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Déli É, Peters JF, Kisvárday Z. How the Brain Becomes the Mind: Can Thermodynamics Explain the Emergence and Nature of Emotions? ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 24:1498. [PMID: 37420518 DOI: 10.3390/e24101498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Revised: 10/07/2022] [Accepted: 10/11/2022] [Indexed: 07/09/2023]
Abstract
The neural systems' electric activities are fundamental for the phenomenology of consciousness. Sensory perception triggers an information/energy exchange with the environment, but the brain's recurrent activations maintain a resting state with constant parameters. Therefore, perception forms a closed thermodynamic cycle. In physics, the Carnot engine is an ideal thermodynamic cycle that converts heat from a hot reservoir into work, or inversely, requires work to transfer heat from a low- to a high-temperature reservoir (the reversed Carnot cycle). We analyze the high entropy brain by the endothermic reversed Carnot cycle. Its irreversible activations provide temporal directionality for future orientation. A flexible transfer between neural states inspires openness and creativity. In contrast, the low entropy resting state parallels reversible activations, which impose past focus via repetitive thinking, remorse, and regret. The exothermic Carnot cycle degrades mental energy. Therefore, the brain's energy/information balance formulates motivation, sensed as position or negative emotions. Our work provides an analytical perspective of positive and negative emotions and spontaneous behavior from the free energy principle. Furthermore, electrical activities, thoughts, and beliefs lend themselves to a temporal organization, an orthogonal condition to physical systems. Here, we suggest that an experimental validation of the thermodynamic origin of emotions might inspire better treatment options for mental diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Éva Déli
- Department of Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
| | - James F Peters
- Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
- Department of Mathematics, Adiyaman University, Adiyaman 02040, Turkey
| | - Zoltán Kisvárday
- Department of Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
- ELKH Neuroscience Research Group, University of Debrecen, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
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2
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Brockhoff L, Schindler S, Bruchmann M, Straube T. Effects of perceptual and working memory load on brain responses to task-irrelevant stimuli: Review and implications for future research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 135:104580. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 02/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Ferreira S, Veiga C, Moreira P, Magalhães R, Coelho A, Marques P, Portugal-Nunes C, Sousa N, Morgado P. Reduced Hedonic Valuation of Rewards and Unaffected Cognitive Regulation in Chronic Stress. Front Neurosci 2019; 13:724. [PMID: 31354423 PMCID: PMC6636668 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2019.00724] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2019] [Accepted: 06/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognition can influence choices by modulation of decision-making processes. This cognitive regulation is defined as processing information, applying knowledge, and changing preferences to consciously modulate decisions. While cognitive regulation of emotions has been extensively studied in psychiatry, few works have detailed cognitive regulation of decision-making. Stress may influence emotional behavior, cognition, and decision-making. In addition, the brain regions responsible for decision-making are sensitive to stress-induced changes. Thus, we hypothesize that chronic stress may disrupt the ability to regulate choices. Herein, we used a functional magnetic resonance imaging task where fourteen control and fifteen chronically stressed students had to cognitively upregulate or downregulate their craving before placing a bid to obtain food. We found that stressed participants placed lower bids to get the reward and chose less frequently higher bid values for food. Nevertheless, we did not find neural and behavioral differences during cognitive regulation of craving. Our outcomes revealed that chronic stress impacts decision-making after cognitive regulation of craving by reducing the valuation of food rewards but not cognitive modulation itself. Importantly, our results need further validation with larger sample sizes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sónia Ferreira
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Carlos Veiga
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Pedro Moreira
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Ricardo Magalhães
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Ana Coelho
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Paulo Marques
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Carlos Portugal-Nunes
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal
| | - Nuno Sousa
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
| | - Pedro Morgado
- Life and Health Sciences Research Institute (ICVS), School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal.,ICVS/3B's - PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga/Guimarães, Portugal.,Clinical Academic Center - Braga, Braga, Portugal
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Ziaei M, Samrani G, Persson J. Age differences in the neural response to emotional distraction during working memory encoding. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2018; 18:869-883. [PMID: 29949112 PMCID: PMC6105189 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-018-0610-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
Abstract
Age-related declines in attention and working memory (WM) are well documented and may be worsened by the occurrence of distracting information. Emotionally valenced stimuli may have particularly strong distracting effects on cognition. We investigated age-related differences in emotional distraction using task-fMRI. WM performance in older adults was lower for emotional compared with neutral distractors, suggesting a disproportional impairment elicited by emotional task-irrelevant information. Critically, older adults were particularly distracted by task-irrelevant positive information, whereas the opposite pattern was found for younger adults. Age groups differed markedly in the brain response to emotional distractors; younger adults activated posterior cortical regions and the striatum, and older adults activated frontal regions. Also, an age by valence interaction was found for IFG and ACC, suggesting differential modulation of attention to task-relevant emotional information. These results provide new insights into age-related changes in emotional processing and the ability to resolve interference from emotional distraction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maryam Ziaei
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - George Samrani
- Aging Research Center (ARC), Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Tomtebodavägen 18A, 17165, Solna, Sweden
| | - Jonas Persson
- Aging Research Center (ARC), Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Tomtebodavägen 18A, 17165, Solna, Sweden.
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Mäki-Marttunen V, Kuusinen V, Peräkylä J, Ogawa KH, Brause M, Brander A, Hartikainen KM. Greater Attention to Task-Relevant Threat Due to Orbitofrontal Lesion. J Neurotrauma 2016; 34:400-413. [PMID: 27502875 DOI: 10.1089/neu.2015.4390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Injury to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a frequent consequence of head injury and may lead to dysfunctional regulation of emotional and social behavior. Dysfunctional emotional behavior may partly be related to the role of the OFC in emotion-attention interaction, as reported previously. In order to better understand its role in emotion-attention and emotion-cognitive control interactions, we investigated attention allocation to task-relevant and task-irrelevant threat-related emotional stimuli during a task requiring cognitive control in patients with lesion to the OFC. We measured the behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERP) of 13 patients with OFC lesion and 11 control subjects during a Go/NoGo visual discrimination task. In the task, line drawings of threatening (spider) and neutral (flower) figures served as either task-relevant Go or NoGo signals, or as task-irrelevant distractors. Overall performance did not differ between the groups. In contrast to the control group performance, the orbitofrontal group performance was improved by relevant threat signal in comparison with neutral signal. Further, task-relevant threat signals evoked larger frontocentral N2-P3 amplitude in the orbitofrontal group. Taken together, behavioral and electrophysiological results suggest that patients with OFC injury allocated more attentional and cognitive control resources in the context of task-relevant emotional stimuli. This study provides new evidence for the role of the OFC in emotion-attention and emotion-cognitive control interactions. Further, the OFC seems to contribute to the balance between voluntary and involuntary attention networks in context of emotional stimuli. Better understanding of alterations in emotion-attention interaction offers insight into affective dysfunction due to OFC lesion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verónica Mäki-Marttunen
- 1 Behavioral Neurology Research Unit, Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, Tampere University Hospital , Tampere, Finland .,2 CONICET , Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Venla Kuusinen
- 1 Behavioral Neurology Research Unit, Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, Tampere University Hospital , Tampere, Finland .,6 Medical School, University of Tampere , Tampere, Finland
| | - Jari Peräkylä
- 1 Behavioral Neurology Research Unit, Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, Tampere University Hospital , Tampere, Finland .,6 Medical School, University of Tampere , Tampere, Finland
| | - Keith H Ogawa
- 3 John Magaddino Neuroscience Laboratory, Saint Mary's College of California , Moraga, California
| | - Maarja Brause
- 1 Behavioral Neurology Research Unit, Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, Tampere University Hospital , Tampere, Finland
| | - Antti Brander
- 4 Department of Radiology, Tampere University Hospital , Tampere, Finland
| | - Kaisa M Hartikainen
- 1 Behavioral Neurology Research Unit, Department of Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, Tampere University Hospital , Tampere, Finland .,5 Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation, Tampere University Hospital , Tampere, Finland .,6 Medical School, University of Tampere , Tampere, Finland
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