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Nguyen QC, Tasdizen T, Alirezaei M, Mane H, Yue X, Merchant JS, Yu W, Drew L, Li D, Nguyen TT. Neighborhood built environment, obesity, and diabetes: A Utah siblings study. SSM Popul Health 2024; 26:101670. [PMID: 38708409 PMCID: PMC11068633 DOI: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2024.101670] [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: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 04/02/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Background This study utilizes innovative computer vision methods alongside Google Street View images to characterize neighborhood built environments across Utah. Methods Convolutional Neural Networks were used to create indicators of street greenness, crosswalks, and building type on 1.4 million Google Street View images. The demographic and medical profiles of Utah residents came from the Utah Population Database (UPDB). We implemented hierarchical linear models with individuals nested within zip codes to estimate associations between neighborhood built environment features and individual-level obesity and diabetes, controlling for individual- and zip code-level characteristics (n = 1,899,175 adults living in Utah in 2015). Sibling random effects models were implemented to account for shared family attributes among siblings (n = 972,150) and twins (n = 14,122). Results Consistent with prior neighborhood research, the variance partition coefficients (VPC) of our unadjusted models nesting individuals within zip codes were relatively small (0.5%-5.3%), except for HbA1c (VPC = 23%), suggesting a small percentage of the outcome variance is at the zip code-level. However, proportional change in variance (PCV) attributable to zip codes after the inclusion of neighborhood built environment variables and covariates ranged between 11% and 67%, suggesting that these characteristics account for a substantial portion of the zip code-level effects. Non-single-family homes (indicator of mixed land use), sidewalks (indicator of walkability), and green streets (indicator of neighborhood aesthetics) were associated with reduced diabetes and obesity. Zip codes in the third tertile for non-single-family homes were associated with a 15% reduction (PR: 0.85; 95% CI: 0.79, 0.91) in obesity and a 20% reduction (PR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.70, 0.91) in diabetes. This tertile was also associated with a BMI reduction of -0.68 kg/m2 (95% CI: -0.95, -0.40). Conclusion We observe associations between neighborhood characteristics and chronic diseases, accounting for biological, social, and cultural factors shared among siblings in this large population-based study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quynh C. Nguyen
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Tolga Tasdizen
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Mitra Alirezaei
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Scientific Computing and Imaging Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
| | - Heran Mane
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Xiaohe Yue
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Junaid S. Merchant
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Weijun Yu
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Laura Drew
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States
| | - Dapeng Li
- Department of Geography and the Environment, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States
| | - Thu T. Nguyen
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Maryland School of Public Health, College Park, MD, United States
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2
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Tor A, Garcia SM. The neuroscience of social comparison and competition. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2023:10.3758/s13415-023-01107-2. [PMID: 37286762 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-023-01107-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
The study of competition from a social comparison perspective offers valuable insights into the neuroscience of social judgment and decision making under uncertainty. When engaging in social comparison, individuals seek and assess information about similarities or differences between others and themselves, in large part to improve their self-evaluation. By providing information about one's relative position, abilities, outcomes, and more, social comparisons can inform competitive judgments and decisions. People reasonably turn to social comparisons to reduce uncertainty before, during, and after competition. However, the extent to which they do so and the behavioral consequences of social comparisons often fail to match the potential benefits of improved self-evaluation. An examination of the developing neuroscience of social comparison and competition in light of the behavioral evidence reveals numerous questions that merit further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avishalom Tor
- Notre Dame Law School, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, USA.
| | - Stephen M Garcia
- Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, CA, USA
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3
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Wang Y, Li L, Cai J, Li H, Wang C. Incidental physical pain reduces brain activities associated with affective social feedback and increases aggression. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2023; 18:6650606. [PMID: 35894605 PMCID: PMC9949500 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsac048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Revised: 06/24/2022] [Accepted: 07/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Physical pain may lead to aggressive behavior in a social context. However, it is unclear whether this is related to changes of social information processing. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying pain-induced aggression using functional magnetic resonance imaging. In the experiment, 59 healthy participants were recruited: 31 were treated with topical capsaicin cream (pain group) and 28 with hand cream (control group). Participants completed a social network aggression task, during which they underwent two phases: feedback processing and attack exerting. The results revealed that participants in the pain group exhibited more aggression than those in the control group. During the feedback-processing phase, physical pain reduced brain activation in the right insula, left orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, which typically exhibited stronger activation in response to negative (and positive) vs neutral social feedback in the control group. However, during the attack-exerting phase, pain did not significantly alter the activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that pain increased aggression, while before that, it suppressed brain activities of the salience network involved in the process of salient social information and the value system associated with the value representation of social events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanfang Wang
- 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.,Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China
| | - Lu 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
| | - Junhao Cai
- Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA
| | - Huaifang Li
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tongji Hospital of Tongji University, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200065, China
| | - Chenbo Wang
- 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.,Institute of Brain and Education Innovation, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China.,Shanghai Changning Mental Health Center, Shanghai 200335, China
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4
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Dissociation of behavioral and neural responses to provocation during reactive aggression in healthy adults with high versus low externalization. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE, & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2022; 22:1130-1144. [PMID: 35091989 PMCID: PMC9458579 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-021-00981-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/16/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
The externalizing spectrum describes a range of heterogeneous personality traits and behavioral patterns, primarily characterized by antisocial behavior, disinhibition, and substance (mis)use. In psychopathology, abnormalities in neural threat, reward responses and the impulse-control system may be responsible for these externalizing symptoms. Within the non-clinical range, mechanisms remain still unclear. In this fMRI-study, 61 healthy participants (31 men) from the higher versus lower range of the non-clinical variation in externalization (31 participants with high externalization) as assessed by the subscales disinhibition and meanness of the Triarchic-Psychopathy-Measure (TriPM) performed a monetary modified Taylor-Aggression-Paradigm (mTAP). This paradigm consisted of a mock competitive-reaction-time-task played against a fictional opponent with preprogrammed win- and lose-trials. In lose-trials, participants were provoked by subtraction of an amount of money between 0 and 90 cents. As a manipulation check, provocation induced a significant rise in behavioral aggression levels linked with an increased activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). High externalization predicted reduced ACC responses to provocation. However, high externalizing participants did not behave more aggressively than the low externalization group. Additionally, the high externalizing group showed a significantly lower positive affect while no group differences emerged for negative affect. In conclusion, high externalization in the non-clinical range was related to neural alterations in regions involved in affective decision-making as well as to changes in affect but did not lead to higher behavioral aggression levels in response to the mTAP. This is in line with previous findings suggesting that aberrations at multiple levels are essential for developing externalizing disorders.
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5
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Zheltyakova M, Korotkov A, Masharipov R, Myznikov A, Didur M, Cherednichenko D, Wagels L, Habel U, Kireev M, Votinov M. Social Interaction With an Anonymous Opponent Requires Increased Involvement of the Theory of Mind Neural System: An fMRI Study. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:807599. [PMID: 35645745 PMCID: PMC9136332 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.807599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2021] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
An anonymous interaction might facilitate provoking behavior and modify the engagement of theory of mind (TOM) brain mechanisms. However, the effect of anonymity when processing unfair behavior of an opponent remains largely unknown. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study applied the Taylor aggression paradigm, introducing an anonymous opponent to this task. Thirty-nine healthy right-handed subjects were included in the statistical analysis (13 males/26 females, mean age 24.5 ± 3.6 years). A player winning the reaction-time game could subtract money from the opponent during the task. Participants behaved similarly to both introduced and anonymous opponents. However, when an anonymous opponent (when compared to the introduced opponent) subtracted money, the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) demonstrated an increased BOLD signal and increased functional connectivity with the left IFG. Further, increased functional connectivity between the right IFG, the right temporal parietal junction and precuneus was observed during the perception of high provocation (subtracting a large amount of money) from the anonymous compared to the introduced opponent. We speculate that the neural changes may underlie different inferences about the opponents’ mental states. The idea that this reorganization of the TOM network reflects the attempt to understand the opponent by “completing” socially relevant details requires further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maya Zheltyakova
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Science, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Alexander Korotkov
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Science, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Alexander Korotkov,
| | - Ruslan Masharipov
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Science, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Artem Myznikov
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Science, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Michael Didur
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Science, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Denis Cherednichenko
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Science, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Lisa Wagels
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Ute Habel
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Maxim Kireev
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Science, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Institute for Cognitive Studies, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
| | - Mikhail Votinov
- N.P. Bechtereva Institute of the Human Brain, Russian Academy of Science, Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Medical Faculty, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
- *Correspondence: Mikhail Votinov,
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6
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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.
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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
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7
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Tarai S, Qurratul QA, Ratre V, Bit A. Neurocognitive functions of prosocial and unsocial incongruency information during language comprehension: evidence from time–frequency analysis of EEG signals. Med Biol Eng Comput 2022; 60:1033-1053. [DOI: 10.1007/s11517-022-02528-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 02/04/2022] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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8
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Göttlich M, Buades-Rotger M, Wiechert J, Beyer F, Krämer UM. Structural covariance of amygdala subregions is associated with trait aggression and endogenous testosterone in healthy individuals. Neuropsychologia 2021; 165:108113. [PMID: 34896406 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.108113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2021] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Many studies point toward volume reductions in the amygdala as a potential neurostructural marker for trait aggression. However, most of these findings stem from clinical samples, rendering unclear whether the findings generalize to non-clinical populations. Furthermore, the notion of neural networks suggests that interregional correlations in gray matter volume (i.e., structural covariance) can explain individual differences in aggressive behavior beyond local univariate associations. Here, we tested whether structural covariance between amygdala subregions and the rest of the brain is associated with self-reported aggression in a large sample of healthy young students (n = 263; 49% women). Salivary testosterone concentrations were measured for a subset of n = 40 male and n = 36 female subjects, allowing us to investigate the influence of endogenous testosterone on structural covariance. Aggressive individuals showed enhanced covariance between left superficial amygdala (SFA) and left dorsal anterior insula (dAI), but lower covariance between right laterobasal amygdala (LBA) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). These structural patterns overlap with functional networks involved in the genesis and regulation of aggressive behavior, respectively. With increasing endogenous testosterone, we observed stronger structural covariance between right centromedial amygdala (CMA) and right medial prefrontal cortex in men and between left CMA and bilateral orbitofrontal cortex in women. These results speak for structural covariance of amygdala subregions as a robust correlate of trait aggression in healthy individuals. Moreover, regions that showed structural covariance with the amygdala modulated by either testosterone or aggression did not overlap, suggesting a complex role of testosterone in human social behavior beyond facilitating aggressiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Göttlich
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Macià Buades-Rotger
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Juliana Wiechert
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Frederike Beyer
- Psychology Department, Queen Mary University, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ulrike M Krämer
- Department of Neurology, University Clinic of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
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9
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Boccadoro S, Wagels L, Puiu AA, Votinov M, Weidler C, Veselinovic T, Demko Z, Raine A, Neuner I. A meta-analysis on shared and distinct neural correlates of the decision-making underlying altruistic and retaliatory punishment. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:5547-5562. [PMID: 34415078 PMCID: PMC8559514 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2021] [Revised: 08/07/2021] [Accepted: 08/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals who violate social norms will most likely face social punishment sanctions. Those sanctions are based on different motivation aspects, depending on the context. Altruistic punishment occurs if punishment aims to re‐establish the social norms even at cost for the punisher. Retaliatory punishment is driven by anger or spite and aims to harm the other. While neuroimaging research highlighted the neural networks supporting decision‐making in both types of punishment in isolation, it remains unclear whether they rely on the same or distinct neural systems. We ran an activation likelihood estimation meta‐analysis on functional magnetic resonance imaging data on 24 altruistic and 19 retaliatory punishment studies to investigate the neural correlates of decision‐making underlying social punishment and whether altruistic and retaliatory punishments share similar brain networks. Social punishment reliably activated the bilateral insula, inferior frontal gyrus, midcingulate cortex (MCC), and superior and medial frontal gyri. This network largely overlapped with activation clusters found for altruistic punishment. However, retaliatory punishment revealed only one cluster in a posterior part of the MCC, which was not recruited in altruistic punishment. Our results support previous models on social punishment and highlight differential involvement of the MCC in altruistic and retaliatory punishments, reflecting the underlying different motivations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Boccadoro
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Lisa Wagels
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Andrei A Puiu
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Mikhail Votinov
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,JARA-Institute Brain Structure Function Relationship (INM 10), Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Carmen Weidler
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Tanja Veselinovic
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Zachary Demko
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Adrian Raine
- Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| | - Irene Neuner
- Departments of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, School of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Jülich, Germany.,JARA-BRAIN - Translational Medicine, Aachen, Germany
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10
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Kähkönen JE, Krämer UM, Buades-Rotger M, Beyer F. Regulating interpersonal stress: the link between heart-rate variability, physical exercise and social perspective taking under stress. Stress 2021; 24:753-762. [PMID: 33818287 DOI: 10.1080/10253890.2021.1907339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interactions can be stressful, especially if they involve provocation or ambiguity. At the same time, such interactions necessitate social cognition. The question thus arises how stress affects social cognition and how personality attributes modulate this effect. The aim of the current study was to investigate the link between emotional reactivity, physical exercise, and social cognition under stress. As a measure of social cognition, we used spontaneous perspective taking, i.e., the degree to which participants represented the mental state of another agent. Studying young female participants, we investigated how physiological regulation, measured through resting heart-rate variability, is related to spontaneous social perspective taking under stress, and to predicted anger in an ambiguous social scenario. When controlling for resting heart rate, vagally mediated heart-rate variability was negatively correlated with the effect of stress on perspective taking, indicating that good physiological regulation supports social cognition under stress. Further, participants who reported to exercise at least once a week showed higher perspective taking under stress than less active participants. Finally, we found tentative evidence for participants who exercised regularly to show reduced predicted anger in response to an ambiguous provocation. Our findings suggest that good physiological regulation and regular physical exercise support social cognition under stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenni E Kähkönen
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Ulrike M Krämer
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Department of Psychology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Macià Buades-Rotger
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Frederike Beyer
- Department of Biological and Experimental Psychology, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
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11
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Konzok J, Kreuzpointner L, Henze GI, Wagels L, Kärgel C, Weidacker K, Schiffer B, Eisenbarth H, Wüst S, Kudielka BM. Validation of a monetary Taylor Aggression Paradigm: Associations with trait aggression and role of provocation sequence. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2020.103960] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
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12
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Avvenuti G, Leo A, Cecchetti L, Franco MF, Travis F, Caramella D, Bernardi G, Ricciardi E, Pietrini P. Reductions in perceived stress following Transcendental Meditation practice are associated with increased brain regional connectivity at rest. Brain Cogn 2020; 139:105517. [PMID: 31945602 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2020.105517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2019] [Revised: 12/17/2019] [Accepted: 01/06/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is defined as a mental process of transcending using a silent mantra. Previous work showed that relatively brief period of TM practice leads to decreases in stress and anxiety. However, whether these changes are subserved by specific morpho-functional brain modifications (as observed in other meditation techniques) is still unclear. Using a longitudinal design, we combined psychometric questionnaires, structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) to investigate the potential brain modifications underlying the psychological effects of TM. The final sample included 19 naïve subjects instructed to complete two daily 20-min TM sessions, and 15 volunteers in the control group. Both groups were evaluated at recruitment (T0) and after 3 months (T1). At T1, only meditators showed a decrease in perceived anxiety and stress (t(18) = 2.53, p = 0.02), which correlated negatively with T1-T0 changes in functional connectivity among posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), precuneus and left superior parietal lobule. Additionally, TM practice was associated with increased connectivity between PCC and right insula, likely reflecting changes in interoceptive awareness. No structural changes were observed in meditators or control subjects. These preliminary findings indicate that beneficial effects of TM may be mediated by functional brain changes that take place after a short practice period of 3 months.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulia Avvenuti
- MoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy
| | - Andrea Leo
- MoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy
| | - Luca Cecchetti
- MoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy
| | | | | | - Davide Caramella
- Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Giulio Bernardi
- MoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy
| | - Emiliano Ricciardi
- MoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy
| | - Pietro Pietrini
- MoMiLab Research Unit, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy.
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13
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Psycho-emotional status but not cognition is changed under the combined effect of ionizing radiations at doses related to deep space missions. Behav Brain Res 2019; 362:311-318. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.01.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2018] [Revised: 01/10/2019] [Accepted: 01/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
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14
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The neural correlates of alcohol-related aggression. COGNITIVE AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2019; 18:203-215. [PMID: 29313253 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-017-0558-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Alcohol intoxication is implicated in approximately half of all violent crimes. Over the past several decades, numerous theories have been proposed to account for the influence of alcohol on aggression. Nearly all of these theories imply that altered functioning in the prefrontal cortex is a proximal cause. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, 50 healthy young men consumed either a low dose of alcohol or a placebo and completed an aggression paradigm against provocative and nonprovocative opponents. Provocation did not affect neural responses. However, relative to sober participants, during acts of aggression, intoxicated participants showed decreased activity in the prefrontal cortex, caudate, and ventral striatum, but heightened activation in the hippocampus. Among intoxicated participants, but not among sober participants, aggressive behavior was positively correlated with activation in the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These results support theories that posit a role for prefrontal cortical dysfunction as an important factor in intoxicated aggression.
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15
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Fanning JR, Coleman M, Lee R, Coccaro EF. Subtypes of aggression in intermittent explosive disorder. J Psychiatr Res 2019; 109:164-172. [PMID: 30551023 PMCID: PMC6699742 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.10.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2018] [Revised: 09/05/2018] [Accepted: 10/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Research in aggression has distinguished two major subtypes of aggressive behavior: hostile and instrumental. Previous research has examined these subtypes in healthy individuals and forensic samples but not in intermittent explosive disorder (IED), a disorder characterized by recurrent and severe aggressive behavior. We examined aggression subtypes in individuals with IED, healthy subjects, and psychiatric control subjects. We also considered the relationship between aggression subtypes and measures of trait anger and impulsivity to evaluate whether the hostile/instrumental dichotomy adequately captures the heterogeneity of aggressive behavior in this sample. Finally, we consider the implications of these results for research on aggression, including neuroscience research on aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Royce Lee
- McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, United States
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16
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Kokhan VS, Lebedeva-Georgievskaya KB, Kudrin VS, Bazyan AS, Maltsev AV, Shtemberg AS. An investigation of the single and combined effects of hypogravity and ionizing radiation on brain monoamine metabolism and rats' behavior. LIFE SCIENCES IN SPACE RESEARCH 2019; 20:12-19. [PMID: 30797429 DOI: 10.1016/j.lssr.2018.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2018] [Revised: 11/23/2018] [Accepted: 11/28/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ionizing radiation and hypogravity can cause central nervous system (CNS) dysfunctions. This is a key limiting factor for deep space missions. Up until now, the mechanisms through which they affect the neural tissue are not completely understood. OBJECTIVES We studied how the combination of hypogravity (antiorthostatic suspension model, AS) and ionizing radiations (γ-quanta and 1H+ together, R) affects the CNS. METHODS We applied separately and in combination AS and R to determine the influence of these factors on behavior and metabolism of monoamines in Wistar rat's brain. RESULTS We found out that R has a slight effect on both the behavior and metabolism of monoamines. However, when applied in combination with AS the former was able to reduce the negative effects of the latter. The combined effect of ionizing radiation and hypogravity led to the recovery of locomotor activity, orientation and exploratory behavior, and long-term context memory impaired under the impact of hypogravity only. These changes came together with an increase in the serotonin and dopamine turnover in all of the brain structures that were studied. CONCLUSIONS We received the first evidence of interferential interaction between the effects of ionizing radiation and hypogravity factors with regard to a behavior and monoamine turnover in the brain. Further studies with heavy nuclei at relevant doses (<0.5 Gy) are needed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viktor S Kokhan
- Laboratory of Radiation and Extreme Neurophysiology, Institute of Biomedical Problems RAS, Khoroshevskoe shosse 76A, Moscow 123007, Russia.
| | - Kseniya B Lebedeva-Georgievskaya
- Laboratory of Radiation and Extreme Neurophysiology, Institute of Biomedical Problems RAS, Khoroshevskoe shosse 76A, Moscow 123007, Russia
| | - Vladimir S Kudrin
- Laboratory of Radiation and Extreme Neurophysiology, Institute of Biomedical Problems RAS, Khoroshevskoe shosse 76A, Moscow 123007, Russia
| | - Ara S Bazyan
- Laboratory of Radiation and Extreme Neurophysiology, Institute of Biomedical Problems RAS, Khoroshevskoe shosse 76A, Moscow 123007, Russia; Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology RAS, Moscow, Russia
| | - Andrey V Maltsev
- Institute of Physiologically Active Compounds RAS, Chernogolovka, Russia
| | - Andrey S Shtemberg
- Laboratory of Radiation and Extreme Neurophysiology, Institute of Biomedical Problems RAS, Khoroshevskoe shosse 76A, Moscow 123007, Russia
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17
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Jiang Q, Hou L, Wang H, Li C. The Effect of Cognitive Reappraisal on Reactive Aggression: An fMRI Study. Front Psychol 2018; 9:1903. [PMID: 30459667 PMCID: PMC6232925 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2017] [Accepted: 09/18/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
A number of empirical researches have shown that reactive aggression, which is the behavior that is impulsive, thoughtless, driven by anger, and causes harm toward another individual, can lead to a series of negative effects. Cognitive reappraisal may have the potential to reduce reactive aggression, but evidence for this effect in healthy populations is lacking. We randomly assigned participants to a Reappraisal Group (n = 19) or Control Group (n = 20) in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) version of the well-established Taylor Aggression Paradigm (TAP). TAP was employed to elicit and measure reactive aggression, during which participants were informed that they would play a competitive reaction time task against two opponents in turn and the winner would punish the loser. The TAP used in this study separates the decision-making (during which participants were asked to set a punishment level for the opponent) and affective processes (during which the punishment was applied or received) that underlie reactive aggression. Behavioral data showed that there was no difference between the Reappraisal Group and Control Group in the punishment level selections (i.e., reactive aggression). However, on the neural level, cognitive reappraisal reduced the activation of left insula, right cuneus, and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) during the decision phase, independently of the level of provocation. In addition, cognitive reappraisal reduced the activation of the caudate under the provocative condition when making decisions about aggressive behavior. The results of the outcome phase showed that, after winning a competition, cognitive reappraisal increased the activation of the right orbital middle frontal gyrus (OMFG) under the provocative condition and reduced the activation of the bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA) under the non-provocative condition. The results suggest that cognitive reappraisal would be effective in modulating the neural activity of reactive aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Jiang
- Institution of Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- *Correspondence: Qi Jiang,
| | - Lulu Hou
- Institution of Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
- Department of Psychology, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
| | - Huanzhen Wang
- Institution of Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Changran Li
- Institution of Mental Health Education, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
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18
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Sex differences in the neural correlates of aggression. Brain Struct Funct 2018; 223:4115-4124. [PMID: 30167865 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-018-1739-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2017] [Accepted: 08/03/2018] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Although sex differences in aggression have been investigated for decades, little is known about the underlying neurobiology of this phenomenon. To address this gap, the present study implemented a social reactive aggression paradigm in 20 women and 22 men, employing a modified Taylor Aggression Task (mTAT) to provoke aggressive behavior in an fMRI setting. Subjects were provoked by money subtraction from a fake opponent and given the opportunity to retaliate likewise. In the absence of behavioral differences, male and female subjects showed differential brain activation patterns in response to provocation. Men had higher left amygdala activation during high provocation. This amygdala activation correlated with trait anger scores in men, but not in women. Also, men showed a positive association between orbitofrontal cortex, rectal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity in the provocation contrast and their tendency to respond aggressively, whereas women displayed a negative association. As the rectal gyrus and OFC have been attributed a crucial role in automatic emotion regulation, this finding points toward the assumption that highly aggressive men use automatic emotion regulation to a greater extent in response to provocation compared to highly aggressive women.
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19
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Beyer F, Krämer UM, Beckmann CF. Anger-sensitive networks: characterizing neural systems recruited during aggressive social interactions using data-driven analysis. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2018; 12:1711-1719. [PMID: 29040743 PMCID: PMC5714126 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsx117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2017] [Accepted: 10/01/2017] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Social neuroscience uses increasingly complex paradigms to improve ecological validity, as investigating aggressive interactions with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Standard analyses for fMRI data typically use general linear models (GLM), which require a priori models of task effects on neural processes. These may inadequately model non-stimulus-locked or temporally overlapping cognitive processes, as mentalizing about other agents. We used the data-driven approach of independent component analysis (ICA) to investigate neural processes involved in a competitive interaction. Participants were confronted with an angry-looking opponent while having to anticipate the trial outcome and the opponent’s behaviour. We show that several spatially distinctive neural networks with associated temporal dynamics were modulated by the opponent’s facial expression. These results dovetail and extend the main effects observed in the GLM analysis of the same data. Additionally, the ICA approach identified effects of the experimental condition on neural systems during inter-trial intervals. We demonstrate that cognitive processes during aggressive interactions are poorly modelled by simple stimulus onset/duration variables and instead have more complex temporal dynamics. This highlights the utility of using data-driven analyses to elucidate the distinct cognitive processes recruited during complex social paradigms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederike Beyer
- Department of Neurology.,Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, 23538 Lübeck, Germany.,Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Ulrike M Krämer
- Department of Neurology.,Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, 23538 Lübeck, Germany
| | - Christian F Beckmann
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
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20
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Excessive users of violent video games do not show emotional desensitization: an fMRI study. Brain Imaging Behav 2018; 11:736-743. [PMID: 27086318 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-016-9549-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Playing violent video games have been linked to long-term emotional desensitization. We hypothesized that desensitization effects in excessive users of violent video games should lead to decreased brain activations to highly salient emotional pictures in emotional sensitivity brain regions. Twenty-eight male adult subjects showing excessive long-term use of violent video games and age and education matched control participants were examined in two experiments using standardized emotional pictures of positive, negative and neutral valence. No group differences were revealed even at reduced statistical thresholds which speaks against desensitization of emotion sensitive brain regions as a result of excessive use of violent video games.
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21
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Luo Y, Eickhoff SB, Hétu S, Feng C. Social comparison in the brain: A coordinate-based meta-analysis of functional brain imaging studies on the downward and upward comparisons. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 39:440-458. [PMID: 29064617 PMCID: PMC6866367 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2017] [Revised: 09/26/2017] [Accepted: 10/10/2017] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Social comparison is ubiquitous across human societies with dramatic influence on people's well-being and decision making. Downward comparison (comparing to worse-off others) and upward comparison (comparing to better-off others) constitute two types of social comparisons that produce different neuropsychological consequences. Based on studies exploring neural signatures associated with downward and upward comparisons, the current study utilized a coordinate-based meta-analysis to provide a refinement of understanding about the underlying neural architecture of social comparison. We identified consistent involvement of the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in downward comparison and consistent involvement of the anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex in upward comparison. These findings fit well with the "common-currency" hypothesis that neural representations of social gain or loss resemble those for non-social reward or loss processing. Accordingly, we discussed our findings in the framework of general reinforcement learning (RL) hypothesis, arguing how social gain/loss induced by social comparisons could be encoded by the brain as a domain-general signal (i.e., prediction errors) serving to adjust people's decisions in social settings. Although the RL account may serve as a heuristic framework for the future research, other plausible accounts on the neuropsychological mechanism of social comparison were also acknowledged. Hum Brain Mapp 39:440-458, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Luo
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and LearningBeijing Normal UniversityBeijingChina
| | - Simon B. Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical FacultyHeinrich Heine University DüsseldorfDüsseldorfGermany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain and Behaviour (INM‐7)Research Centre JülichJülichGermany
| | - Sébastien Hétu
- Department of PsychologyUniversité de MontréalMontrealQCCanada
| | - Chunliang Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and LearningBeijing Normal UniversityBeijingChina
- College of Information Science and TechnologyBeijing Normal UniversityBeijingChina
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22
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The relationship between the caudate nucleus-orbitomedial prefrontal cortex connectivity and reactive aggression: A resting-state fMRI study. ACTA PSYCHOLOGICA SINICA 2018. [DOI: 10.3724/sp.j.1041.2018.00655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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23
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Beyer F, Buades-Rotger M, Claes M, Krämer UM. Hit or Run: Exploring Aggressive and Avoidant Reactions to Interpersonal Provocation Using a Novel Fight-or-Escape Paradigm (FOE). Front Behav Neurosci 2017; 11:190. [PMID: 29089875 PMCID: PMC5650963 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2017.00190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2017] [Accepted: 09/28/2017] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Interpersonal provocation presents an approach-avoidance conflict to the provoked person: responding aggressively might yield the joy of retribution, whereas withdrawal can provide safety. Experimental aggression studies typically measure only retaliation intensity, neglecting whether individuals want to confront the provocateur at all. To overcome this shortcoming of previous measures, we developed and validated the Fight-or-Escape paradigm (FOE). The FOE is a competitive reaction time (RT) task in which the winner can choose the volume of a sound blast to be directed at his/her opponent. Participants face two ostensible opponents who consistently select either high or low punishments. At the beginning of each trial, subjects are given the chance to avoid the encounter for a limited number of times. In a first experiment (n = 27, all women), we found that fear potentiation (FP) of the startle response was related to lower scores in a composite measure of aggression and avoidance against the provoking opponent. In a second experiment (n = 34, 13 men), we altered the paradigm such that participants faced the opponents in alternating rather than in random order. Participants completed the FOE as well as the Dot-Probe Task (DPT) and the Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT). Subjects with higher approach bias scores in the AAT avoided the provoking opponent less frequently. Hence, individuals with high threat reactivity and low approach motivation displayed more avoidant responses to provocation, whereas participants high in approach motivation were more likely to engage in aggressive interactions when provoked. The FOE is thus a promising laboratory measure of avoidance and aggression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederike Beyer
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Macià Buades-Rotger
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.,Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Marie Claes
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Ulrike M Krämer
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.,Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
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24
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Fonagy P, Luyten P. Conduct problems in youth and the RDoC approach: A developmental, evolutionary-based view. Clin Psychol Rev 2017; 64:57-76. [PMID: 28935341 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.08.010] [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: 01/13/2016] [Revised: 02/25/2017] [Accepted: 08/30/2017] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Problems related to aggression in young people are traditionally subsumed under the header of conduct problems, which include conduct disorder and oppositional defiant disorder. Such problems in children and adolescents are an important societal and mental health problem. In this paper we present an evolutionarily informed developmental psychopathology view of conduct problems inspired by the NIMH Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) initiative. We assume that while there are many pathways to conduct problems, chronic or temporary impairments in the domain of social cognition or mentalizing are a common denominator. Specifically, we conceptualize conduct problems as reflecting temporary or chronic difficulties with mentalizing, that is, the capacity to understand the self and others in terms of intentional mental states, leading to a failure to inhibit interpersonal violence through a process of perspective-taking and empathy. These difficulties, in turn, stem from impairments in making use of a normally evolutionarily protected social learning system that functions to facilitate intergenerational knowledge transmission and protect social collaborative processes from impulsive and aggressive action. Temperamental, biological, and social risk factors in different combinations may all contribute to this outcome. This adaptation then interacts with impairments in other domains of functioning, such as in negative and positive valence systems and cognitive systems. This view highlights the importance of a complex interplay among biological, psychological, and environmental factors in understanding the origins of conduct problems. We outline the implications of these views for future research and intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Fonagy
- Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, UK.
| | - Patrick Luyten
- Research Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, UK; Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium
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25
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Avoidant Responses to Interpersonal Provocation Are Associated with Increased Amygdala and Decreased Mentalizing Network Activity. eNeuro 2017; 4:eN-NWR-0337-16. [PMID: 28660251 PMCID: PMC5485378 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0337-16.2017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2016] [Revised: 05/19/2017] [Accepted: 06/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
When intentionally pushed or insulted, one can either flee from the provoker or retaliate. The implementation of such fight-or-flight decisions is a central aspect in the genesis and evolution of aggression episodes, yet it is usually investigated only indirectly or in nonsocial situations. In the present fMRI study, we aimed to distinguish brain regions associated with aggressive and avoidant responses to interpersonal provocation in humans. Participants (thirty-six healthy young women) could either avoid or face a highly (HP) and a lowly (LP) provoking opponent in a competitive reaction time task: the fight-or-escape (FOE) paradigm. Subjects avoided the HP more often, but retaliated when facing her. Moreover, they chose to fight the HP more quickly, and showed increased heart rate (HR) right before confronting her. Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and sensorimotor cortex were more active when participants decided to fight, whereas the mentalizing network was engaged when deciding to avoid. Importantly, avoiding the HP relative to the LP was associated with both higher activation in the right basolateral amygdala and lower relative activity in several mentalizing regions [e.g., medial and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), temporal-parietal junction (TPJ)]. These results suggest that avoidant responses to provocation might result from heightened threat anticipation and are associated with reduced perspective taking. Furthermore, our study helps to reconcile conflicting findings on the role of the mentalizing network, the amygdala, and the OFC in aggression.
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26
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Fanning JR, Keedy S, Berman ME, Lee R, Coccaro EF. Neural Correlates of Aggressive Behavior in Real Time: a Review of fMRI Studies of Laboratory Reactive Aggression. Curr Behav Neurosci Rep 2017; 4:138-150. [PMID: 29607288 PMCID: PMC5875983 DOI: 10.1007/s40473-017-0115-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE OF REVIEW Aggressive behavior has adaptive value in many natural environments; however, it places substantial burden and costs on human society. For this reason, there has long been interest in understanding the neurobiological basis of aggression. This interest, and the flourishing of neuroimaging research in general, has spurred the development of a large and growing scientific literature on the topic. As a result, a neural circuit model of aggressive behavior has emerged that implicates interconnected brain regions that are involved in emotional reactivity, emotion regulation, and cognitive control. RECENT FINDINGS Recently, behavioral paradigms that simulate provocative interactions have been adapted to neuroimaging protocols, providing an opportunity to directly probe the involvement of neural circuits in an aggressive interaction. Here we review neuroimaging studies of simulated aggressive interactions in research volunteers. We focus on studies that use a well-validated laboratory paradigm for reactive physical aggression and examine the neural correlates of provocation, retaliation, and evaluating punishment of an opponent. SUMMARY Overall, the studies reviewed support the involvement of neural circuits that support emotional reactivity, emotion regulation, and cognitive control in aggressive behavior. Based on a synthesis of this literature, future research directions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer R Fanning
- Clinical Neuroscience & Psychopharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry (MC#3077), The Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Sarah Keedy
- Clinical Neuroscience & Psychopharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry (MC#3077), The Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Mitchell E Berman
- Mississippi State University, 110 Magruder Hall, P.O. Box 6161, Mississippi State, MS 39762, USA
| | - Royce Lee
- Clinical Neuroscience & Psychopharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry (MC#3077), The Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Emil F Coccaro
- Clinical Neuroscience & Psychopharmacology Research Unit, Department of Psychiatry (MC#3077), The Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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27
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Szycik GR, Mohammadi B, Münte TF, Te Wildt BT. Lack of Evidence That Neural Empathic Responses Are Blunted in Excessive Users of Violent Video Games: An fMRI Study. Front Psychol 2017; 8:174. [PMID: 28337156 PMCID: PMC5341328 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2016] [Accepted: 01/25/2017] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The use of violent video games has been often linked to increase of aggressive behavior. According to the General Aggression Model, one of the central mechanisms for this aggressiveness inducing impact is an emotional desensitization process resulting from long lasting repeated violent game playing. This desensitization should evidence itself in a lack of empathy. Recent research has focused primarily on acute, short term impact of violent media use but only little is known about long term effects. In this study 15 excessive users of violent games and control subjects matched for age and education viewed pictures depicting emotional and neutral situations with and without social interaction while fMRI activations were obtained. While the typical pattern of activations for empathy and theory of mind networks was seen, both groups showed no differences in brain responses. We interpret our results as evidence against the desensitization hypothesis and suggest that the impact of violent media on emotional processing may be rather acute and short-lived.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregor R Szycik
- Department of Psychiatry, Social Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School Hanover, Germany
| | - Bahram Mohammadi
- Department of Neurology, University of LübeckLübeck, Germany; Clinical Neuroscience Lab, International Neuroscience InstituteHanover, Germany
| | - Thomas F Münte
- Department of Neurology, University of LübeckLübeck, Germany; Institute of Psychology II, University of LübeckLübeck, Germany
| | - Bert T Te Wildt
- Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, LWL University Hospitals of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
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28
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Buades-Rotger M, Engelke C, Beyer F, Keevil BG, Brabant G, Krämer UM. Endogenous testosterone is associated with lower amygdala reactivity to angry faces and reduced aggressive behavior in healthy young women. Sci Rep 2016; 6:38538. [PMID: 27924836 PMCID: PMC5141420 DOI: 10.1038/srep38538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2016] [Accepted: 11/11/2016] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Testosterone and cortisol have been proposed to influence aggressive behavior by altering the neural processing of facial threat signals. However, this has not been investigated in direct social interactions. Here, we explored the joint impact of testosterone, cortisol, and brain reactivity to anger expressions on women’s reactive aggression in the Social Threat Aggression Paradigm (STAP). The STAP is a competitive reaction time task in which the purported opponent displays either an angry or a neutral facial expression at the beginning of each trial and delivers increasingly loud sound blasts to the participants, successfully provoking them. Strikingly, salivary testosterone at scan-time was negatively related to both aggression and basolateral amygdala (BLA) reactivity to angry faces, whereas cortisol had no effect. When the opponent looked angry, BLA-orbitofrontal coupling was reduced, and BLA reactivity was positively related to aggression. The latter relationship was fully mediated by bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) activation. Our results thus support previous neurobiological models of aggression, and extend them by demonstrating that fast amygdala responses to threat modulate STG activity in order to favor aggressive retaliation. Furthermore, our study agrees with recent evidence underscoring a fear-reducing and strategically prosocial effect of testosterone on human social behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Macià Buades-Rotger
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.,Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | | | - Frederike Beyer
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
| | - Brian G Keevil
- Department of Clinical Biochemistry, University Hospital of South Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Georg Brabant
- Department of Internal Medicine I, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Ulrike M Krämer
- Department of Neurology, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.,Institute of Psychology II, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
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29
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Abstract
The challenge of studying human cognitive evolution is identifying unique features of our intelligence while explaining the processes by which they arose. Comparisons with nonhuman apes point to our early-emerging cooperative-communicative abilities as crucial to the evolution of all forms of human cultural cognition, including language. The human self-domestication hypothesis proposes that these early-emerging social skills evolved when natural selection favored increased in-group prosociality over aggression in late human evolution. As a by-product of this selection, humans are predicted to show traits of the domestication syndrome observed in other domestic animals. In reviewing comparative, developmental, neurobiological, and paleoanthropological research, compelling evidence emerges for the predicted relationship between unique human mentalizing abilities, tolerance, and the domestication syndrome in humans. This synthesis includes a review of the first a priori test of the self-domestication hypothesis as well as predictions for future tests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Hare
- Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708;
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30
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Gan G, Preston-Campbell RN, Moeller SJ, Steinberg JL, Lane SD, Maloney T, Parvaz MA, Goldstein RZ, Alia-Klein N. Reward vs. Retaliation-the Role of the Mesocorticolimbic Salience Network in Human Reactive Aggression. Front Behav Neurosci 2016; 10:179. [PMID: 27729852 PMCID: PMC5037197 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2016] [Accepted: 09/09/2016] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
The propensity for reactive aggression (RA) which occurs in response to provocation has been linked to hyperresponsivity of the mesocorticolimbic reward network in healthy adults. Here, we aim to elucidate the role of the mesocorticolimbic network in clinically significant RA for two competing motivated behaviors, reward-seeking vs. retaliation. 18 male participants performed a variant of the Point-Subtraction Aggression Paradigm (PSAP) during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We examined whether RA participants compared with non-aggressive controls would choose to obtain a monetary reward over the opportunity to retaliate against a fictitious opponent, who provoked the participant by randomly stealing money from his earnings. Across all fMRI-PSAP runs, RA individuals vs. controls chose to work harder to earn money but not to retaliate. When engaging in such reward-seeking behavior vs. retaliation in a single fMRI-PSAP run, RA individuals exhibited increased activation in the insular-striatal part of the mesocorticolimbic salience network, and decreased precuneus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation compared to controls. Enhanced overall reward-seeking behavior along with an up-regulation of the mesocorticolimbic salience network and a down-regulation of the default-mode network in RA individuals indicate that RA individuals are willing to work more for monetary reward than for retaliation when presented with a choice. Our findings may suggest that the use of positive reinforcement might represent an efficacious intervention approach for the potential reduction of retaliatory behavior in clinically significant RA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriela Gan
- Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
| | - Rebecca N Preston-Campbell
- Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount SinaiNew York, NY, USA; Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Lindenwood University-BellevilleBelleville, IL, USA
| | - Scott J Moeller
- Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Scott D Lane
- Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Houston, TX, USA
| | - Thomas Maloney
- Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
| | - Muhammad A Parvaz
- Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
| | - Rita Z Goldstein
- Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
| | - Nelly Alia-Klein
- Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai New York, NY, USA
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Emmerling F, Schuhmann T, Lobbestael J, Arntz A, Brugman S, Sack AT. The Role of the Insular Cortex in Retaliation. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0152000. [PMID: 27096431 PMCID: PMC4838249 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2015] [Accepted: 03/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The insular cortex has consistently been associated with various aspects of emotion regulation and social interaction, including anger processing and overt aggression. Aggression research distinguishes proactive or instrumental aggression from retaliation, i.e. aggression in response to provocation. Here, we investigated the specific role of the insular cortex during retaliation, employing a controlled behavioral aggression paradigm implementing different levels of provocation. Fifteen healthy male volunteers underwent whole brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify brain regions involved in interaction with either a provoking or a non-provoking opponent. FMRI group analyses were complemented by examining the parametric modulations of brain activity related to the individual level of displayed aggression. These analyses identified a hemispheric lateralization as well as an anatomical segregation of insular cortex with specifically the left posterior part being involved in retaliation. The left-lateralization of insular activity during retaliation is in accordance with evidence from electro-physiological studies, suggesting left-lateralized fronto-cortical dominance during anger processing and aggressive acts. The posterior localization of insular activity, on the other hand, suggests a spatial segregation within insular cortex with particularly the posterior part being involved in the processing of emotions that trigger intense bodily sensations and immediate action tendencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Franziska Emmerling
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- * E-mail:
| | - Teresa Schuhmann
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Jill Lobbestael
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Arnoud Arntz
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Suzanne Brugman
- Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
| | - Alexander Thomas Sack
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
- Maastricht Brain Imaging Center, Maastricht, The Netherlands
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Bubenzer-Busch S, Herpertz-Dahlmann B, Kuzmanovic B, Gaber TJ, Helmbold K, Ullisch MG, Baurmann D, Eickhoff SB, Fink GR, Zepf FD. Neural correlates of reactive aggression in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and comorbid disruptive behaviour disorders. Acta Psychiatr Scand 2016; 133:310-23. [PMID: 26292852 DOI: 10.1111/acps.12475] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/09/2015] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often linked with impulsive and aggressive behaviour, indexed by high comorbidity rates between ADHD and disruptive behaviour disorders (DBD). The present study aimed to investigate underlying neural activity of reactive aggression in children with ADHD and comorbid DBD using functional neuroimaging techniques (fMRI). METHOD Eighteen boys with ADHD (age 9-14 years, 10 subjects with comorbid DBD) and 18 healthy controls were administered a modified fMRI-based version of the 'Point Subtraction Aggression Game' to elicit reactive aggressive behaviour. Trials consisted of an 'aggression phase' (punishment for a fictitious opponent) and an 'outcome phase' (presentation of the trial outcome). RESULTS During the aggression phase, higher aggressive responses of control children were accompanied by higher activation of the ventral anterior cingulate cortex and the temporoparietal junction. Patients displayed inverted results. During the outcome phase, comparison between groups and conditions showed differential activation in the dorsal striatum and bilateral insular when subjects gained points. Losing points was accompanied by differential activation of regions belonging to the insula and the middle temporal sulcus. CONCLUSION Data support the hypothesis that deficient inhibitory control mechanisms are related to increased impulsive aggressive behaviour in young people with ADHD and comorbid DBD.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Bubenzer-Busch
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Cognitive Neuroscience, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Jülich, Germany
| | - B Herpertz-Dahlmann
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Jülich, Germany
| | - B Kuzmanovic
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-8), Ethics in the Neurosciences, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Neuroimaging Lab, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - T J Gaber
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Jülich, Germany
| | - K Helmbold
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Jülich, Germany
| | - M G Ullisch
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-4), Medical Imaging Physics, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.,Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center, iNANO, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - D Baurmann
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Cognitive Neuroscience, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Jülich, Germany
| | - S B Eickhoff
- Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology, Heinrich-Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), Institute of Clinical Neuroscience and Medical Psychology - Brain Network Modeling Group, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany
| | - G R Fink
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Cognitive Neuroscience, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.,Department of Neurology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - F D Zepf
- Clinic for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.,Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-3), Cognitive Neuroscience, Jülich Research Centre, Jülich, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Aachen, Jülich, Germany.,Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences & School of Pediatrics and Child Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.,Specialised Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), Department of Health in Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia
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33
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Heany SJ, van Honk J, Stein DJ, Brooks SJ. A quantitative and qualitative review of the effects of testosterone on the function and structure of the human social-emotional brain. Metab Brain Dis 2016; 31:157-67. [PMID: 26073231 PMCID: PMC4718938 DOI: 10.1007/s11011-015-9692-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2015] [Accepted: 05/26/2015] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Social and affective research in humans is increasingly using functional and structural neuroimaging techniques to aid the understanding of how hormones, such as testosterone, modulate a wide range of psychological processes. We conducted a meta-analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of testosterone administration, and of fMRI studies that measured endogenous levels of the hormone, in relation to social and affective stimuli. Furthermore, we conducted a review of structural MRI i.e. voxel based morphometry (VBM) studies which considered brain volume in relation to testosterone levels in adults and in children. In the included testosterone administration fMRI studies, which consisted of female samples only, bilateral amygdala/parahippocampal regions as well as the right caudate were significantly activated by social-affective stimuli in the testosterone condition. In the studies considering endogenous levels of testosterone, stimuli-invoked activations relating to testosterone levels were noted in the bilateral amygdala/parahippocampal regions and the brainstem. When the endogenous testosterone studies were split by sex, the significant activation of the brain stem was seen in the female samples only. Significant stimuli-invoked deactivations relating to endogenous testosterone levels were also seen in the right and left amygdala/parahippocampal regions studies. The findings of the VBM studies were less consistent. In adults larger volumes in the limbic and temporal regions were associated with higher endogenous testosterone. In children, boys showed a positive correlation between testosterone and brain volume in many regions, including the amygdala, as well as global grey matter volume, while girls showed a neutral or negative association between testosterone levels and many brain volumes. In conclusion, amygdalar and parahippocampal regions appear to be key target regions for the acute actions of testosterone in response to social and affective stimuli, while neurodevelopmentally the volumes of a broader network of brain structures are associated with testosterone levels in a sexually dimorphic manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah J Heany
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, J2, Anzio road, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - Jack van Honk
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, J2, Anzio road, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Dan J Stein
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, J2, Anzio road, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Samantha J Brooks
- Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, J2, Anzio road, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
- Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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34
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Rygula R, Clarke HF, Cardinal RN, Cockcroft GJ, Xia J, Dalley JW, Robbins TW, Roberts AC. Role of Central Serotonin in Anticipation of Rewarding and Punishing Outcomes: Effects of Selective Amygdala or Orbitofrontal 5-HT Depletion. Cereb Cortex 2014; 25:3064-76. [PMID: 24879752 PMCID: PMC4537445 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 55] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Understanding the role of serotonin (or 5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) in aversive processing has been hampered by the contradictory findings, across studies, of increased sensitivity to punishment in terms of subsequent response choice but decreased sensitivity to punishment-induced response suppression following gross depletion of central 5-HT. To address this apparent discrepancy, the present study determined whether both effects could be found in the same animals by performing localized 5-HT depletions in the amygdala or orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) of a New World monkey, the common marmoset. 5-HT depletion in the amygdala impaired response choice on a probabilistic visual discrimination task by increasing the effectiveness of misleading, or false, punishment and reward, and decreased response suppression in a variable interval test of punishment sensitivity that employed the same reward and punisher. 5-HT depletion in the OFC also disrupted probabilistic discrimination learning and decreased response suppression. Computational modeling of behavior on the discrimination task showed that the lesions reduced reinforcement sensitivity. A novel, unitary account of the findings in terms of the causal role of 5-HT in the anticipation of both negative and positive motivational outcomes is proposed and discussed in relation to current theories of 5-HT function and our understanding of mood and anxiety disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rafal Rygula
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Current Address: Affective Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Behavioral Neurobiology and Drug Development, Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, ul Smetna 12, 31-343 Krakow, Poland
| | - Hannah F Clarke
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK
| | - Rudolf N Cardinal
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK Liaison Psychiatry Service, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Box 190, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, UK
| | - Gemma J Cockcroft
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Jing Xia
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Jeff W Dalley
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Trevor W Robbins
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
| | - Angela C Roberts
- Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3DY, UK
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35
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Beyer F, Münte TF, Göttlich M, Krämer UM. Orbitofrontal Cortex Reactivity to Angry Facial Expression in a Social Interaction Correlates with Aggressive Behavior. Cereb Cortex 2014; 25:3057-63. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhu101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023] Open
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