The effect of strategies, goals and stimulus material on the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation: A meta-analysis of fMRI studies

Brain mechanisms underlying the inhibitory control of thought

Controlling action and thought requires the capacity to stop mental processes. Over the past two decades, evidence has grown that a domain-general inhibitory control mechanism supported by the right lateral prefrontal cortex achieves these functions. However, current views of the neural mechanisms of inhibitory control derive largely from research into the stopping of action. Whereas action stopping is a convenient empirical model, it does not invoke thought inhibition and cannot be used to identify the unique features of this process. Here, we review research that addresses how organisms stop a key process that drives thoughts: memory retrieval. This work has shown that retrieval stopping shares right dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal mechanisms with action stopping, consistent with a domain-general inhibitory control mechanism, but also recruits a distinct fronto-temporal pathway that determines the success of mental control. As part of this pathway, GABAergic inhibition within the hippocampus influences the efficacy of prefrontal control over thought. These unique elements of mental control suggest that hippocampal disinhibition is a transdiagnostic factor underlying intrusive thinking, linking the fronto-temporal control pathway to preclinical models of psychiatric disorders and fear extinction. We suggest that retrieval-stopping deficits may underlie the intrusive thinking that is common across many psychiatric disorders.

Abnormal interbrain coupling in individuals with childhood adversity may underlie their difficulties in benefiting from social interactions

BACKGROUND

While adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as abuse or neglect are linked to lifelong interpersonal challenges, it's uncertain whether individuals with ACEs can effectively draw on others for distress relief and whether neural dyadic processes in these exchanges are compromised.

METHOD

To address this gap, here we examined interbrain coupling between 'targets' (adults with a varying history of ACEs) and 'regulators' (unacquainted individuals without a history of ACEs) during two conditions: (i) distressing condition: where the target shares with the regulator a distressing biographical event; (ii) neutral condition: where the target shares with the regulator a neutral biographical event. After screening 534 participants, 58 dyads were simultaneously scanned with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), during the distress/neutral conditions to investigate interbrain coupling in the dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC), a core region of the emotion regulation network.

RESULTS

Consistent with our hypothesis that individuals with high ACEs have difficulty relying on social support, we observed a significant negative relationship between targets' cumulative ACEs and distress relief during the distressing condition. Neuroimaging revealed that higher ACEs scores were significantly linked to differential interbrain coupling patterns in the DLPFC: increased coupling during the distressing condition and decreased coupling during the neutral condition.

CONCLUSIONS

Among higher ACEs dyads, hyper interbrain coupling during distress may suggest heightened yet unsuccessful efforts to regulate distress, while hypo interbrain coupling in non-distressing situations may indicate poor connectedness in neutral social interactions. Therefore, abnormal interbrain coupling may underlie the difficulties high ACEs individuals face in benefiting from supportive interactions.

Articulation of cognitive-behavioral therapy and neuropsychology: A scoping review

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and neuropsychology are areas of psychology that have a common focus of interest on cognitive processing. The present study aimed to map and describe in a systematic way information about the association between CBT and neuropsychology by means of a scoping review. The systematic search for empirical articles published between 2010 and 2020, without language restriction, was carried out in the Medline, PsycInfo, LILACS, and SciELO databases. We found 3,723 articles, of which 198 were duplicates, which were excluded, and 3,525 articles went on to double-blind screening. For full text reading, we selected 323 articles, while 143 of them were selected for analysis. Results showed the characteristics, methodological aspects, and possible associations identified in the studies, which were as follows: neuropsychological assessment (NPA) and CBT assessment; NPA and CBT intervention; neuropsychological intervention and CBT intervention; and CBT strategy in neuropsychological intervention. The most used interventions were classic CBT, rehabilitation, and cognitive training, with the use of psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, and problem solving, among others, applied, on the whole, to psychiatric and neurological conditions. We conclude that a greater understanding of the possible connections between the two areas can benefit patients from the psychiatric and neurological clinic.

Lateral frontopolar theta-band activity supports flexible switching between emotion regulation strategies

Flexible emotion regulation is essential for mental health and well-being. However, neurocognitive mechanisms supporting emotion regulation flexibility remain unclear. Lateral frontal pole (FPl) contributes to flexible behavior by monitoring the efficacy of alternative strategies. This preregistered study examines if FPl also supports flexible use of emotion regulation strategies. It focuses on pre-decision theta-band activity as a potential indicator of this adaptive process. Sixty-three participants performed an emotion regulation strategy-switching task, involving three phases: (1) implementing an instructed (reappraisal or distraction) strategy, (2) deciding whether to 'maintain' the current or 'switch' to the alternative strategy, and (3) implementing the chosen strategy. Results showed that switching is predicted by the reduced efficacy of an initial emotion regulation strategy (indexed with EMG corrugator activity) and is made in accordance with situational demands (stimulus reappraisal affordances). Critically, switching to an alternative emotion regulation strategy is associated with increased theta-band power in FPl around the time of the decision. These findings support the previously established role of FPl theta-band activity in monitoring counterfactual efficacy of alternative strategies. Crucially, they extend this notion to cognitive emotion regulation, thereby offering promising neural targets for stimulation-based therapies aimed at enhancing emotion regulation flexibility in affective psychopathologies.

Regulation of craving and underlying resting-state neural circuitry predict hazard of smoking lapse

Among individuals with substance use disorders, clinical outcomes may be improved by identifying brain-behavior models that predict drug re/lapse vulnerabilities such as the ability to regulate drug cravings and inhibit drug use. In a sample of nicotine-dependent adult cigarette smokers (N = 213), this laboratory study examined associations between regulation of craving (ROC) efficacy and smoking lapse, utilized functional connectivity multivariate pattern analysis (FC-MVPA) and seed-based connectivity (SBC) analyses to identify resting-state neural circuitry underlying ROC efficacy, and then examined if the identified ROC-mediated circuitry predicted hazard of smoking lapse. Regarding behavior, worse ROC efficacy predicted a greater hazard of smoking lapse. Regarding brain and behavior, FC-MVPA identified 29 brain-wide functional clusters associated with ROC efficacy. Follow-up SBC analyses using 9 of the FC-MVPA-derived clusters identified a total of 64 resting-state edges (i.e., cluster-to-cluster connections) underlying ROC efficacy, 10 of which were also associated with the hazard of smoking lapse. ROC efficacy edges also associated with smoking lapse were largely composed of connections between frontal-striatal-limbic clusters and sensory-motor clusters and better behavioral outcomes were associated with stronger resting-state FC. Findings suggest that both ROC efficacy and underlying resting-state neural circuitry may inform prediction models of re/lapse vulnerabilities and serve as treatment targets for cessation interventions.

Neural evidence of implicit emotion regulation deficits: An explorative study of comparing PTSD with and without alcohol dependence

BACKGROUND

Previous studies have identified psychiatric comorbidity, including alcohol dependence (AD), as a significant factor in treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there is a lack of evidence on how best to treat comorbid PTSD and AD. Poor emotion regulation may be a key potential mechanism of PTSD and AD comorbidity.

METHODS

Seventy-four participants (48 women and 26 men) include three groups: a healthy control group (HC group, N = 20), a PTSD without alcohol dependence group (PTSD without AD group, N = 36), and a PTSD with alcohol dependence group (PTSD with AD group, N = 18). They completed the Shifted Attention Emotion Evaluation Task (SEAT) paradigm while undergoing fMRI.

RESULTS

Gender and hyperarousal symptoms were found to predict the risk of AD. In the whole-brain fMRI data, compared to PTSD without AD, the PTSD with AD group showed significant deactivations in the left middle Occipital Gyri (BA19_L), the right Rolandic Operculum (BA48_R), and the right Lingual Gyri (BA37_R). Furthermore, AD showed a significant correlation with the right Lingual Gyri (BA37_R) in individuals with PTSD.

CONCLUSION

These findings reveal possible neural mechanisms underlying the difference between PTSD patients with and without AD. These regions are involved in visual pathways, memory processing, and spatial cognition within the context of implicit emotion regulation. The observed alterations in these areas may serve as neural diagnostic markers for PTSD comorbid with AD and could be potential targets for developing novel treatments.

Emotion regulation in self-injurious youth: A tale of two circuits

Two emotion regulation (ER) networks, the amygdala and ventral striatum (VS) circuits underpin defensive and reward processes related to non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Youth who engaged in non-suicidal self-injury behavior (NSSIB) and healthy controls either watched images passively (passive condition) or increased their positive affect during positive/neutral images and decreased their negative affect during negative and self-harm images (regulate condition) in the scanner. NSSI youth showed higher amygdala to precuneus and inferior parietal lobe (IPL) connectivity while regulating emotions during self-harm images, a pattern which was associated with higher self-injury frequency. NSSI youth showed higher VS connectivity to the fusiform gyrus and parahippocampus while regulating emotions elicited by self-harm and positive images, which was in turn linked to higher self-harm frequency and relief after NSSI. Higher amygdala-precuneus and IPL connectivity in NSSI youth suggest greater self-identification with, or difficulty regulating negative affect elicited by, self-injury images. High VS-fusiform gyrus and parahippocampus connectivity during positive and self-harm images implies reward anomalies and/or greater effort to regulate positive affect. VS circuit's' links to relief and NSSIB frequency suggest VS reward-based learning as biomarker of NSSIB endurance. We discovered ER mechanisms in adolescents with NSSIB and promising targets for effective NSSIB treatment.

fNIRS neurofeedback facilitates emotion regulation: Exploring individual differences over the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) plays a pivotal role in emotion regulation, yet the effectiveness of neurofeedback (NF) training targeting the VLPFC remains uncertain, suggesting significant individual differences in outcomes. In this study, we aimed to clarify these differences by enrolling 90 participants, randomly assigned to either an experimental group or a sham group (n = 48/42). Participants in the experimental group underwent VLPFCNF training over eight sessions across two consecutive days, while those in the sham group received random signals from functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). To investigate individual variability, participants in the experimental group were further categorized as high or low-efficacy groups based on their training efficiency, determined by the regression slope of VLPFC activity over the sessions. Our results revealed a significant reduction in negative emotions and increased VLPFC activity during emotion regulation in the high-efficacy group, compared to both the low-efficacy group and sham group. Importantly, the benefit in emotion regulation, as reflected by decreased negativity ratings, was predicted by NF training efficiency. Furthermore, the enhancement of VLPFC activity during emotion regulation fully mediated the relationship between NF training efficiency and emotion regulation benefits. Participants with higher VLPFCNF training efficiency exhibited greater engagement of the VLPFC during emotion regulation, leading to superior emotional outcomes. Additionally, VLPFCNF training efficiency was linked to the habitual use of reappraisal strategies in daily life. This study provides novel causal evidence that VLPFCNF training can effectively enhance emotion regulation, highlighting the importance of individual differences in training outcomes. Our findings suggest that NF training targeting the VLPFC offers a promising and personalized intervention strategy for improving emotion regulation, with potential applications for treating emotional disorders. This research underscores the potential of personalized NF approaches, offering new avenues for tailored therapeutic interventions in the future.

Capturing shared fNIRS responses to visual affective stimuli in young healthy women

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) studies focusing on prefrontal cortex (PFC) have shown mixed results in relating hemodynamic changes to emotional processing, posing a challenge for clinical practice. Concerns related to instrumentation, recruited sample, task design, signal processing, and data analysis have been highlighted. To minimize some biasing factors, we proposed an experimental approach based on: (1) a homogeneous recruited sample, (2) an identical sequence of content-grouped affective pictures for emotion induction, (3) multi-distance forehead fNIRS recordings to separate cerebral from extra-cerebral components, and (4) a model-free frequency-based analysis to capture shared response patterns across individuals. We piloted a study to assess the feasibility of the approach in a sample of 20 young healthy women during an emotional task with affective pictures of neutral, sexual and violence content. We found coherent fNIRS responses to sexual and violence content located in slow fluctuations (0-0.019 Hz), characterized by positive and negative oxygenation patterns of extra-cerebral and cerebral origin, respectively. Additionally, we corroborated the strong interference of surface hemodynamics. This study proves the feasibility of our approach to identify frequency-specific fNIRS response patterns to affective visual stimuli, which holds promise for exploring functional biomarkers of healthy and altered emotional processing.

Attenuation processes in positive social emotion upregulation: Disentangling functional role of ventrolateral prefrontal cortex

Positive emotions determine individual well-being and sustainable social relationships. Here, we examined the neural processes mediating upregulation of positive social emotions using functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy female volunteers. We identified brain regions engaged in upregulation of positive social emotions and applied a parametric empirical Bayes approach to isolate modulated network connectivity patterns and assess how these effects relate to individual measures of social perception. Our findings indicate that upregulation of positive social emotions shapes the functional interplay between affective valuation and cognitive control functions. We revealed a selective increase of bilateral posterior ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) activity and attenuation of activity in right anterior vlPFC under control influences from more superior prefrontal regions. We also found that individual perception of sociality modulates connectivity between affective and social networks. This study expands our understanding of neural circuits required to balance positive emotions in social situations and their rehabilitative potential.

Positive resonance: Successful interpersonal emotion regulation facilitated relationship closeness by enhanced inter-brain synchronization

Interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) refers to the dynamic process where a regulator employs specific strategies to alleviate a target's distress. It remains unclear whether successful IER could facilitate interpersonal relationship closeness (IRC). The present study aimed to explore whether successful IER, based on two typical strategies-cognitive reappraisal (CR) and expressive suppression (ES)-for down-regulating the target's negative emotions, could enhance IRC among friend dyads, and to identify the underlying neural correlates of this process using functional near-infrared spectroscopy system. Seventy-four female dyads (friends) were randomly assigned to one of two strategy groups (CR vs. ES), with one participant as the target and the other as the regulator. Our findings revealed that both strategies have down-regulated the target's negative emotions, however, CR strategy was associated with more successful IER outcomes (more improvement of the targets' negative emotions; higher IRC) than ES strategy. IER recruited the enhanced interpersonal brain synchronization (IBS) of the prefrontal and temporal areas among friend dyads. CR strategy recruited higher IBS of the above-mentioned brain networks than ES strategy in down-regulating the target's sadness, and the reversed IBS pattern was found in down-regulating the target's anger, inferring that CR was more successive in IER of sadness, and ES was more effective in IER of anger. The increased IBS pattern of these brain regions played a mediational role between the effectiveness of down-regulating targets' negative emotions and the increment of IRC. Our findings revealed a neural coupling mechanism through which successful IER fostered supportive social bonds.

Critically Assessing the Unanswered Questions of How, Where, and When to Induce Plasticity in the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Network With Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Extinction of traumatic memory, a primary treatment approach (termed exposure therapy) in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), occurs through relearning and may be subserved at the molecular level by long-term potentiation of relevant circuits. In parallel, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is thought to work through long-term potentiation-like mechanisms and may provide a novel, safe, and effective treatment for PTSD. In a recent failed randomized controlled trial we emphasized the necessity of correctly identifying cortical targets, the directionality of TMS protocols, and the role of memory activation. Here, we provide a systematic review of TMS for PTSD to further identify how, where, and when TMS treatment should be delivered to alleviate PTSD symptoms. We conducted a systematic review of the literature by searching for repetitive TMS clinical trials involving patients with PTSD and outcomes. We searched MEDLINE through October 25, 2023, for "TMS and PTSD" and "transcranial magnetic stimulation and posttraumatic stress disorder." Thirty-one publications met our inclusion criteria (k = 17 randomized controlled trials, k = 14 open label). Randomized controlled trial protocols were varied in terms of TMS protocols, cortical TMS targets, and memory activation protocols. There was no clear superiority of low-frequency (k = 5) versus high-frequency (k = 6) protocols or by stimulation location. Memory provocation or exposure protocols (k = 7) appear to enhance response. Overall, TMS appears to be effective in treating PTSD symptoms across a variety of TMS frequencies, hemispheric target differences, and exposure protocols. Disparate protocols may be conceptually harmonized when viewed as potentiating proposed anxiolytic networks or suppressing anxiogenic networks.

Maternal depression during the perinatal period and its relationship with emotion regulation in young adulthood: An fMRI study in a prenatal birth cohort

BACKGROUND

Maternal perinatal mental health is essential for optimal brain development and mental health of the offspring. We evaluated whether maternal depression during the perinatal period and early life of the offspring might be selectively associated with altered brain function during emotion regulation and whether those may further correlate with physiological responses and the typical use of emotion regulation strategies.

METHODS

Participants included 163 young adults (49% female, 28-30 years) from the ELSPAC prenatal birth cohort who took part in its neuroimaging follow-up and had complete mental health data from the perinatal period and early life. Maternal depressive symptoms were measured mid-pregnancy, 2 weeks, 6 months, and 18 months after birth. Regulation of negative affect was studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging, concurrent skin conductance response (SCR) and heart rate variability (HRV), and assessment of typical emotion regulation strategy.

RESULTS

Maternal depression 2 weeks after birth interacted with sex and showed a relationship with greater brain response during emotion regulation in a right frontal cluster in women. Moreover, this brain response mediated the relationship between greater maternal depression 2 weeks after birth and greater suppression of emotions in young adult women (ab = 0.11, SE = 0.05, 95% CI [0.016; 0.226]). The altered brain response during emotion regulation and the typical emotion regulation strategy were also as sociated with SCR and HRV.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that maternal depression 2 weeks after birth predisposes female offspring to maladaptive emotion regulation skills and particularly to emotion suppression in young adulthood.

Examining emotion reactivity to politically polarizing media in a randomized controlled trial of mindfulness training versus active coping training

Emotional appraisals of political stimuli (e.g., videos) have been shown to drive shared neural encoding, which correspond to shared, yet divisive, interpretations of such stimuli. However, mindfulness practice may entrain a form of emotion regulation that de-automatizes social biases, possibly through alteration of such neural mechanisms. The present study combined a naturalistic neuroimaging paradigm and a randomized controlled trial to examine the effects of short-term mindfulness training (MT) (n = 35) vs structurally equivalent Cognitive Reappraisal training (CT) (n = 37) on politically-situated emotions while evaluating the mechanistic role of prefrontal cortical neural synchrony. Participants underwent functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) recording while viewing inflammatory partisan news clips and continuously rating their momentary discrete emotions. MT participants were more likely to respond with extreme levels of anger (odds ratio = 0.12, p < 0.001) and disgust (odds ratio = 0.08, p < 0.001) relative to CT participants. Neural synchrony-based analyses suggested that participants with extreme emotion reactions exhibited greater prefrontal cortical neural synchrony, but that this pattern was less prominent in participants receiving MT relative to CT (CT > MT; channel 1 ISC = 0.040, p = 0.030).

Four Streams Within the Prefrontal Cortex: Integrating Structural and Functional Connectivity

Merging functional evidence derived from studies of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder converges in four neural streams of the prefrontal cortex, hence suggesting a model of information processing through four streams: motor through Brodmann area (BA) 8, emotion through BA 9, memory through BA 10, and emotional-related sensory through BA 11. A growing body of functional data has been supporting this model of information processing. Nevertheless, the underlying structural connectivity was only recently unveiled by a population-based high-definition tractography study with data from 1,065 individuals. This update provides a brief overview of recent evidence supporting the anatomofunctional integration of the four streams of the prefrontal cortex and reviews the white matter fiber tracts subserving the four streams.

Cerebellar contribution to emotion regulation and its association with medial frontal GABA level

As a tactic to regulate emotions, distancing involves changing perspectives to alter the psychological distance from stimuli that elicit emotional reactions. Using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging, this study aimed to examine (i) whether the neural correlates of emotion upregulation via distancing differ across emotional valence (i.e. emotional responses toward positive and negative pictures), and (ii) whether the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), one of the crucial areas of emotion regulation, is correlated with brain activity related to either negative or positive emotion upregulation. Thirty-four healthy Japanese adults participated in this study. Compared to the condition involving positive emotion upregulation, negative emotion upregulation induced increased activation in the MPFC, left temporoparietal junction, bilateral anterior insula, pre-supplementary motor area, and bilateral cerebellum. In contrast, when comparing positive emotion upregulation with negative emotion upregulation, no significant activation was found. Right cerebellar activity during negative emotion upregulation was positively correlated with GABA concentration in the MPFC. These findings provide evidence of cerebellar involvement in the upregulation of negative emotion via distancing and its association with the prefrontal GABA concentration.

Individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty is primarily linked to the structure of inferior frontal regions

Increased intolerance of uncertainty (IU), or distress felt when encountering situations with unknown outcomes, occurs transdiagnostically across various forms of psychopathology and is targeted in therapeutic intervention. Increased intolerance of uncertainty shows overlap with symptoms of internalizing disorders, such as depression and anxiety, including negative affect and anxious apprehension (worry). While neuroanatomical correlates of IU have been reported, previous investigations have not disentangled the specific neural substrates of IU above and beyond any overlapping relationships with aspects of internalizing psychopathology. The current study did so in a sample of 42 adults and 79 adolescents, who completed questionnaires assessing IU and internalizing symptoms, and underwent structural MRI. When controlling for internalizing symptoms, across adults and adolescents, specific associations of IU were found with the structure of the inferior frontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex, regions implicated in cognitive control and emotional valuation/regulation. In addition, in adolescents, associations were observed with rostral middle frontal cortex and portions of the cingulate cortex. No associations were observed with threat-related regions, such as the amygdala. Potential cognitive/emotional mechanisms that might explain the association between individual differences in intolerance of uncertainty and morphology of the inferior frontal cortex are discussed.

Emotion regulation: From neural circuits to a transdiagnostic perspective

Emotion regulation is a critical factor implicated in diverse psychopathologies. However, evidence for the transdiagnostic feature of emotion regulation remains inconclusive. This study explored whether emotion regulation warrants designation as a transdiagnostic construct by examining its distinct neural basis compared to constructs within the existing Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework and searching for convergent regional brain activity during emotion regulation across psychiatric disorders. Thus, a two-step analysis approach was implemented. First, using coordinate-based meta-analyses, we reanalysed data from ten prior meta-analyses covering current RDoC domains, assessing unique and overlapping brain regions associated with emotion regulation. This analysis included 3.463 experimental contrasts from 78.338 healthy adults. Results indicated that emotion regulation overlapped with each RDoC domain, especially for those related to cognitive and social processes, yet maintained distinct neural patterns, particularly involving the inferior frontal and medial frontal gyrus. Second, in a separate and the most comprehensive meta-analysis to date, we analysed the neural patterns of emotion regulation in clinical populations. This analysis included 3.576 experimental contrasts from 342 participants, contrasting brain activation patterns during emotion regulation in patients suffering from psychiatric disorders with healthy controls. The findings highlighted the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex's role in emotion regulation across psychiatric disorders. Taken together, these findings support the transdiagnostic nature of emotion regulation by demonstrating its unique neural underpinnings within the RDoC framework and across psychiatric disorders. Recognising the critical importance of emotion regulation in both health and disease may help refine diagnostic criteria and develop treatment strategies, improving mental health outcomes through tailored therapeutic approaches.

A Neural Signature for Reappraisal as an Emotion Regulation Strategy: Relationship to Stress-Related Suicidal Ideation and Negative Affect in Major Depression

BACKGROUND

Impaired emotion regulation (ER) contributes to major depression and suicidal ideation and behavior. ER is typically studied by explicitly directing participants to regulate, but this may not capture spontaneous tendencies of individuals with depression to engage ER in daily life.

METHODS

In 82 participants with major depressive disorder, we examined the relationship of spontaneous engagement of ER to real-world responses to stress. We used a machine learning-derived neural signature reflecting neural systems that underlie cognitive reappraisal (an ER strategy) to identify reappraisal-related activity while participants recalled negative autobiographical memories under the following conditions: 1) unstructured recall; 2) distanced recall, a form of reappraisal; and 3) immersed recall (comparison condition). Participants also completed a week of ecological momentary assessment measuring daily stressors, suicidal ideation, and negative affect.

RESULTS

Higher reappraisal signature output for the unstructured period, a proxy for the spontaneous tendency to engage ER, was associated with greater increases in suicidal ideation following stressors (b = 0.083, p = .041). Higher signature output for distanced recall, a proxy for the capacity to engage ER when directed, was associated with lower negative affect following stressors (b = -0.085, p = .029). Output for the immerse period was not associated with ecological momentary assessment outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that in major depressive disorder, the spontaneous tendency to react to negative memories with attempts to reappraise may indicate greater reactivity to negative cues, while intact capacity to use reappraisal when directed may be associated with more adaptive responses to stress. These data have implications for understanding stress-related increases in suicide risk in depression.

Aberrant functional connectivity of amygdala subregions in temporal lobe epilepsy with ictal panic

OBJECTIVE

The amygdala joins the model of fear neurocircuitry for its subregional roles in processing and mediating panic. This study aims to explore the underlying neuromechanisms of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients with ictal panic (IP) by investigating the amygdala subregions functional connectivity (FC) alteration.

METHODS

18 TLE patients with IP (TLE-IP group), 23 TLE patients without IP (TLE-none-IP group) and 22 age- and sex- matched healthy controls (HC) were enrolled and required to take resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning. The basolateral (BLA), centromedial (CMA), and superficial (SFA) amygdala subregions were extracted from Juelich histological atlas. The amygdala subregions-based FC was computed and compared among three groups.

RESULTS

The TLE-IP group demonstrated stronger FC between the left BLA and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) than the TLE-none-IP group and HC. Compared with the TLE-none-IP group and HC, the TLE-IP group showed increased FC between the right BLA and right postcentral gyrus. The FC between the left BLA/SFA and the orbital part of right MFG increased in the TLE-IP group. Furthermore, the TLE-IP group exhibited decreased FC between the left CMA and pons. Further analysis indicated altered FC between the amygdala subregions and the pons, precuneus and thalamus in the left-sided TLE-IP group, but the MFG, inferior parietal gyrus, supplementary motor area and cerebellum in the right-sided TLE-IP group.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study revealed aberrant amygdala subregions-based FC in TLE patients with IP. These findings offer unique insights into the understanding of fear neurocircuitry in TLE patients with IP.

Losing Control: Prefrontal Emotion Regulation Is Related to Symptom Severity and Predicts Treatment-Related Symptom Change in Adolescent Girls With Conduct Disorder

BACKGROUND

Emotion regulation skills are linked to corticolimbic brain activity (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [dlPFC] and limbic regions) and enable an individual to control their emotional experiences, thus allowing healthy social functioning. Disruptions in emotion regulation skills are reported in neuropsychiatric disorders, including conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder (CD/ODD). Clinically recognized means to ameliorate emotion regulation deficits observed in CD/ODD include cognitive or dialectical behavioral skills therapy as implemented in the START NOW program. However, the role of emotion regulation and its neural substrates in symptom severity and prognosis following treatment of adolescent CD/ODD has not been investigated.

METHODS

Cross-sectional data including functional magnetic resonance imaging responses during emotion regulation (N = 114; average age = 15 years), repeated-measures assessments of symptom severity (pretreatment, posttreatment, long-term follow-up), and functional magnetic resonance imaging data collected prior to and following the START NOW randomized controlled trial (n = 44) for female adolescents with CD/ODD were analyzed using group comparisons and multiple regression.

RESULTS

First, behavioral and neural correlates of emotion regulation were disrupted in female adolescents with CD/ODD. Second, ODD symptom severity was negatively associated with dlPFC/precentral gyrus activity during regulation. Third, treatment-related symptom changes were predicted by pretreatment ODD symptom severity and regulatory dlPFC/precentral activity. Additionally, pretreatment dlPFC/precentral activity and ODD symptom severity predicted long-term reductions in symptom severity following treatment for participants who received the START NOW treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings demonstrate the important role that emotion regulation skills play in the characteristics of CD/ODD and show that regulatory dlPFC/precentral activity is positively associated with treatment response in female adolescents with CD/ODD.

Graph analysis of guilt processing network highlights links with subclinical anxiety and self-blame

Maladaptive forms of guilt, such as excessive self-blame, are common characteristics of anxiety and depressive disorders. The underlying network consists of multiple associative areas, including the superior anterior temporal lobe (sATL), underlying the conceptual representations of social meaning, and fronto-subcortical areas involved in the affective dimension of guilt. Nevertheless, despite understanding the circuitry's anatomy, network-level changes related to subclinical anxiety and self-blaming behaviour have not been depicted. To fill this gap, we used graph theory analyses on a resting-state functional and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging dataset of 78 healthy adults (20 females, 20-35 years old). Within the guilt network, we found increased functional contributions of the left sATL for individuals with higher self-blaming, while functional isolation of the left pars opercularis and insula was related to higher trait anxiety. Trait anxiety was also linked to the structural network's mean clustering coefficient, with the circuitry's architecture favouring increased local information processing in individuals with increased anxiety levels, however, only when a highly specific subset of connections was considered. Previous research suggests that aberrant interactions between conceptual (sATL) and affective (fronto-limbic) regions underlie maladaptive guilt, and the current results align and expand on this theory by detailing network changes associated with self-blame and trait anxiety.

The impact of sleep disorders on brain network connectivity in postpartum women: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy-based study

Sleep disorder is an important risk factor for postpartum depression. Although previous research has explored brain activity in postpartum depression, it has not fully revealed how insomnia affect mood by altering interactions between brain regions. This study aim to investigate the relationship between insomnia and depressive status in postpartum women, utilizing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to explore brain network topological properties. Among 143 postpartum women, 40 were diagnosed with insomnia and 103 without. The results indicated that the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) scores were significantly higher in the insomnia group compared to the control group. Compared with the control group, the insomnia group showed significantly increased connection strength of triangularis Broca's between middle and superior temporal gyrus and left between right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (p < 0.001). Brain network topological analysis revealed that the small-world properties, clustering coefficient (p = 0.009), and local efficiency (p = 0.009) were significantly lower in the insomnia group compared to the control group. Notably, the local efficiency and clustering coefficient of the left temporal pole were significantly reduced and negatively correlated with EPDS scores. These findings elucidate how insomnia may exacerbate postpartum depression through changes in brain network properties. While the observed alterations in connectivity suggest a correlation, causation cannot be definitively established. Improving sleep quality remains a promising intervention, but further research is needed to clarify causal links and therapeutic targets.

Characterization of neural networks involved in transdiagnostic emotion dysregulation from a pilot randomized controlled trial of a neurostimulation-enhanced behavioral intervention

BACKGROUND

Emotional dysregulation is a serious and impairing mental health problem. We examined functional activity and connectivity of neural networks involved in emotional dysregulation at baseline and following a pilot neurostimulation-enhanced cognitive restructuring intervention in a transdiagnostic clinical adult sample.

METHODS

Neuroimaging data were analyzed from adults who scored 89 or higher on the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation (DERS) scale and had at least one DSM-5 diagnosis. These participants were part of a pilot randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial combining a single therapeutic session of cognitive restructuring with active or sham transcranial magnetic stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. During the study, participants engaged in an emotional regulation task using personalized autobiographical stressors while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after the pilot intervention. The fMRI task required participants to either experience the emotions associated with the memories or apply cognitive restructuring strategies to reduce their distress.

RESULTS

Whole-brain fMRI results during regulation at baseline revealed increased activation in the dorsal frontoparietal network but decreased activation in the supplementary motor area, cingulate cortex, insula, and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). Emotion dysregulation was associated with greater vmPFC and amygdala activation and functional connectivity between these regions. The strength of functional connectivity between the dlPFC and other frontal regions was also a marker of emotional dysregulation. Preliminary findings from a subset of participants who completed the follow-up fMRI scan showed that active neurostimulation improved behavioral indices of emotion regulation more than sham stimulation. A whole-brain generalized psychophysiological interaction analysis indicated that active neurostimulation selectively increased occipital cortex connectivity with both the insula and the dlPFC. Region-of-interest functional connectivity analyses showed that active neurostimulation selectively increased dlPFC connectivity with the insula and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC).

CONCLUSION

Insufficient neural specificity during the emotion regulation process and over-involvement of frontal regions may be a marker of emotional dysregulation across disorders. OFC, vlPFC, insula activity, and connectivity are associated with improved emotion regulation in transdiagnostic adults. In this pilot study, active neurostimulation led to neural changes in the emotion regulation network after a single session; however, the intervention findings are preliminary, given the small sample size. These functional network properties can inform future neuroscience-driven interventions and larger-scale studies.

The deficit in cognitive reappraisal capacity in individuals with anxiety or depressive disorders: meta-analyses of behavioral and neuroimaging studies

BACKGROUND

The deficit in cognitive reappraisal capacity is a key factor in developing and maintaining emotional disorders such as anxiety disorders and depressive disorders. However, the results from both neuroimaging and behavioral studies are mixed. Therefore, we systematically conducted a series of meta-analyses based on behavioral and neuroimaging studies to clarify this issue.

METHODS

In behavioral meta-analyses, we used three-level random-effects models to summarize the overall effect sizes based on Hedges' g. In neuroimaging meta-analyses, we used SDM-PSI to summarize the brain activation patterns.

RESULTS

Behavioral meta-analyses found that individuals with anxiety disorders or depressive disorders could reduce negative reactivity through reappraisal; the reduction of negative emotions through reappraisal by individuals with anxiety disorders was similar to that by healthy individuals; the reduction by depressive disorders was lower than that of healthy individuals. Neuroimaging meta-analyses showed that individuals with anxiety disorders or depressive disorders activated regions of cognitive control during cognitive reappraisal; the activation in individuals with anxiety disorders was lower than in healthy individuals; while the activation in individuals with depressive disorders was similar to that in healthy individuals.

CONCLUSION

Individuals with anxiety and depressive disorders showed dissociation in behaviour and neuroimaging patterns of cognitive reappraisal capacity deficit.

Prefrontal cortex engagement during an fMRI task of emotion regulation as a potential predictor of treatment response in borderline personality disorder

BACKGROUND

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe mental illness, with high rates of co-morbid depression and suicidality. Despite the importance of optimizing treatment in BPD, little is known about how neural processes relate to individual treatment response. This study examines how baseline regional brain blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) activation during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task of emotion regulation is related to treatment response following a six-month randomized clinical trial of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) treatment.

METHODS

Unmedicated females with BPD (N = 37), with recent suicidal behavior or self-injury, underwent an fMRI task in which negative personal memories were presented and they were asked to distance (i.e., downregulate their emotional response) or immerse (i.e., experience emotions freely). Patients were then randomized to DBT (N = 16) or SSRI (N = 21) treatment, with baseline and post-treatment depression and BPD severity assessed.

RESULTS

BOLD activity in prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, and insula was associated with distancing. Baseline BOLD during distancing in dorsolateral, ventrolateral, and orbital prefrontal cortex (dlPFC, vlPFC, OFC) differentially predicted depression response across treatment groups, with higher activity predicting better response in the SSRI group, and lower activity predicting better response in the DBT group.

LIMITATIONS

All female samples.

DISCUSSION

Findings indicate that greater prefrontal engagement during emotion regulation may predict more antidepressant benefit from SSRIs, whereas lower engagement may predict better response to DBT. These results suggest different mechanisms of action for SSRI and DBT treatment, and this may allow fMRI to guide individualized treatment selection.

Temporal dissociation between local and global functional adaptations of the maternal brain to childbirth: a longitudinal assessment

The maternal brain undergoes significant reorganization during birth and the postpartum period. However, the temporal dynamics of these changes remain unclear. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we report on local and global brain function alterations in 75 mothers in their first postpartum week, compared to 23 nulliparous women. In a subsample followed longitudinally for the next six months, we observed a temporal and spatial dissociation between changes observed at baseline (cluster mass permutation: pFWE < 0.05). Local activity and connectivity changes in widespread neocortical regions persisted throughout the studied time period (ANCOVAs vs. controls: pFDR < 0.05), with preliminary evidence linking these alterations to behavioral and psychological adaptations (interaction effect with postpartum time: uncorrected p < 0.05). In contrast, the initially reduced whole-brain connectivity of putamen-centered subcortical areas returned to control levels within six to nine weeks postpartum (linear and quadratic mixed linear models: pFDR < 0.05). The whole-brain spatial colocalization with hormone receptor distributions (Spearman correlations: pFDR < 0.05) and preliminary blood hormone associations (interaction effect with postpartum time: uncorrected p < 0.05) suggested that the postpartum restoration of progesterone levels may underlie this rapid normalization. These observations enhance our understanding of healthy maternal brain function, contributing to the identification of potential markers for pathological postpartum adaptation processes, which in turn could underlie postpartum psychiatric disorders.

Self-Choice Emotion Regulation Enhances Stress Reduction: Neural Basis of Self-Choice Emotion Regulation

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Opting to perform emotion regulation when facing high-arousal stimuli enhances the reduction in negative emotions. Previous research has indicated that self-choice, that is, personally choosing from multiple alternatives, can improve performance. However, it is unclear whether the emotion regulation strategy chosen among multiple alternatives in daily life enhances stress reduction compared to a forced strategy. This study aimed to reveal the effects of self-choice emotion regulation and its underlying neural basis.

METHODS

Participants were 40 healthy adults who met the inclusion criteria; they performed self-choice emotion regulation, forced emotion regulation, and no emotion regulation (the control condition) while their brain activity was captured using a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner. First, the participants were shown a stressful scenario. Secondly, they rated the stress they experienced. Thirdly, they performed self-choice or forced emotion regulation or did nothing. Finally, participants rated their stress level again.

RESULTS

Self-choice emotion regulation reduced stress better than forced-choice emotion regulation. The stress reduction was associated with decreases in the activation of the left opercular part of the inferior frontal gyrus.

CONCLUSIONS

Self-choice can improve emotion regulation, and this effect is likely mediated by the neural efficiency of the left inferior frontal gyrus.

The critical mediating roles of the middle temporal gyrus and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in the dynamic processing of interpersonal emotion regulation

Interpersonal emotion regulation (IER) is a crucial ability for effectively recovering from negative emotions through social interaction. It has been emphasized that the empathy network, cognitive control network, and affective generation network sustain the deployment of IER. However, the temporal dynamics of functional connectivity among these networks of IER remains unclear. This study utilized IER task-fMRI and sliding window approach to examine both the stationary and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) of IER. Fifty-five healthy participants were recruited for the present study. Through clustering analysis, four distinct brain states were identified in dFC. State 1 demonstrated situation modification stage of IER, with strong connectivity between affective generation and visual networks. State 2 exhibited pronounced connectivity between empathy network and both cognitive control and affective generation networks, reflecting the empathy stage of IER. Next, a 'top-down' pattern is observed between the connectivity of cognitive control and affective generation networks during the cognitive control stage of state 3. The affective response modulation stage of state 4 mainly involved connections between empathy and affective generation networks. Specifically, the degree centrality of the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) mediated the association between one's IER tendency and the regulatory effects in state 2. The betweenness centrality of the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) mediated the association between one's IER efficiency and the regulatory effects in state 3. Altogether, these findings revealed that dynamic connectivity transitions among empathy, cognitive control, and affective generation networks, with the left VLPFC and MTG playing dominant roles, evident across the IER processing.

Integrating dynamic psychophysiological indices across time and contexts: Elucidating mechanisms, risk markers, and intervention targets

Why should researchers measure psychophysiological processes repeatedly over time? The study of psychophysiology inherently involves sampling biological processes as they manifest over time. The most common approach is to use a brief sample to make conclusions about how individuals or groups differ. Although these types of between-subject comparisons have utility for understanding individual and group differences, many of the important conceptual questions in the field involve processes that are dynamic, varying within individuals over time. Using examples from the literature on affect regulation, this conceptual review contrasts three types of study designs: the classic single-observation design and the aggregated and temporally linked repeated observation designs, which have great promise for measuring variables that fluctuate dynamically over time. Importantly, these designs can be integrated to elucidate research questions about risk (when and for whom will the likelihood of an unwanted outcome occurring increase?), mechanisms (how and why does a change in psychophysiology contribute to a change in another process of interest?), and interventions (how and when should interventions take place to modify an outcome?). Researchers are encouraged to implement intensive sampling in their research, which can be conducted in traditional laboratory settings (e.g., fMRI, event-related brain potentials, and heart rate variability) and in ecologically valid contexts in everyday life using ambulatory assessment.

Stable neural underpinnings of emotional cognition subgroups in patients newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder: A prospective fMRI study

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to investigate the neural underpinnings of emotional cognition subgroups in recently diagnosed patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and change over time over a 15-month follow-up period.

METHODS

Patients and healthy controls (HC) underwent emotional and nonemotional cognitive assessments and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at the baseline (BD n = 87; HC n = 65) and at 15-month follow-up (BD n = 44; HC n = 38). Neural activity during emotion reactivity and regulation in response to aversive pictures was assessed during fMRI. Patients were clustered into subgroups based on their emotional cognition and, with HC, were compared longitudinally on cognition and neural activity during emotion reactivity and regulation.

RESULTS

Patients were optimally clustered into two subgroups: Subgroup 1 (n = 40, 46%) was characterized by heightened emotional reactivity in negative social scenarios, which persisted over time, but were otherwise cognitively intact. This subgroup exhibited stable left amygdala hyper-activity over time during emotion reactivity compared to subgroup 2. Subgroup 2 (n = 47, 54%) was characterized by global emotional cognitive impairments, including stable difficulties with emotion regulation over time. During emotion regulation across both time points, this group exhibited hypo-activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Additionally, patients in subgroup 2 had poorer nonemotional cognition, had more psychiatric hospital admissions and history of psychotic episodes than those in subgroup 1.

CONCLUSIONS

Broad impairments in emotional cognition in approximately half of BD patients and associated nonemotional cognitive deficits may originate from insufficient recruitment of prefrontal resources, contributing to poorer clinical outcomes.

The nested hierarchical model of self and its non-relational vs relational posttraumatic manifestation: an fMRI meta-analysis of emotional processing

Different kinds of traumatic experiences like natural catastrophes vs. relational traumatic experiences (e.g., sex/physical abuse, interpersonal partner violence) are involved in the development of the self and PTSD psychopathological manifestations. Looking at a neuroscience approach, it has been proposed a nested hierarchical model of self, which identifies three neural-mental networks: (i) interoceptive; (ii) exteroceptive; (iii) mental. However, it is still unclear how the self and its related brain networks might be affected by non-relational vs relational traumatic experiences. Departing from this background, the current study aims at conducting a meta-analytic review of task-dependent fMRI studies (i.e., emotional processing task) among patients with PTSD due to non-relational (PTSD-NR) and relational (PTSD-R) traumatic experiences using two approaches: (i) a Bayesian network meta-analysis for a region-of-interest-based approach; (ii) a coordinated-based meta-analysis. Our findings suggested that the PTSD-NR mainly recruited areas ascribed to the mental self to process emotional stimuli. Whereas, the PTSD-R mainly activated regions associated with the intero-exteroceptive self. Accordingly, the PTSD-R compared to the PTSD-NR might not reach a higher symbolic capacity to process stimuli with an emotional valence. These results are also clinically relevant in support of the development of differential treatment approaches for non-relational vs. relational PTSD.

Psychological dissociation and temporal integration/segregation across the senses: An experimental study

There are no studies that have experimentally tested how temporal integration/segregation of sensory inputs might be linked to the emergence of dissociative experiences and alterations of emotional functioning. Thirty-six participants completed 3 sensory integration tasks. Psychometric thresholds were estimated as indexes of temporal integration/segregation processes. We collected self-report measures of pre-task trait levels of dissociation, as well as pre- post-task changes in both dissociation and emotionality. An independent sample of 21 subjects completed a control experiment administering the Attention Network Test. Results showed: (i) a significant increase of dissociative experiences after the completion of sensory integration tasks, but not after the ANT task; (ii) that subjective thresholds predicted the emergence of dissociative states; (iii) temporal integration efforts affected positive emotionality, which was explained by the extent of task-dependent dissociative states. The present findings reveal that dissociation could be understood in terms of an imbalance between "hyper-segregation" and "hyper-integration" processes.

Decoding acceptance and reappraisal strategies from resting state macro networks

Acceptance and reappraisal are considered adaptive emotion regulation strategies. While previous studies have explored the neural underpinnings of these strategies using task-based fMRI and sMRI, a gap exists in the literature concerning resting-state functional brain networks' contributions to these abilities, especially regarding acceptance. Another intriguing question is whether these strategies rely on similar or different neural mechanisms. Building on the well-known improved emotion regulation and increased cognitive flexibility of individuals who rely on acceptance, we expected to find decreased activity inside the affective network and increased activity inside the executive and sensorimotor networks to be predictive of acceptance. We also expect that these networks may be associated at least in part with reappraisal, indicating a common mechanism behind different strategies. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a functional connectivity analysis of resting-state data from 134 individuals (95 females; mean age: 30.09 ± 12.87 years, mean education: 12.62 ± 1.41 years). To assess acceptance and reappraisal abilities, we used the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) and a group-ICA unsupervised machine learning approach to identify resting-state networks. Subsequently, we conducted backward regression to predict acceptance and reappraisal abilities. As expected, results indicated that acceptance was predicted by decreased affective, and executive, and increased sensorimotor networks, while reappraisal was predicted by an increase in the sensorimotor network only. Notably, these findings suggest both distinct and overlapping brain contributions to acceptance and reappraisal strategies, with the sensorimotor network potentially serving as a core common mechanism. These results not only align with previous findings but also expand upon them, illustrating the complex interplay of cognitive, affective, and sensory abilities in emotion regulation.

Brain mechanisms underlying the modulation of heart rate variability when accepting and reappraising emotions

Heart rate variability (HRV) has been linked to resilience and emotion regulation (ER). How HRV and brain processing interact during ER, however, has remained elusive. Sixty-two subjects completed the acquisition of resting HRV and task HRV while performing an ER functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) paradigm, which included the differential strategies of ER reappraisal and acceptance in the context of viewing aversive pictures. We found high correlations of resting and task HRV across all emotion regulation strategies. Furthermore, individuals with high levels of resting, but not task, HRV showed numerically lower distress during ER with acceptance. Whole-brain fMRI parametrical modulation analyses revealed that higher task HRV covaried with dorso-medial prefrontal activation for reappraisal, and dorso-medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate and temporo-parietal junction activation for acceptance. Subjects with high resting HRV, compared to subjects with low resting HRV, showed higher activation in the pre-supplementary motor area during ER using a region of interest approach. This study demonstrates that while resting and task HRV exhibit a positive correlation, resting HRV seems to be a better predictor of ER capacity. Resting and task HRV were associated with ER brain activation in mid-line frontal cortex (i.e. DMPFC).

More than labels: neural representations of emotion words are widely distributed across the brain

Although emotion words such as "anger," "disgust," "happiness," or "pride" are often thought of as mere labels, increasing evidence points to language as being important for emotion perception and experience. Emotion words may be particularly important for facilitating access to the emotion concepts. Indeed, deficits in semantic processing or impaired access to emotion words interfere with emotion perception. Yet, it is unclear what these behavioral findings mean for affective neuroscience. Thus, we examined the brain areas that support processing of emotion words using representational similarity analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data (N = 25). In the task, participants saw 10 emotion words (e.g. "anger," "happiness") while in the scanner. Participants rated each word based on its valence on a continuous scale ranging from 0 (Pleasant/Good) to 1 (Unpleasant/Bad) scale to ensure they were processing the words. Our results revealed that a diverse range of brain areas including prefrontal, midline cortical, and sensorimotor regions contained information about emotion words. Notably, our results overlapped with many regions implicated in decoding emotion experience by prior studies. Our results raise questions about what processes are being supported by these regions during emotion experience.

Neurobiology and systems biology of stress resilience

Stress resilience is the phenomenon that some people maintain their mental health despite exposure to adversity or show only temporary impairments followed by quick recovery. Resilience research attempts to unravel the factors and mechanisms that make resilience possible and to harness its insights for the development of preventative interventions in individuals at risk for acquiring stress-related dysfunctions. Biological resilience research has been lagging behind the psychological and social sciences but has seen a massive surge in recent years. At the same time, progress in this field has been hampered by methodological challenges related to finding suitable operationalizations and study designs, replicating findings, and modeling resilience in animals. We embed a review of behavioral, neuroimaging, neurobiological, and systems biological findings in adults in a critical methods discussion. We find preliminary evidence that hippocampus-based pattern separation and prefrontal-based cognitive control functions protect against the development of pathological fears in the aftermath of singular, event-type stressors [as found in fear-related disorders, including simpler forms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)] by facilitating the perception of safety. Reward system-based pursuit and savoring of positive reinforcers appear to protect against the development of more generalized dysfunctions of the anxious-depressive spectrum resulting from more severe or longer-lasting stressors (as in depression, generalized or comorbid anxiety, or severe PTSD). Links between preserved functioning of these neural systems under stress and neuroplasticity, immunoregulation, gut microbiome composition, and integrity of the gut barrier and the blood-brain barrier are beginning to emerge. On this basis, avenues for biological interventions are pointed out.

Adaptive-to-maladaptive gradient of emotion regulation tendencies are embedded in the functional-structural hybrid connectome

BACKGROUND

Emotion regulation tendencies are well-known transdiagnostic markers of psychopathology, but their neurobiological foundations have mostly been examined within the theoretical framework of cortical-subcortical interactions.

METHODS

We explored the connectome-wide neural correlates of emotion regulation tendencies using functional and diffusion magnetic resonance images of healthy young adults (N = 99; age 20-30; 28 females). We first tested the importance of considering both the functional and structural connectome through intersubject representational similarity analyses. Then, we employed a canonical correlation analysis between the functional-structural hybrid connectome and 23 emotion regulation strategies. Lastly, we sought to externally validate the results on a transdiagnostic adolescent sample (N = 93; age 11-19; 34 females).

RESULTS

First, interindividual similarity of emotion regulation profiles was significantly correlated with interindividual similarity of the functional-structural hybrid connectome, more so than either the functional or structural connectome. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that an adaptive-to-maladaptive gradient of emotion regulation tendencies mapped onto a specific configuration of covariance within the functional-structural hybrid connectome, which primarily involved functional connections in the motor network and the visual networks as well as structural connections in the default mode network and the subcortical-cerebellar network. In the transdiagnostic adolescent dataset, stronger functional signatures of the found network were associated with higher general positive affect through more frequent use of adaptive coping strategies.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, our study illustrates a gradient of emotion regulation tendencies that is best captured when simultaneously considering the functional and structural connections across the whole brain.

Targeting the left DLPFC and right VLPFC in unmarried romantic relationship breakup (love trauma syndrome) with intensified electrical stimulation: A randomized, single-blind, parallel-group, sham-controlled study

BACKGROUND

Ending a romantic relationship is one of the most painful losses an adult experience. Neuroimaging studies suggest that there is a neuropsychological link between breakup experiences and bereaved individuals, and that specific prefrontal regions are involved. The aim of this study was to determine whether enhancement of left DLPFC and right VLPFC activity with a novel intensified anodal transcranial direct current stimulation protocol reduces core symptoms of love trauma syndrome (LTS) and improves treatment-related variables.

METHODS

In this randomized, sham-controlled, single-blind parallel trial, we assessed the efficacy of an intensified anodal stimulation protocol (20 min, twice-daily sessions with 20 min intervals, 5 consecutive days) with two montages (left DLPFC vs right VLPFC) to reduce love trauma symptoms. 36 participants with love trauma syndrome were randomized in three tDCS condition (left DLPFC, right VLPFC, sham stimulation). LTS symptoms, treatment-related outcome variables (depressive state, anxiety, emotion regulation, positive and negative affect), and cognitive functions were assessed before, right after, and one month after intervention.

RESULTS

Both DLPFC and VLPFC protocols significantly reduced LTS symptoms, and improved depressive state and anxiety after the intervention, as compared to the sham group. The improving effect of the DLPFC protocol on love trauma syndrome was significantly larger than that of the VLPFC protocol. For emotion regulation and positive and negative affect, improved regulation of emotions and positive affect and reduced negative affect were revealed after intervention in the two real stimulation conditions compared to the sham. For cognitive functions, no significant difference was observed between the groups, but again a positive effect of intervention within groups in the real stimulation conditions (DLPFC and VLPFC) was found for most components of the cognitive tasks.

CONCLUSIONS

Enhancement of left DLPFC and right VLPFC activity with intensified stimulation improves LTS symptoms and treatment-related variables. For LTS symptoms, DLPFC stimulation was more efficient than VLPFC stimulation., For the other variables, no significant difference was observed between these two stimulation groups. These promising results require replication in larger trials.

Impact of social reward on stress circuit function and regulation: Path differences between value affirmation and emotional support

Background

As two typical types of social rewards, both value affirmation and emotional support could alleviate acute stress response, but it is not clear whether they can impact stress circuit function and regulation through different neural pathways.

Method

Sixty-two participants were randomly assigned to the value affirmation, emotional support, and non-reward conditions, then administered an adapted version of the ScanSTRESS paradigm. Participants' subjective reports of uncontrollability and social evaluative threat were measured to explore the mitigation of stress by social rewards at the behavioral level. Meanwhile, their acute salivary cortisol response to stress was compared among different social reward conditions. Furthermore, we computed linear contrasts for performance (vs relaxation) and reward (vs non-reward) and used psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis to explore the impact of social reward on stress circuit function and regulation.

Results

Both value affirmation and emotional support conditions reduced subjective reports of uncontrollability and social evaluation threat, but not cortisol response to stress. Furthermore, value affirmation reduced uncontrollability by enhancing putamen activation, whereas emotional support reduced social evaluation threat by enhancing putamen activation. More importantly, during stress, value affirmation enhanced the functional connectivity of the putamen-hippocampus and putamen-angular gyrus (AG), whereas emotional support enhanced the functional connectivity of the putamen-ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and putamen-temporal pole mid, compared to the non-reward condition.

Conclusion

Value affirmation and emotional support alleviated acute stress response in different neural pathways. These findings suggested a precise categorization of social reward in intervention of a range of adverse psychological and physiological responses caused by stress.

Refraining from spontaneous face touch is linked to personality traits, reduced memory performance and EEG changes

Spontaneous touches of one's face (sFST) were suggested to serve cognitive-emotional regulation processes. During the pandemic, refraining from face-touching was recommended, yet, accompanying effects and the influence of personal attributes remain unclear. Ninety participants (45 female, 45 male) filled out a questionnaire concerning personality, anxiety screening and ADHD screening. Subsequently, they performed a delayed verbal memory recall task four times. After two times, sixty participants were instructed to refrain from face-touching (experimental group). Thirty participants did not receive behavioral instructions (control group). To identify face-touches and conduct further analysis, Video, EMG, and EEG data were recorded. Two samples were formed, depending on the adherence to completely refrain from face-touching (adherent, non-adherent sample) and compared to each other and the control group. EEG analyses uncovered that refraining from face-touching is accompanied by increased beta-power at sensorimotor sites and, exclusively in the non-adherent sample, at frontal sites. Decreased memory performance was found exclusively in subsamples, who non-adherently touched their face while retaining words. In terms of questionnaire results, lower Conscientiousness and higher ADHD screening scores were revealed by the non-adherent compared to the adherent sample. No differences were found among the subsamples. The presented results indicate that refraining from face-touching is related to personal attributes, accompanied by neurophysiological shifts and for a portion of humans by lower memory performance, supporting the notion that sFST serve processes beyond sensorimotor.

Neural Markers of Emotion Reactivity and Regulation Before and After a Targeted Social Rejection: Differences Among Girls With and Without Suicidal Ideation and Behavior Histories

BACKGROUND

Suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are common among adolescent girls and increase risk for suicide death. Emotion regulation difficulties are linked with STBs, particularly in response to targeted social rejection. However, neural correlates of this link have not been investigated and may identify novel targets for interventions. Here, we examined neural correlates of emotion regulation before and after an experimentally delivered targeted social rejection in adolescent girls with STBs and girls without STBs (i.e., control participants).

METHODS

Girls (N = 138; age range, 9-15 years; mean [SD] age = 11.6 [1.79] years) completed a functional neuroimaging emotion regulation task. In the middle of the task, participants were socially rejected by an unfamiliar confederate whom the participants had elected to meet. Participants also completed a multimethod STB assessment.

RESULTS

Before rejection, girls with a history of STBs, compared with control participants, showed greater activation in the right superior frontal gyrus when passively viewing negative stimuli, and girls with suicidal behavior (SB) versus those without SB showed less activation in the right frontal pole during emotion regulation attempts. Following the rejection, girls with STBs, compared with control participants, showed greater activation in the right inferior frontal gyrus during emotion regulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Before social rejection, girls with SB versus without SB may not activate brain regions implicated in emotion regulation, suggesting a vulnerability to poor regulation at their baseline emotional state. After social rejection, girls with any history of STBs showed altered activation in a brain region strongly associated with inhibition and emotion regulation success, possibly reflecting increased effort at inhibiting emotional responses during regulation following stress exposure.

Activation Likelihood Estimation Neuroimaging Meta-Analysis: a Powerful Tool for Emotion Research

Over the past two decades, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become the primary tool for exploring neural correlates of emotion. To enhance the reliability of results in understanding the complex nature of emotional experiences, researchers combine findings from multiple fMRI studies using coordinate-based meta-analysis (CBMA). As one of the most widely employed CBMA methods worldwide, activation likelihood estimation (ALE) is of great importance in affective neuroscience and neuropsychology. This comprehensive review provides an introductory guide for implementing the ALE method in emotion research, outlining the experimental steps involved. By presenting a case study about the emotion of disgust, with regard to both its core and social processing, we offer insightful commentary as to how ALE can enable researchers to produce consistent results and, consequently, fruitfully investigate the neural mechanisms underpinning emotions, facilitating further progress in this field.

Do we empathize humanoid robots and humans in the same way? Behavioral and multimodal brain imaging investigations

Humanoid robots have been designed to look more and more like humans to meet social demands. How do people empathize humanoid robots who look the same as but are essentially different from humans? We addressed this issue by examining subjective feelings, electrophysiological activities, and functional magnetic resonance imaging signals during perception of pain and neutral expressions of faces that were recognized as patients or humanoid robots. We found that healthy adults reported deceased feelings of understanding and sharing of humanoid robots' compared to patients' pain. Moreover, humanoid robot (vs. patient) identities reduced long-latency electrophysiological responses and blood oxygenation level-dependent signals in the left temporoparietal junction in response to pain (vs. neutral) expressions. Furthermore, we showed evidence that humanoid robot identities inhibited a causal input from the right ventral lateral prefrontal cortex to the left temporoparietal junction, contrasting the opposite effect produced by patient identities. These results suggest a neural model of modulations of empathy by humanoid robot identity through interactions between the cognitive and affective empathy networks, which provides a neurocognitive basis for understanding human-robot interactions.

Information-based TMS to mid-lateral prefrontal cortex disrupts action goals during emotional processing

The ability to respond to emotional events in a context-sensitive and goal-oriented manner is essential for adaptive functioning. In models of behavioral and emotion regulation, the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) is postulated to maintain goal-relevant representations that promote cognitive control, an idea rarely tested with causal inference. Here, we altered mid-LPFC function in healthy individuals using a putatively inhibitory brain stimulation protocol (continuous theta burst; cTBS), followed by fMRI scanning. Participants performed the Affective Go/No-Go task, which requires goal-oriented action during affective processing. We targeted mid-LPFC (vs. a Control site) based on the individualized location of action-goal representations observed during the task. cTBS to mid-LPFC reduced action-goal representations in mid-LPFC and impaired goal-oriented action, particularly during processing of negative emotional cues. During negative-cue processing, cTBS to mid-LPFC reduced functional coupling between mid-LPFC and nodes of the default mode network, including frontopolar cortex-a region thought to modulate LPFC control signals according to internal states. Collectively, these results indicate that mid-LPFC goal-relevant representations play a causal role in governing context-sensitive cognitive control during emotional processing.

Neural responses to reward, threat, and emotion regulation and transition to hazardous alcohol use

AIMS

Reward processing and regulation of emotions are thought to impact the development of addictive behaviors. In this study, we aimed to determine whether neural responses during reward anticipation, threat appraisal, emotion reactivity, and cognitive reappraisal predicted the transition from low-level to hazardous alcohol use over a 12-month period.

METHODS

Seventy-eight individuals aged 18-22 with low-level alcohol use [i.e. Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) score <7] at baseline were enrolled. They completed reward-based and emotion regulation tasks during magnetic resonance imaging to examine reward anticipation, emotional reactivity, cognitive reappraisal, and threat anticipation (in the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, superior frontal gyrus, and insula, respectively). Participants completed self-report measures at 3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-month follow-up time points to determine if they transitioned to hazardous use (as defined by AUDIT scores ≥8).

RESULTS

Of the 57 participants who completed follow-up, 14 (24.6%) transitioned to hazardous alcohol use. Higher baseline AUDIT scores were associated with greater odds of transitioning to hazardous use (odds ratio = 1.73, 95% confidence interval 1.13-2.66, P = .005). Brain activation to reward, threat, and emotion regulation was not associated with alcohol use. Of the neural variables, the amygdala response to negative imagery was numerically larger in young adults who transitioned to hazardous use (g = 0.31), but this effect was not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Baseline drinking levels were significantly associated with the transition to hazardous alcohol use. Studies with larger samples and longer follow-up should test whether the amygdala response to negative emotional imagery can be used to indicate a future transition to hazardous alcohol use.

fMRI BOLD responses to film stimuli and their association with exhaled nitric oxide in asthma and health

Little is known about central nervous system (CNS) responses to emotional stimuli in asthma. Nitric oxide in exhaled breath (FENO) is elevated in asthma due to allergic immune processes, but endogenous nitric oxide is also known to modulate CNS activity. We measured fMRI blood oxygen-dependent (BOLD) brain activation to negative (blood-injection-injury themes) and neutral films in 31 participants (15 with asthma). Regions-of-interest analysis was performed on key areas relevant to central adaptive control, threat processing, or salience networks, with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), anterior insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), amygdala, ventral striatum, ventral tegmentum, and periaqueductal gray, as well as top-down modulation of emotion, with ventrolateral and ventromedial PFC. Both groups showed less BOLD deactivation from fixation cross-baseline in the left anterior insula and bilateral ventromedial PFC for negative than neutral films, and for an additional number of areas, including the fusiform gyrus, for film versus recovery phases. Less deactivation during films followed by less recovery from deactivation was found in asthma compared to healthy controls. Changes in PCO2 did not explain these findings. FENO was positively related to BOLD activation in general, but more pronounced in healthy controls and more likely in neutral film processing. Thus, asthma is associated with altered processing of film stimuli across brain regions not limited to central adaptive control, threat processing, or salience networks. Higher levels of NO appear to facilitate CNS activity, but only in healthy controls, possibly due to allergy's masking effects on FENO.

A systems identification approach using Bayes factors to deconstruct the brain bases of emotion regulation

Cognitive reappraisal is fundamental to cognitive therapies and everyday emotion regulation. Analyses using Bayes factors and an axiomatic systems identification approach identified four reappraisal-related components encompassing distributed neural activity patterns across two independent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies (n = 182 and n = 176): (1) an anterior prefrontal system selectively involved in cognitive reappraisal; (2) a fronto-parietal-insular system engaged by both reappraisal and emotion generation, demonstrating a general role in appraisal; (3) a largely subcortical system activated during negative emotion generation but unaffected by reappraisal, including amygdala, hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray; and (4) a posterior cortical system of negative emotion-related regions downregulated by reappraisal. These systems covaried with individual differences in reappraisal success and were differentially related to neurotransmitter binding maps, implicating cannabinoid and serotonin systems in reappraisal. These findings challenge 'limbic'-centric models of reappraisal and provide new systems-level targets for assessing and enhancing emotion regulation.

Dissociable neural correlates of trait and ability emotional intelligence: a resting-state fMRI study

Emotional intelligence (EI) is one's ability to monitor one's own and other's emotions and the use of emotional information to enhance thought and action. Previous behavioral studies have shown that EI is separable into trait EI and ability EI, which are known to have distinct characteristics at the behavioral level. A relevant and unanswered question is whether both forms of EI have a dissociable neural basis. Previous studies have individually explored the neural underpinnings of trait EI and ability EI, but there has been no direct comparison of the neural mechanisms underlying these two types of emotional intelligence. The present study addresses this question by using resting-state fMRI to examine the correlational pattern between the regional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of the brain and individuals' trait EI and ability EI scores. We found that trait EI scores were positively correlated with the ALFF in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and negatively correlated with the ALFF in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex. In contrast, ability EI scores were positively correlated with the ALFF in the insula. Taken together, these results provide preliminary evidence of dissociable neural substrates between trait EI and ability EI.

Enhancing ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activation mitigates social pain and modifies subsequent social attitudes: Insights from TMS and fMRI

Social pain, a multifaceted emotional response triggered by interpersonal rejection or criticism, profoundly impacts mental well-being and social interactions. While prior research has implicated the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (rVLPFC) in mitigating social pain, the precise neural mechanisms and downstream effects on subsequent social attitudes remain elusive. This study employed transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) integrated with fMRI recordings during a social pain task to elucidate these aspects. Eighty participants underwent either active TMS targeting the rVLPFC (n = 41) or control stimulation at the vertex (n = 39). Our results revealed that TMS-induced rVLPFC facilitation significantly reduced self-reported social pain, confirming the causal role of the rVLPFC in social pain relief. Functional connectivity analyses demonstrated enhanced interactions between the rVLPFC and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, emphasizing the collaborative engagement of prefrontal regions in emotion regulation. Significantly, we observed that negative social feedback led to negative social attitudes, whereas rVLPFC activation countered this detrimental effect, showcasing the potential of the rVLPFC as a protective buffer against adverse social interactions. Moreover, our study uncovered the impact role of the hippocampus in subsequent social attitudes, a relationship particularly pronounced during excitatory TMS over the rVLPFC. These findings offer promising avenues for improving mental health within the intricate dynamics of social interactions. By advancing our comprehension of the neural mechanisms underlying social pain relief, this research introduces novel intervention strategies for individuals grappling with social distress. Empowering individuals to modulate rVLPFC activation may facilitate reshaping social attitudes and successful reintegration into communal life.