1
|
Lamontagne SJ, Gilbert JR, Zabala PK, Waldman LR, Zarate CA, Ballard ED. Clinical, behavioral, and electrophysiological profiles along a continuum of suicide risk: evidence from an implicit association task. Psychol Med 2024; 54:1431-1440. [PMID: 37997749 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291723003331] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND An urgent need exists to identify neural correlates associated with differing levels of suicide risk and develop novel, rapid-acting therapeutics to modulate activity within these neural networks. METHODS Electrophysiological correlates of suicide were evaluated using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in 75 adults with differing levels of suicide risk. During MEG scanning, participants completed a modified Life-Death Implicit Association Task. MEG data were source-localized in the gamma (30-58 Hz) frequency, a proxy measure of excitation-inhibition balance. Dynamic causal modeling was used to evaluate differences in connectivity estimates between risk groups. A proof-of-concept, open-label, pilot study of five high risk participants examined changes in gamma power after administration of ketamine (0.5 mg/kg), an NMDAR antagonist with rapid anti-suicide ideation effects. RESULTS Implicit self-associations with death were stronger in the highest suicide risk group relative to all other groups, which did not differ from each other. Higher gamma power for self-death compared to self-life associations was found in the orbitofrontal cortex for the highest risk group and the insula and posterior cingulate cortex for the lowest risk group. Connectivity estimates between these regions differentiated the highest risk group from the full sample. Implicit associations with death were not affected by ketamine, but enhanced gamma power was found for self-death associations in the left insula post-ketamine compared to baseline. CONCLUSIONS Differential implicit cognitive processing of life and death appears to be linked to suicide risk, highlighting the need for objective measures of suicidal states. Pharmacotherapies that modulate gamma activity, particularly in the insula, may help mitigate risk.Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT02543983, NCT00397111.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Steven J Lamontagne
- Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Jessica R Gilbert
- Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Paloma K Zabala
- Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Laura R Waldman
- Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Carlos A Zarate
- Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Elizabeth D Ballard
- Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Zheng A, Chen X, Xiang G, Li Q, Du X, Liu X, Xiao M, Chen H. Association Between Negative Affect and Perceived Mortality Threat During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Brain Activity and Connectivity. Neuroscience 2023; 535:63-74. [PMID: 37913860 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2023.10.021] [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: 06/03/2023] [Revised: 10/21/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
The prevalence of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has been considered a major threat to physical and mental health around the world, causing great pressure and mortality threat to most people. The current study aimed to investigate the neurological markers underlying the relationship between perceived mortality threat (PMT) and negative affect (NA). We examined whether the regional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) before the COVID-19 outbreak (October 2019 to December 2019, wave 1) were predictive for NA and PMT during the mid-term of the COVID-19 pandemic (February 22 to 28, 2020, wave 2) among 603 young adults (age range 17-22, 70.8% females). Results indicated that PMT was associated with spontaneous activity in several regions (e.g., inferior temporal gyrus, medial occipital gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, angular gyrus, and cerebellum) and their RSFC with the distributed regions of the default mode network and cognitive control network. Furthermore, longitudinal mediation models showed that ALFF in the cerebellum, medial occipital gyrus, medial frontal gyrus, and angular gyrus (wave 1) predicted PMT (wave 2) through NA (wave 2). These findings revealed functional neural markers of PMT and suggest candidate mechanisms for explaining the complex relationship between NA and mental/neural processing related to PMT in the circumstance of a major crisis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anqi Zheng
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China.
| | - Ximei Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China.
| | - Guangcan Xiang
- Tian Jiabing College of Education, China Three Gorges University, Yichang 443002, China.
| | - Qingqing Li
- School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, China.
| | - Xiaoli Du
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China.
| | - Xinyuan Liu
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China.
| | - Mingyue Xiao
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China.
| | - Hong Chen
- Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Southwest University), Ministry of Education, Chongqing 400715, China; Research Center of Psychology and Social Development, Chongqing 400715, China.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Hirano K, Oba K, Saito T, Kawashima R, Sugiura M. Social-coalitional trait is related to coping capacity with mortality threat: association with leadership and a reduced parietal response to mortality salience. Front Behav Neurosci 2023; 17:1188878. [PMID: 37521724 PMCID: PMC10372426 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1188878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/28/2023] [Indexed: 08/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Coping with mortality threat, a psychological threat unique to humans and distinct from general emotional distress, is traditionally characterized by immediate suppression and prolonged worldview defense within the framework of the influential terror management theory (TMT). Views regarding the personality-trait concepts for this coping capacity diverge: some favor a broad definition based on general psychological attitudes (e.g., hardiness), while others prefer a narrow definition linked to interpersonal attitudes related to social coalition (e.g., attachment style and self-transcendence). Methods Using functional MRI, we presented healthy older participants with death-related words and explored correlations between the neural responses to mortality threat and the factor scores of the Power to Live questionnaire, which measures eight resilience-related psychobehavioral traits. Results We observed a significant association between the factor score and a neural response only for leadership; individuals with a high leadership score exhibited reduced neural response to mortality salience in the right inferior parietal lobule. Discussion Within the TMT framework, our findings align with the concept of the immediate suppression of death-thought accessibility associated with a secure attachment style, a trait conceptually linked to leadership. These findings highlight the unique role for the narrowly defined social-coalitional trait during the immediate stage of the coping process with mortality salience, in contrast to the broadly defined resilience-related personality traits associated with a prolonged worldview defense process. The deterioration of this coping process could constitute a distinct aspect of psychopathology, separate from dysfunction in general emotion regulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kanan Hirano
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Kentaro Oba
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Toshiki Saito
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ryuta Kawashima
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| | - Motoaki Sugiura
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
- International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Gao T, Han S. Distinct neurocognitive mechanisms underlying learning and representations of symbols of life and death. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:1328-1346. [PMID: 35368080 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Life and death are 2 fundamental concepts regarding existence of organisms. People often signify these concepts using symbols to facilitate communications, but how the brain learns and represents these symbols remains unclear. In the present study, we quantified behavioral and brain responses during learning associations between words ("life" or "death") with shapes as concrete referents. Behavioral responses to word-shape pairs showed an affirmative response bias to life-shape pairs but a denial response bias to death-shape pairs. Multimodal brain imaging results revealed that the right frontal and dorsal cingulate cortices monitored these response biases, respectively. Moreover, relative to unlearned shapes, life-related shapes induced increased alpha (9-14 Hz) oscillations in the right parietal cortex and precuneus, whereas death-related shapes enhanced beta (15-30 Hz) oscillations in the left parietal cortex, superior temporal sulcus, and precuneus. Our findings unraveled distinct neurocognitive mechanisms underlying learning and representations of concrete referents of life and death concepts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tianyu Gao
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, 52 Haidian Road, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Shihui Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, 52 Haidian Road, Beijing 100080, China
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Xu Z, Zhu R, Zhang S, Zhang S, Liang Z, Mai X, Liu C. Mortality salience enhances neural activities related to guilt and shame when recalling the past. Cereb Cortex 2022; 32:5145-5162. [PMID: 35102376 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2021] [Revised: 12/31/2021] [Accepted: 01/01/2022] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Mortality salience (MS) influences cognition and behavior. However, its effect on emotion (especially moral emotions) and the underlying neural correlates are unclear. We investigated how MS priming modulated guilt and shame in a later recall task using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The behavioral results indicated that MS increased self-reported guilt but not shame. The neural results showed that MS strengthened neural activities related to the psychological processes of guilt and shame. Specifically, for both guilt and shame, MS increased activation in a region associated with self-referential processing (ventral medial prefrontal cortex). For guilt but not shame, MS increased the activation of regions associated with cognitive control (orbitofrontal cortex) and emotion processing (amygdala). For shame but not guilt, MS decreased brain functional connectivity related to self-referential processing. A direct comparison showed that MS more strongly decreased a functional connectivity related to self-referential processing in the shame than in the guilt condition. Additionally, the activation of insula during MS priming was partly predictive of neural activities related to guilt and shame in the subsequent recall task. Our study sheds light on the psychological and neural mechanisms of MS effects on moral emotions and provides theoretical insights for enriching terror management theory.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhenhua Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Ruida Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Business School, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Shen Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Sihui Zhang
- Department of General Adult Psychiatry, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg 69115, Germany
| | - Zilu Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Xiaoqin Mai
- Department of Psychology, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China
| | - Chao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Brain Imaging and Connectomics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Fan X, Gao T, Luo S, Gelfand MJ, Han S. Religious Afterlife Beliefs Decrease Behavioral Avoidance of Symbols of Mortality. PERSONALITY AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY BULLETIN 2022:1461672221096281. [PMID: 35611400 DOI: 10.1177/01461672221096281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
An astonishing cultural phenomenon is where, far away from or close to a city center, people in different societies localize cemeteries that function as both sites of memory of lost ones and symbols of mortality. Yet a psychological account of such differences in behavioral responses to symbols of mortality is lacking. Across five studies (N = 1,590), we tested a psychological model that religious afterlife beliefs decrease behavioral avoidance of symbols of mortality (BASM) by developing and validating a word-position task for quantifying BASM. We showed evidence that religious believers, including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists, exhibited decreased BASM relative to nonbelievers. We also provide evidence for a causal relationship between religious afterlife beliefs and reduced BASM. Our findings provide new insight into the functional role of religious afterlife beliefs in modulating human avoidance behavior in response to symbols of mortality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyue Fan
- Peking University, Beijing, China.,Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
| | | | - Siyang Luo
- Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China
| | | | | |
Collapse
|
7
|
Kuylen M, Han S, Harris L, Huys Q, Monsó S, Pitman A, Fleming SM, David AS. Mortality Awareness: New Directions. OMEGA-JOURNAL OF DEATH AND DYING 2022:302228221100640. [PMID: 35531947 DOI: 10.1177/00302228221100640] [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] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Thinking about our own death and its salience in relation to decision making has become a fruitful area of multidisciplinary research across the breadth of psychological science. By bringing together experts from philosophy, cognitive and affective neuroscience, clinical and computational psychiatry we have attempted to set out the current state of the art and point to areas of further enquiry. One stimulus for doing this is the need to engage with policy makers who are now having to consider guidelines on suicide and assisted suicide so that they may be aware of their own as well as the wider populations' cognitive processes when confronted with the ultimate truth of mortality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Margot Kuylen
- Mental Health, Ethics and Law Research Group, Department of Psychological Medicine, 4616King's College London, London, UK
| | - Shihui Han
- Culture and Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, 12465Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Lasana Harris
- Department of Experimental Psychology, 4919University College London, London, UK
| | - Quentin Huys
- Division of Psychiatry and Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, 4919University College London, London, UK
| | - Susana Monsó
- Department of Logic, History, and Philosophy of Science, 16757Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Stephen M Fleming
- Department of Experimental Psychology, 4919University College London, London, UK
| | - Anthony S David
- UCL Institute of Mental Health, 4919University College London, London, UK
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Zhou X, Pan Y, Zhang R, Bei L, Li X. Mortality threat mitigates interpersonal competition: an EEG-based hyperscanning study. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2021; 16:621-631. [PMID: 33755182 PMCID: PMC8138089 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsab033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2020] [Revised: 02/21/2021] [Accepted: 03/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Awareness of death has been shown to influence human cognition and behavior. Yet, how mortality threat (MT) impacts our daily social behavior remains elusive. To address this issue, we developed a dyadic experimental model and recruited 86 adults (43 dyads) to complete two computer-based tasks (i.e. competitive and cooperative button-pressing). We manipulated dyads’ awareness of death [MT vs neutral control (NC)] and simultaneously measured their neurophysiological activity using electroencephalography during the task. Several fundamental observations were made. First, the MT group showed significantly attenuated competition and slightly promoted cooperation. Second, compared to NC, MT significantly decreased gamma-band inter-brain synchronization (IBS) in the competitive context, which was associated with increased subjective fear of death within dyads. Notably, those effects were context-specific: we did not observe comparable results in the cooperative context. Finally, a machine-learning approach was successfully used to discriminate between the MT and NC groups based on accumulated IBS. Together, these findings indicate that MT to some extent mitigates interpersonal competition, and such mitigation might be associated with changes in gamma-band IBS.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyu Zhou
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Yafeng Pan
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm 17165, Sweden
| | - Ruqian Zhang
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Litian Bei
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Xianchun Li
- Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Yanagisawa K, Kashima ES, Shigemune Y, Nakai R, Abe N. Neural Representations of Death in the Cortical Midline Structures Promote Temporal Discounting. Cereb Cortex Commun 2021; 2:tgab013. [PMID: 34296159 PMCID: PMC8152905 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgab013] [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: 06/09/2020] [Revised: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Death is an important reminder that our lives are finite. Although some studies have shown that thinking about one’s own death increases temporal discounting (i.e., the devaluing of future rewards), the underlying neural mechanisms are still unknown. In a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment, we compared the neural and behavioral processes of temporal discounting across four conditions involving distinct types of future thinking (death related, negative, neutral, and positive). Replicating prior research, the behavioral evidence showed that temporal discounting increased when thinking about one’s own future death. Multivoxel pattern analysis showed that death-related future thinking was decoded in default mode regions, including the inferior parietal lobule, precuneus, and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC). When future thinking was death related (vs. negative), increased temporal discounting was associated with a higher decoding accuracy in the precuneus and MPFC. The present findings suggest that death-related neural representations are distributed across default mode regions, and neural populations in the cortical midline structures play a crucial role in the integration of one's own death into economic decision-making.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kuniaki Yanagisawa
- Department of Psychology, Graduate School of Humanities, Kobe University, Kobe 657-8501 Japan
| | - Emiko S Kashima
- School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic 3086, Australia
| | - Yayoi Shigemune
- Research and Development Initiative, Chuo University, Tokyo 192-0393, Japan
| | - Ryusuke Nakai
- Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| | - Nobuhito Abe
- Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Hirano K, Oba K, Saito T, Yamazaki S, Kawashima R, Sugiura M. Brain Activation during Thoughts of One's Own Death and Its Linear and Curvilinear Correlations with Fear of Death in Elderly Individuals: An fMRI Study. Cereb Cortex Commun 2021; 2:tgab003. [PMID: 34296152 PMCID: PMC8152848 DOI: 10.1093/texcom/tgab003] [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: 06/05/2020] [Revised: 12/14/2020] [Accepted: 12/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Facing one's own death and managing the fear of death are important existential issues, particularly in older populations. Although recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated brain responses to death-related stimuli, none has examined whether this brain activation was specific to one's own death or how it was related to dispositional fear of death. In this study, during fMRI, 34 elderly participants (aged, 60-72 years) were presented with either death-related or death-unrelated negative words and asked to evaluate the relevance of these words to the "self" or the "other." The results showed that only the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was selectively activated during self-relevant judgments of death-related words. Regression analyses of the effect of fear of death on brain activation during death-related thoughts identified a significant negative linear correlation in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and an inverted-U-shaped correlation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) only during self-relevant judgments. Our results suggest potential involvement of the SMA in the existential aspect of thoughts of death. The distinct fear-of-death-dependent responses in the SMG and PCC may reflect fear-associated distancing of the physical self and the processing of death-related thoughts as a self-relevant future agenda, respectively.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kanan Hirano
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| | - Kentaro Oba
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| | - Toshiki Saito
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| | - Shohei Yamazaki
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| | - Ryuta Kawashima
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan
| | - Motoaki Sugiura
- Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8575, Japan.,International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8572, Japan
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Self-esteem and cultural worldview buffer mortality salience effects on responses to self-face: Distinct neural mediators. Biol Psychol 2020; 155:107944. [PMID: 32810564 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2020.107944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2020] [Revised: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 08/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Terror management theory proposes cultural worldview and self-esteem as two buffers against death anxiety. The neural mediators of these buffering effects, however, have not been fully understood. The present work investigated neural mediation mechanisms between self-esteem/cultural trait (self-construal) and mortality salience (MS) effects on self-face processing. We found that MS (vs. NA) priming eliminated self-face advantage in behavioral judgments of face-orientation in low self-esteem individuals and reduced self-face advantage in behavioral judgments of facial-familiarity in individuals with high interdependent self-construals. Our functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results showed that, following MS priming, insular activities mediated the relationship between self-esteem and self-face advantage in face-orientation judgments, whereas dorsal medial prefrontal activity mediated the relationship between interdependent self-construal and self-face advantage in face-familiarity judgments. Our findings suggest that distinct neural mechanisms are engaged in mediating the relationships between self-esteem/cultural trait and MS effects on the emotional and cognitive processes of self-relevant information.
Collapse
|
12
|
Increased Amygdala Activations during the Emotional Experience of Death-Related Pictures in Complicated Grief: An fMRI Study. J Clin Med 2020; 9:jcm9030851. [PMID: 32245009 PMCID: PMC7141501 DOI: 10.3390/jcm9030851] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2020] [Revised: 03/15/2020] [Accepted: 03/16/2020] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Complicated grief (CG) is associated with alterations in various components of emotional processing. The main aim of this study was to identify brain activations in individuals diagnosed with CG while they were observing positive, negative, and death-related pictures. The participants included 19 individuals with CG and 19 healthy non-bereaved (NB) individuals. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans were obtained during an emotional experience task. The perception of death-related pictures differed between the CG group and the NB group, with a greater activation in the former of the amygdala, putamen, hypothalamus, middle frontal gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex. Amygdala and putamen activations were significantly correlated with Texas Revised Inventory of Grief scores in the CG group, suggesting that the higher level of grief in this group was associated with a greater activation in both brain areas while watching death-related pictures. A significant interaction between image type and group was observed in the amygdala, midbrain, periaqueductal gray, cerebellum, and hippocampus, largely driven by the greater activation of these areas in the CG group when watching death-related pictures and the lower activation when watching positive-valence pictures. In this study, individuals with CG showed significantly distinct brain activations in response to different emotional images.
Collapse
|
13
|
Gilbert JR, Ballard ED, Galiano CS, Nugent AC, Zarate CA. Magnetoencephalographic Correlates of Suicidal Ideation in Major Depression. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2020; 5:354-363. [PMID: 31928949 PMCID: PMC7064429 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2019.11.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2019] [Revised: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 11/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Defining the neurobiological underpinnings of suicidal ideation (SI) is crucial to improving our understanding of suicide. This study used magnetoencephalographic gamma power as a surrogate marker for population-level excitation-inhibition balance to explore the underlying neurobiology of SI and depression. In addition, effects of pharmacological intervention with ketamine, which has been shown to rapidly reduce SI and depression, were assessed. METHODS Data were obtained from 29 drug-free patients with major depressive disorder who participated in an experiment comparing subanesthetic ketamine (0.5 mg/kg) with a placebo saline infusion. Magnetoencephalographic recordings were collected at baseline and after ketamine and placebo infusions. During scanning, patients rested with their eyes closed. SI and depression were assessed, and a linear mixed-effects model was used to identify brain regions where gamma power and both SI and depression were associated. Two regions of the salience network (anterior insula, anterior cingulate) were then probed using dynamic causal modeling to test for ketamine effects. RESULTS Clinically, patients showed significantly reduced SI and depression after ketamine administration. In addition, distinct regions in the anterior insula were found to be associated with SI compared with depression. In modeling of insula-anterior cingulate connectivity, ketamine lowered the membrane capacitance for superficial pyramidal cells. Finally, connectivity between the insula and anterior cingulate was associated with improvements in depression symptoms. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that the anterior insula plays a key role in SI, perhaps via its role in salience detection. In addition, transient changes in superficial pyramidal cell membrane capacitance and subsequent increases in cortical excitability might be a mechanism through which ketamine improves SI.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jessica R Gilbert
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
| | - Elizabeth D Ballard
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Christina S Galiano
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Allison C Nugent
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Carlos A Zarate
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Ballard ED, Reed JL, Szczepanik J, Evans JW, Yarrington JS, Dickstein DP, Nock MK, Nugent AC, Zarate CA. Functional Imaging of the Implicit Association of the Self With Life and Death. Suicide Life Threat Behav 2019; 49:1600-1608. [PMID: 30761601 PMCID: PMC6692253 DOI: 10.1111/sltb.12543] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Accepted: 01/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE A critical need exists to identify objective markers of suicide ideation. One potential suicide risk marker is the Suicide Implicit Association Task (S-IAT), a behavioral task that uses differential reaction times to compare the implicit association between the self and death to the implicit association between the self and life. Individuals with a stronger association between the self and death on the S-IAT are more likely to attempt suicide in the future. To better understand the neural underpinnings of the implicit association between self and either life or death, a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) version of the S-IAT was adapted and piloted in healthy volunteers. METHOD An fMRI version of the S-IAT was administered to 28 healthy volunteers (ages 18-65, 14F/14M). RESULTS Behavioral results were comparable to those seen in non-scanner versions of the task. The task was associated with patterns of neural activation in areas relevant to emotional processing, specifically the insula and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. CONCLUSIONS Performance on the S-IAT fMRI task may reflect scores obtained outside of the scanner. In future evaluations, this task could help assess whether individuals at increased risk of suicide display a different pattern of neural activation in response to self/death and self/life stimuli.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth D. Ballard
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
| | - Jessica L. Reed
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
| | - Joanna Szczepanik
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
| | - Jennifer W. Evans
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
| | - Julia S. Yarrington
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
| | - Daniel P. Dickstein
- PediMIND Program, Bradley Hospital, Division of Child/Adolescent Psychiatry, Brown University School of Medicine East Providence, RI
| | | | - Allison C. Nugent
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
| | - Carlos A. Zarate
- Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Gao T, Zhou Y, Li W, Pfabigan DM, Han S. Neural mechanisms of reinforcement learning under mortality threat. Soc Neurosci 2019; 15:170-185. [PMID: 31526160 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2019.1668846] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
Reinforcement learning - to adjust behaviors in response to feedback regarding reward and punishment - is pivotal to our survival. The present work investigated whether and how reinforcement learning is affected by thoughts of mortality that endanger one's survival. We recorded electroencephalographic while adults performed a probabilistic learning task that required a forced-choice between two visual patterns for monetary reward for different beneficiaries (i.e., self, stranger, or no one) followed by reward or no-reward feedback. We found that verbal reminders of mortality (vs. negative emotion) enlarged an early positive component (P1) at the occipital electrodes but decreased a late positive potential (LPP) at the frontocentral electrodes in response to learning stimuli. While no-reward feedback relative to reward feedback stimuli elicited a feedback-related negativity (FRN) and increased non-phase locked theta band (4-8 Hz) activity at the frontocentral electrodes during reward learning for all beneficiaries, verbal reminders of mortality (vs. negative emotion) significantly reduced the FRN amplitude but failed to modulate the theta band activity. These results suggest that mortality salience enhances early attentional processing but dampens late cognitive evaluation of the learning stimuli during reinforcement learning. Moreover, mortality salience decreases the neural sensitivity to feedback signaling the absence of monetary reward.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Tianyu Gao
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuqing Zhou
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Wenxin Li
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Daniela M Pfabigan
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Shihui Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Dor-Ziderman Y, Lutz A, Goldstein A. Prediction-based neural mechanisms for shielding the self from existential threat. Neuroimage 2019; 202:116080. [PMID: 31401240 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2019] [Revised: 07/25/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The human mind has an automatic tendency to avoid awareness of its mortality. How this protective mechanism is implemented at the neuronal level is unknown. Here we test the hypothesis that prediction-based mechanisms mediate death-denial by shielding the self from existential threat. We provide evidence that self-specific predictive processes are downregulated during the perception of death-related linguistic stimuli and that this mechanism can predict fear-of-death. Using a magnetoencephalography visual mismatch paradigm, we show that the brain's automatic prediction response to deviancy is eliminated when death words and self-face representations are coupled, but remains present when coupled to other-face or to negative words. We further demonstrate a functional link between how death impacts self-image vs. Other-image, and show that it predicts fear-of-death. Finally, we confirm this effect in a behavioral active inference experiment showing that death-related words bias perceptual judgment on facial self and other morphed video clips. Together these results lay out, for the first time, a plausible neural-based mechanism of death-denial.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Y Dor-Ziderman
- Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel.
| | - A Lutz
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM, U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Lyon 1 University, Lyon, 69500, France
| | - A Goldstein
- Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel; Department of Psychology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
| |
Collapse
|
17
|
Luo S, Wu B, Fan X, Zhu Y, Wu X, Han S. Thoughts of death affect reward learning by modulating salience network activity. Neuroimage 2019; 202:116068. [PMID: 31398436 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2018] [Revised: 07/03/2019] [Accepted: 08/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Thoughts of death substantially influence human behavior and psychological well-being. A large number of behavioral studies have shown evidence that asking individuals to think about death or mortality salience leads to significant changes of their behaviors. These findings support the well-known terror management theory to account for the psychological mechanisms of existential anxiety. However, despite increasing findings of mortality salience effects on human behavior, how the brain responds to reminders of mortality and changes the activity underlying subsequent behavior remains poorly understood. By scanning healthy adults (N = 80) of both sexes using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we showed that, relative to reading emotionally neutral sentences, reading sentences that evoke death-related thoughts decreased the salience network activity, reduced the connectivity between the cingulate cortex and other brain regions during a subsequent resting state, and dampened the speed of learning reward-related objects and cingulate responses to loss feedback during a subsequent reward learning task. In addition, the decreased resting-state cingulate connectivity mediated the association between salience network deactivations in response to reminders of mortality and suppressed cingulate responses to loss feedback. Finally, the suppressed cingulate responses to loss feedback further predicted the dampened speed of reward learning. Our findings demonstrate sequential modulations of the salience network activity by mortality salience, which provide a neural basis for understanding human behavior under mortality threat.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Siyang Luo
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
| | - Bing Wu
- Department of Radiology, The 7th Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaoyue Fan
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Yiyi Zhu
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Xinhuai Wu
- Department of Radiology, The 7th Medical Center of PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
| | - Shihui Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China.
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Chen Y, Shen Y, Shi Z, Zhang X, Li H, Xu X, Guan L, Han S, Yang J. Mortality salience impairs self-referential processing: Neurophysiological and behavioral evidence. CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s12144-019-00193-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
|
19
|
Hu CS, Huang J, Ferrari M, Wang Q, Xie D, Zhang H. Sadder but wiser: Emotional reactions and wisdom in a simulated suicide intervention. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOLOGY 2018; 54:791-799. [PMID: 30288744 DOI: 10.1002/ijop.12536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2017] [Accepted: 08/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Scholars within the Berlin paradigm have analysed participants' responses to a hypothetical vignette about a friend's suicide ideation. However, no study has yet focused on participants' emotional reactions to this scenario, an important aspect of wisdom performance. We conducted a Thin-Slice Wisdom study where participants were asked to give advice to a hypothetical friend contemplating suicide. We analysed their emotional profiles using facial expression analysis software (FACET2.1 and FACEREADER7.1). Participants' verbal responses were also transcribed and then scored by 10 raters using the Berlin criteria. Results revealed that the sadder the participants felt, the wiser their performance. Wiser participants may have been better at exploring this sad, but true, existential human dilemma.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Chao S Hu
- Institutes of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Centre for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jinhao Huang
- Institutes of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Centre for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| | - Michel Ferrari
- Applied Psychology & Human Development Department, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Qiandong Wang
- Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Dong Xie
- Department of Psychology and Counseling, University of Central Arkansas, Conway, AR, USA
| | - Haotian Zhang
- Institutes of Psychological Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Centre for Cognition and Brain Disorders, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.,Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Hangzhou, China
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Holbrook C, Gordon CL, Iacoboni M. Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Posterior Medial Frontal Cortex to Experimentally Reduce Ideological Threat Responses. J Vis Exp 2018. [PMID: 30320754 PMCID: PMC6235344 DOI: 10.3791/58204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Decades of behavioral science research have documented functional shifts in attitudes and ideological adherence in response to various challenges, but little work to date has illuminated the neural mechanisms underlying these dynamics. This paper describes how continuous theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation may be employed to experimentally assess the causal contribution of cortical regions to threat-related ideological shifts. In the example protocol provided here, participants are exposed to a threat prime-an explicit reminder of their own inevitable death and bodily decomposition-following a downregulation of the posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) or a sham stimulation. Next, disguised within a series of distracter tasks, participants' relative degree of ideological adherence is assessed-in the present example, with regard to coalitional prejudice and religious belief. Participants for whom the pMFC has been downregulated exhibit less coalitionally biased responses to an immigrant critical of the participants' national in-group, and less conviction in positive afterlife beliefs (i.e., God, angels, and heaven), despite having recently been reminded of death. These results complement prior findings that continuous theta burst stimulation of the pMFC influences social conformity and sharing and illustrate the feasibility of investigating the neural basis of high-level social cognitive shifts using transcranial magnetic stimulation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Colin Holbrook
- Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced;
| | - Chelsea L Gordon
- Department of Cognitive and Information Sciences, University of California, Merced
| | - Marco Iacoboni
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Fan X, Han S. Neural responses to one's own name under mortality threat. Neuropsychologia 2017; 108:32-41. [PMID: 29174049 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.11.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2017] [Revised: 11/07/2017] [Accepted: 11/21/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Recent behavioral research has shown evidence for greater inclination to avoid symbolic cues of mortality threats in nonbelievers than Christians. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying religious influences on behavioral tendency to avoid mortality threats remain unknown. We tested the hypothesis of distinct arousal/attention-related brain responses to self-related information under mortality in nonbelievers and Christians. We recorded event-related brain potentials (ERPs) from Christians and nonbelievers while they viewed their own names and a stranger's name (i.e., Zuma) that flashed around a cue word (i.e., death, pain or life) located at the center of a screen. While own name vs. a stranger's name induced faster responses and larger P3 amplitudes, the P3 amplitudes to own name showed distinct patterns of modulations by the cue words in nonbelievers and Christians. Specifically, own name elicited larger P3 amplitudes in the death than pain/life cue conditions in nonbelievers but not in Christians. Moreover, the differential P3 amplitude to own names in the death vs. life cue conditions predicted greater inclination to avoid mortality threats in nonbelievers but not in Christians. Our findings provide a neurocognitive account of increased behavioral tendency to avoid mortality threats in nonbelievers than in Christians.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyue Fan
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China
| | - Shihui Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing 100080, China.
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Luo S, Yu D, Han S. 5-HTTLPR moderates the association between interdependence and brain responses to mortality threats. Hum Brain Mapp 2017; 38:6157-6171. [PMID: 28921740 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2017] [Revised: 08/10/2017] [Accepted: 09/08/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
While behavioral research suggests an association between cultural worldview and decreased anxiety of death, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain unclear. Using functional MRI, we investigated whether and how the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR), which has been associated with mental disorders such as anxiety and depression, moderates the associations between a cultural trait (i.e., interdependence) and self-report of death anxiety/depression and between interdependence and brain responses to mortality threats. Long/long and short/short allele carriers of the 5-HTTLPR were scanned using fMRI while they performed a one-back task on death-related, death-unrelated negative, and neutral words. Participants' interdependence and death anxiety/depression were assessed using questionnaires after scanning. We found that participants who assessed themselves with greater interdependence reported lower death anxiety/depression and showed decreased neural response to death-related words in emotion-related brain regions including the anterior cingulate, putamen, and thalamus. However, these results were evident in long/long allele carriers of the 5-HTTLPR but not in short/short allele carriers who even showed positive associations between interdependence and neural activities in the anterior cingulate, putamen and thalamus in response to death-related words. Our findings suggest candidate mechanisms for explaining the complex relationship between genotype, cultural traits, and mental/neural responses to mortality threats. Hum Brain Mapp 38:6157-6171, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Siyang Luo
- Department of Psychology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Social Cognitive Neuroscience and Mental Health, and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Dian Yu
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| | - Shihui Han
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Shi Z, Han S. Distinct effects of reminding mortality and physical pain on the default-mode activity and activity underlying self-reflection. Soc Neurosci 2017; 13:372-383. [PMID: 28486837 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2017.1329165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Behavioral research suggests that reminding both mortality and negative affect influences self-related thoughts. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we tested the hypothesis that reminders of mortality and physical pain decrease brain activity underlying self-related thoughts. Three groups of adults underwent priming procedures during which they answered questions pertaining to mortality, physical pain, or leisure time, respectively. Before and after priming, participants performed personality trait judgments on oneself or a celebrity, identified the font of words, or passively viewed a fixation. The default-mode activity and neural activity underlying self-reflection were identified by contrasting viewing a fixation vs. font judgment and trait judgments on oneself vs. a celebrity, respectively. The analyses of the pre-priming functional MRI (fMRI) data identified the default-mode activity in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), ventral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), and parahippocampal gyrus, and the activity underlying instructed self-reflection in both the ventral and dorsal regions of the MPFC. The analyses of the post-priming fMRI data revealed that, relative to leisure time priming, reminding mortality significantly reduced the default-mode PCC activity, and reminding physical pain significantly decreased the dorsal MPFC activity during instructed self-reflection. Our findings suggest distinct neural underpinnings of the effect of reminding morality and aversive emotion on default-mode and instructed self-reflection.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhenhao Shi
- a School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China.,b Center for Studies of Addiction, Department of Psychiatry , University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine , Philadelphia , PA , USA
| | - Shihui Han
- a School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Klackl J, Jonas E, Fritsche I. Neural evidence that the behavioral inhibition system is involved in existential threat processing. Soc Neurosci 2017; 13:355-371. [PMID: 28394199 DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2017.1308880] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
According to threat-general perspectives, existentially threatening prospects such as the inevitability of mortality or uncontrollability represent motivational discrepancies that activate the behavioral inhibition system (BIS). The aim of the present paper is to test this claim using neuroimaging and neurophysiological methods. In Study 1, we used neuroimaging to show that both mortality- and uncontrollability-related stimuli elicit activation in the anterior cingulate cortex, which is a key BIS region in humans. Focusing on the idea that BIS activation is associated with increased attention, Study 2 used electroencephalography to demonstrate that both mortality- and uncontrollability-related stimuli enhanced the late positive potential, an indicator of motivated attention. Together, these studies provide support for the model's prediction that existential threat activates the BIS.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Klackl
- a Department of Psychology , University of Salzburg , Salzburg , Austria
| | - Eva Jonas
- a Department of Psychology , University of Salzburg , Salzburg , Austria
| | - Immo Fritsche
- b Department of Psychology , University of Leipzig , Leipzig , Germany
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Wendelberg L, Volden F, Yildirim-Yayilgan S. Death anxiety and visual oculomotor processing of arousing stimuli in a free view setting. Scand J Psychol 2017; 58:131-141. [DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2016] [Accepted: 12/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Frode Volden
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Norwegian Media Technology Lab; Gjøvik Norway
| | - Sule Yildirim-Yayilgan
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Norwegian Information Security Lab; Gjøvik Norway
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
Self-esteem buffers the mortality salience effect on the implicit self-face processing. PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2015.04.032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
|
27
|
Holbrook C, Izuma K, Deblieck C, Fessler DMT, Iacoboni M. Neuromodulation of group prejudice and religious belief. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2015; 11:387-94. [PMID: 26341901 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsv107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2014] [Accepted: 08/31/2015] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
People cleave to ideological convictions with greater intensity in the aftermath of threat. The posterior medial frontal cortex (pMFC) plays a key role in both detecting discrepancies between desired and current conditions and adjusting subsequent behavior to resolve such conflicts. Building on prior literature examining the role of the pMFC in shifts in relatively low-level decision processes, we demonstrate that the pMFC mediates adjustments in adherence to political and religious ideologies. We presented participants with a reminder of death and a critique of their in-group ostensibly written by a member of an out-group, then experimentally decreased both avowed belief in God and out-group derogation by downregulating pMFC activity via transcranial magnetic stimulation. The results provide the first evidence that group prejudice and religious belief are susceptible to targeted neuromodulation, and point to a shared cognitive mechanism underlying concrete and abstract decision processes. We discuss the implications of these findings for further research characterizing the cognitive and affective mechanisms at play.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Colin Holbrook
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA,
| | - Keise Izuma
- Department of Psychology, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Choi Deblieck
- Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA and
| | - Daniel M T Fessler
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Marco Iacoboni
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| |
Collapse
|
28
|
Li X, Liu Y, Luo S, Wu B, Wu X, Han S. Mortality salience enhances racial in-group bias in empathic neural responses to others' suffering. Neuroimage 2015; 118:376-85. [PMID: 26074201 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.06.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2015] [Revised: 06/05/2015] [Accepted: 06/05/2015] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral research suggests that mortality salience (MS) leads to increased in-group identification and in-group favoritism in prosocial behavior. What remains unknown is whether and how MS influences brain activity that mediates emotional resonance with in-group and out-group members and is associated with in-group favoritism in helping behavior. The current work investigated MS effects on empathic neural responses to racial in-group and out-group members' suffering. Experiments 1 and 2 respectively recorded event related potentials (ERPs) and blood oxygen level dependent signals to pain/neutral expressions of Asian and Caucasian faces from Chinese adults who had been primed with MS or negative affect (NA). Experiment 1 found that an early frontal/central activity (P2) was more strongly modulated by pain vs. neutral expressions of Asian than Caucasian faces, but this effect was not affected by MS vs. NA priming. However, MS relative to NA priming enhanced racial in-group bias in long-latency neural response to pain expressions over the central/parietal regions (P3). Experiment 2 found that MS vs. NA priming increased racial in-group bias in empathic neural responses to pain expression in the anterior and mid-cingulate cortex. Our findings indicate that reminding mortality enhances brain activity that differentiates between racial in-group and out-group members' emotional states and suggest a neural basis of in-group favoritism under mortality threat.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyang Li
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University
| | - Yi Liu
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University
| | - Siyang Luo
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University
| | - Bing Wu
- Department of Radiology, Beijing Military General Hospital, Beijing, China
| | - Xinhuai Wu
- Department of Radiology, Beijing Military General Hospital, Beijing, China.
| | - Shihui Han
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, China; PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University, Beijing, China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University.
| |
Collapse
|
29
|
Luo S, Shi Z, Yang X, Wang X, Han S. Reminders of mortality decrease midcingulate activity in response to others' suffering. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 9:477-86. [PMID: 23327932 PMCID: PMC3989130 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nst010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2012] [Accepted: 01/09/2013] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Reminders of mortality influence human social cognition, but whether and how reminders of mortality affect brain activity underlying social cognition remains unclear. To test whether increasing mortality salience modulates neural responses to others' suffering, we scanned healthy adults who viewed video clips showing others in pain using functional magnetic resonance imaging. One group of participants were primed to increase mortality salience and another group were primed with negative affect in terms of fear/anxiety. We found that perceiving painful vs non-painful stimuli in the pre-priming session activated the midcingulate/dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (MCC/dMPFC), bilateral anterior insula/inferior frontal cortex, bilateral secondary somatosensory cortex and left middle temporal gyrus. However, MCC/dMPFC activity in response to perceived pain in others was significantly decreased in the post-priming session by the mortality salience priming, but was not influenced by the negative affect priming. Moreover, subjective fear of death induced by the priming procedures mediated the change in MCC/dMPFC activity across the priming procedures. Subjective fear of death also moderated the co-variation of MCC/dMPFC and left insular activity during perception of others in pain. Our findings indicate that reminders of mortality decrease neural responses to others' suffering and this effect is mediated by the subjective fear of death.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Siyang Luo
- Department of Psychology, Peking University, 5 Yiheyuan Road, Beijing 100871, P. R. China.
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
30
|
Jonas E, McGregor I, Klackl J, Agroskin D, Fritsche I, Holbrook C, Nash K, Proulx T, Quirin M. Threat and Defense. ADVANCES IN EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-800052-6.00004-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 182] [Impact Index Per Article: 18.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
|
31
|
Klackl J, Jonas E, Kronbichler M. Existential neuroscience: self-esteem moderates neuronal responses to mortality-related stimuli. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2013; 9:1754-61. [PMID: 24222712 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nst167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
According to terror management theory, self-esteem serves as a buffer against existential anxiety. This proposition is well supported empirically, but its neuronal underpinnings are poorly understood. Therefore, in the present neuroimaging study, our aim was to test how self-esteem affects our neural circuitry activation when death-related material is processed. Consistent with previous findings, the bilateral insula responded less to death-related stimuli relative to similarly unpleasant, but death-unrelated sentences, an effect that might reflect a decrease in the sense of oneself in the face of existential threat. In anterior parts of the insula, this 'deactivation' effect was more pronounced for high self-esteem individuals, suggesting that the insula might be of core importance to understanding the anxiety-buffering effect of self-esteem. In addition, low self-esteem participants responded with enhanced activation to death-related over unpleasant stimuli in bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal and medial orbitofrontal cortex, suggesting that regulating death-related thoughts might be more effortful to these individuals. Together, this suggests that the anxiety-buffering effect of self-esteem might be implemented in the brain in the form of both insula-dependent awareness mechanisms and prefrontal cortex-dependent regulation mechanisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Klackl
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, Center for Neurocognitive Research, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler-Clinic, Paracelsus Private Medical University, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
| | - Eva Jonas
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, Center for Neurocognitive Research, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler-Clinic, Paracelsus Private Medical University, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
| | - Martin Kronbichler
- Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, Center for Neurocognitive Research, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler-Clinic, Paracelsus Private Medical University, 5020 Salzburg, Austria Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, Center for Neurocognitive Research, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler-Clinic, Paracelsus Private Medical University, 5020 Salzburg, Austria Department of Psychology, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, Center for Neurocognitive Research, University of Salzburg, 5020 Salzburg, Austria, and Neuroscience Institute, Christian Doppler-Clinic, Paracelsus Private Medical University, 5020 Salzburg, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
32
|
Dynamic neural processing of linguistic cues related to death. PLoS One 2013; 8:e67905. [PMID: 23840787 PMCID: PMC3695929 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0067905] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2012] [Accepted: 05/21/2013] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Behavioral studies suggest that humans evolve the capacity to cope with anxiety induced by the awareness of death's inevitability. However, the neurocognitive processes that underlie online death-related thoughts remain unclear. Our recent functional MRI study found that the processing of linguistic cues related to death was characterized by decreased neural activity in human insular cortex. The current study further investigated the time course of neural processing of death-related linguistic cues. We recorded event-related potentials (ERP) to death-related, life-related, negative-valence, and neutral-valence words in a modified Stroop task that required color naming of words. We found that the amplitude of an early frontal/central negativity at 84-120 ms (N1) decreased to death-related words but increased to life-related words relative to neutral-valence words. The N1 effect associated with death-related and life-related words was correlated respectively with individuals' pessimistic and optimistic attitudes toward life. Death-related words also increased the amplitude of a frontal/central positivity at 124-300 ms (P2) and of a frontal/central positivity at 300-500 ms (P3). However, the P2 and P3 modulations were observed for both death-related and negative-valence words but not for life-related words. The ERP results suggest an early inverse coding of linguistic cues related to life and death, which is followed by negative emotional responses to death-related information.
Collapse
|