words elicited a smaller N320 and a larger N400 than neutral words. These results suggest that the N320 and N400 components are particularly sensitive to the neurocognitive processes that overlap in processing both core and moral disgust, whereas the EPN and LPC may reflect process that are particularly sensitive to core disgust.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yu Luo
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (SWU), Ministry of Education, Southwest University, 400715, China; School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
10
|
Broderick J, Grisham JR, Weidemann G. Disgust and fear responding in contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder during pictorial exposure. Behav Ther 2013; 44:27-38. [PMID: 23312424 DOI: 10.1016/j.beth.2012.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2011] [Revised: 04/12/2012] [Accepted: 05/30/2012] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
The emotion of disgust has been implicated in the development and maintenance of contamination-based obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In the present study nonclinical participants with high (n=26) and low (n=28) levels of OCD contamination symptoms were exposed to 2 categories of disgust stimuli (blood injury and body waste) across 4 blocks using standardized disgust images. Self-report disgust and fear were recorded, as well as cardiovascular heart rate. In both groups, an initial primary disgust reaction was observed. Self-report disgust and fear, but not heart rate deceleration, was greater in the high symptom group. The high symptom group showed reductions in heart rate deceleration, whereas the low symptom group did not. Significant differences in self-report changes across time were observed between the groups, with fear increasing to a greater extent for high contamination fearful individuals when viewing body waste images. The implications of these findings for theoretical models and clinical treatment of OCD with prominent contamination symptoms are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Joshua Broderick
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia.
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
11
|
Neuroscience of affect: brain mechanisms of pleasure and displeasure. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2013; 23:294-303. [PMID: 23375169 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2013.01.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 263] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2012] [Revised: 12/29/2012] [Accepted: 01/13/2013] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Affective neuroscience aims to understand how affect (pleasure or displeasure) is created by brains. Progress is aided by recognizing that affect has both objective and subjective features. Those dual aspects reflect that affective reactions are generated by neural mechanisms, selected in evolution based on their real (objective) consequences for genetic fitness. We review evidence for neural representation of pleasure in the brain (gained largely from neuroimaging studies), and evidence for the causal generation of pleasure (gained largely from brain manipulation studies). We suggest that representation and causation may actually reflect somewhat separable neuropsychological functions. Representation reaches an apex in limbic regions of prefrontal cortex, especially orbitofrontal cortex, influencing decisions and affective regulation. Causation of core pleasure or 'liking' reactions is much more subcortically weighted, and sometimes surprisingly localized. Pleasure 'liking' is especially generated by restricted hedonic hotspot circuits in nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral pallidum. Another example of localized valence generation, beyond hedonic hotspots, is an affective keyboard mechanism in NAc for releasing intense motivations such as either positively valenced desire and/or negatively valenced dread.
Collapse
|
12
|
Toronchuk JA, Ellis GFR. Affective neuronal selection: the nature of the primordial emotion systems. Front Psychol 2013; 3:589. [PMID: 23316177 PMCID: PMC3540967 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2012] [Accepted: 12/12/2012] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Based on studies in affective neuroscience and evolutionary psychiatry, a tentative new proposal is made here as to the nature and identification of primordial emotional systems. Our model stresses phylogenetic origins of emotional systems, which we believe is necessary for a full understanding of the functions of emotions and additionally suggests that emotional organizing systems play a role in sculpting the brain during ontogeny. Nascent emotional systems thus affect cognitive development. A second proposal concerns two additions to the affective systems identified by Panksepp. We suggest there is substantial evidence for a primary emotional organizing program dealing with power, rank, dominance, and subordination which instantiates competitive and territorial behavior and is an evolutionary contributor to self-esteem in humans. A program underlying disgust reactions which originally functioned in ancient vertebrates to protect against infection and toxins is also suggested.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Judith A Toronchuk
- Department of Psychology, Trinity Western University Langley, BC, Canada ; Department of Biology, Trinity Western University Langley, BC, Canada
| | | |
Collapse
|
13
|
Gotts SJ, Simmons WK, Milbury LA, Wallace GL, Cox RW, Martin A. Fractionation of social brain circuits in autism spectrum disorders. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2012; 135:2711-25. [PMID: 22791801 DOI: 10.1093/brain/aws160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 245] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorders are developmental disorders characterized by impairments in social and communication abilities and repetitive behaviours. Converging neuroscientific evidence has suggested that the neuropathology of autism spectrum disorders is widely distributed, involving impaired connectivity throughout the brain. Here, we evaluate the hypothesis that decreased connectivity in high-functioning adolescents with an autism spectrum disorder relative to typically developing adolescents is concentrated within domain-specific circuits that are specialized for social processing. Using a novel whole-brain connectivity approach in functional magnetic resonance imaging, we found that not only are decreases in connectivity most pronounced between regions of the social brain but also they are selective to connections between limbic-related brain regions involved in affective aspects of social processing from other parts of the social brain that support language and sensorimotor processes. This selective pattern was independently obtained for correlations with measures of social symptom severity, implying a fractionation of the social brain in autism spectrum disorders at the level of whole circuits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Stephen J Gotts
- Section on Cognitive Neuropsychology, Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
14
|
Lindquist KA, Wager TD, Kober H, Bliss-Moreau E, Barrett LF. The brain basis of emotion: a meta-analytic review. Behav Brain Sci 2012; 35:121-43. [PMID: 22617651 PMCID: PMC4329228 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x11000446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1119] [Impact Index Per Article: 93.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Researchers have wondered how the brain creates emotions since the early days of psychological science. With a surge of studies in affective neuroscience in recent decades, scientists are poised to answer this question. In this target article, we present a meta-analytic summary of the neuroimaging literature on human emotion. We compare the locationist approach (i.e., the hypothesis that discrete emotion categories consistently and specifically correspond to distinct brain regions) with the psychological constructionist approach (i.e., the hypothesis that discrete emotion categories are constructed of more general brain networks not specific to those categories) to better understand the brain basis of emotion. We review both locationist and psychological constructionist hypotheses of brain-emotion correspondence and report meta-analytic findings bearing on these hypotheses. Overall, we found little evidence that discrete emotion categories can be consistently and specifically localized to distinct brain regions. Instead, we found evidence that is consistent with a psychological constructionist approach to the mind: A set of interacting brain regions commonly involved in basic psychological operations of both an emotional and non-emotional nature are active during emotion experience and perception across a range of discrete emotion categories.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kristen A. Lindquist
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital/ /Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA 02129 Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 http://www.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/~lindqukr/
| | - Tor D. Wager
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 http://www.psych.colorado.edu/~tor/
| | - Hedy Kober
- Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519 http://medicine.yale.edu/psychiatry/people/hedy_kober.profile
| | - Eliza Bliss-Moreau
- California National Primate Research Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616
| | - Lisa Feldman Barrett
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115 Departments of Radiology and Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital/Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, MA 02129 http://www.affective-science.org/
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Abstract
Disgust is characterized by a remarkably diverse set of stimulus triggers, ranging from extremely concrete (bad tastes and disease vectors) to extremely abstract (moral transgressions and those who commit them). This diversity may reflect an expansion of the role of disgust over evolutionary time, from an origin in defending the body against toxicity and disease, through defense against other threats to biological fitness (e.g., incest), to involvement in the selection of suitable interaction partners, by motivating the rejection of individuals who violate social and moral norms. The anterior insula, and to a lesser extent the basal ganglia, are implicated in toxicity- and disease-related forms of disgust, although we argue that insular activation is not exclusive to disgust. It remains unclear whether moral disgust is associated with insular activity. Disgust offers cognitive neuroscientists a unique opportunity to study how an evolutionarily ancient response rooted in the chemical senses has expanded into a uniquely human social cognitive domain; many interesting research avenues remain to be explored.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hanah A Chapman
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, ON, Canada.
| | | |
Collapse
|
16
|
Borg C, de Jong PJ, Renken RJ, Georgiadis JR. Disgust trait modulates frontal-posterior coupling as a function of disgust domain. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2012; 8:351-8. [PMID: 22258801 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nss006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Following the two-stage model of disgust, 'core disgust' (e.g. elicited by rotten food) is extended to stimuli that remind us of our animal nature 'AR disgust' (e.g. mutilations, animalistic instincts). There is ample evidence that core and AR represent distinct domains of disgust elicitors. Moreover, people show large differences in their tendency to respond with disgust to potential disgust elicitors (propensity), as well as in their appraisal of experiencing disgust (sensitivity). Thus these traits may be important moderators of people's response patterns. Here, we aimed to find brain mechanisms associated with these distinct disgust domains and traits, as well as the interaction between them. The right ventrolateral occipitotemporal cortex, which preferentially responded to visual AR, was functionally coupled to the middle cingulate cortex (MCC), thalamus and prefrontal cortex (medial, dorsolateral), as a function of disgust domain. Coupling with the anterior part of MCC was modulated by disgust 'propensity', which was strongest during AR. Coupling with anterior insula and ventral premotor cortex was weaker, but relied fully on this domain-trait interaction. Disgust 'sensitivity' modulated left anterior insula activity irrespective of domain, and did not affect functional connectivity. Thus a frontal-posterior network that interacts with disgust 'propensity' dissects AR and core disgust.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Charmaine Borg
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
17
|
How one's favorite song activates the reward circuitry of the brain: Personality matters! Behav Brain Res 2011; 225:511-4. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.08.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2011] [Revised: 08/01/2011] [Accepted: 08/06/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
|
18
|
Ashworth F, Pringle A, Norbury R, Harmer CJ, Cowen PJ, Cooper MJ. Neural response to angry and disgusted facial expressions in bulimia nervosa. Psychol Med 2011; 41:2375-2384. [PMID: 21557893 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291711000626] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Processing emotional facial expressions is of interest in eating disorders (EDs) as impairments in recognizing and understanding social cues might underlie the interpersonal difficulties experienced by these patients. Disgust and anger are of particular theoretical and clinical interest. The current study investigated the neural response to facial expressions of anger and disgust in bulimia nervosa (BN). METHOD Participants were 12 medication-free women with BN in an acute episode (mean age 24 years), and 16 age-, gender- and IQ-matched healthy volunteers (HVs). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine neural responses to angry and disgusted facial expressions. RESULTS Compared with HVs, patients with BN had a decreased neural response in the precuneus to facial expressions of both anger and disgust and a decreased neural response to angry facial expressions in the right amygdala. CONCLUSIONS The neural response to emotional facial expressions in BN differs from that found in HVs. The precuneus response may be consistent with the application of mentalization theory to EDs, and the amygdala response with relevant ED theory. The findings are preliminary, but novel, and require replication in a larger sample.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- F Ashworth
- Oxford Doctoral Course in Clinical Psychology, University of Oxford, UK
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
19
|
Cross-emotion facial expression aftereffects. Vision Res 2011; 51:1889-96. [PMID: 21763713 DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2011.06.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2011] [Revised: 05/12/2011] [Accepted: 06/27/2011] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Increasing evidence suggests that the visual representations of different emotional facial expressions overlap. Here we used an adaptation paradigm to investigate overlap of anger, disgust and fear expressions. In Experiment 1, participants categorized faces morphed from neutral to anger or neutral to disgust after adaptation to expressions of anger, disgust, and fear. Adaptation to expressions of both anger and disgust was found to bias perception of anger expressions away from anger. For disgust expressions, adaptation to disgust biased perception away from disgust, whereas fear adaptation biased perception towards disgust. Adaptation to anger had no measurable effect. In Experiment 2, covering the mouth-region of the disgust adaptation face was found to severely diminish the effect of disgust adaptation on perception of anger targets whereas covering the nose- or eye-region had no effect. In Experiment 3, adaptation to anger had a substantial effect on perception of anger targets when the mouth-region of the anger face was covered; indicating that the results of Experiment 2 are not an artefact of the stimuli and procedures used. These results indicate that the visual representations of anger, disgust and fear expressions overlap to a considerable degree. Furthermore, the nature of this overlap appears related to the communicative functions of these expressions.
Collapse
|
20
|
Simmons WK, Martin A. Spontaneous resting-state BOLD fluctuations reveal persistent domain-specific neural networks. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2011; 7:467-75. [PMID: 21586527 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsr018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI) analyses have identified intrinsic neural networks supporting domain-general cognitive functions including language, attention, executive control and memory. The brain, however, also has a domain-specific organization, including regions that contribute to perceiving and knowing about others (the 'social' system) or manipulable objects designed to perform specific functions (the 'tool' system). These 'social' and 'tool' systems, however, might not constitute intrinsic neural networks per se, but rather only come online as needed to support retrieval of domain-specific information during social- or tool-related cognitive tasks. To address this issue, we functionally localized two regions in lateral temporal cortex activated when subjects perform social- and tool conceptual tasks. We then compared the strength of the correlations with these seed regions during rs-fcMRI. Here, we show that the 'social' and 'tool' neural networks are maintained even when subjects are not engaged in social- and tool-related information processing, and so constitute intrinsic domain-specific neural networks.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- W Kyle Simmons
- Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
| | | |
Collapse
|
21
|
Rane P, King J. Exploring aversion in an animal model of pre-motor stage Parkinson's disease. Neuroscience 2011; 181:189-95. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2011.03.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2010] [Revised: 02/18/2011] [Accepted: 03/01/2011] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
|
22
|
Ewbank MP, Fox E, Calder AJ. The Interaction Between Gaze and Facial Expression in the Amygdala and Extended Amygdala is Modulated by Anxiety. Front Hum Neurosci 2010; 4:56. [PMID: 20661452 PMCID: PMC2906373 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2010.00056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2009] [Accepted: 06/11/2010] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral evidence indicates that angry faces are seen as more threatening, and elicit greater anxiety, when directed at the observer, whereas the influence of gaze on the processing of fearful faces is less consistent. Recent research has also found inconsistent effects of expression and gaze direction on the amygdala response to facial signals of threat. However, such studies have failed to consider the important influence of anxiety on the response to signals of threat; an influence that is well established in behavioral research and recent neuroimaging studies. Here, we investigated the way in which individual differences in anxiety would influence the interactive effect of gaze and expression on the response to angry and fearful faces in the human extended amygdala. Participants viewed images of fearful, angry and neutral faces, either displaying an averted or direct gaze. We found that state anxiety predicted an increased response in the dorsal amygdala/substantia innominata (SI) to angry faces when gazing at, relative to away from the observer. By contrast, high state anxious individuals showed an increased amygdala response to fearful faces that was less dependent on gaze. In addition, the relationship between state anxiety and gaze on emotional intensity ratings mirrored the relationship between anxiety and the amygdala/SI response. These results have implications for understanding the functional role of the amygdala and extended amygdala in processing signals of threat, and are consistent with the proposed role of this region in coding the relevance or significance of a stimulus to the observer.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michael P Ewbank
- Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit Cambridge, UK
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
23
|
Calder AJ, Keane J, Young AW, Lawrence AD, Mason S, Barker RA. The relation between anger and different forms of disgust: implications for emotion recognition impairments in Huntington's disease. Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:2719-29. [PMID: 20580641 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.05.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2009] [Revised: 05/04/2010] [Accepted: 05/10/2010] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Initial reports of emotion recognition in Huntington's disease (HD) found disproportionate impairments in recognising disgust. Not all subsequent studies have found this pattern, and a review of the literature to date shows that marked impairments in recognising anger are also often seen in HD. However, the majority of studies have based their conclusions on a single test of facial expression recognition. In the current study we revisit this issue of emotion recognition in HD to address whether the pattern found on one test of facial expression recognition generalised to another, and to different modalities using tests of emotion recognition from facial expressions, vocal expressions, and short verbal vignettes. The results showed evidence of impairments in recognising anger, fear and disgust across the three domains, with recognition of anger the most severely impaired. Given work identifying different subtypes of disgust that are associated with different facial features, a second study examined the recognition of three disgust expressions that healthy participants reliably associate with unpleasant tastes, unpleasant smells, and a more general elaborated or expanded form of disgust that includes reactions to violations of moral standards. The results showed a disproportionate impairment in recognising faces associated with the expanded form, the subtype most closely aligned with anger. We conclude that the related emotions of disgust and anger associated with social disapproval are frequently impaired in HD and discuss factors that might cause one emotion to show more severe impairments than the other.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew J Calder
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, and Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, Forvie Site, Addenbrooke's Hosptial, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK.
| | | | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
24
|
No impairment of recognition and experience of disgust in a patient with a right-hemispheric lesion of the insula and basal ganglia. Neuropsychologia 2010; 48:1735-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.02.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2009] [Revised: 02/16/2010] [Accepted: 02/17/2010] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
|