Regulating negative emotions of others reduces own stress: Neurobiological correlates and the role of individual differences in empathy: Regulating others reduces own stress

Loneliness - not for the faint of heart? Effects of transient loneliness induction on neural and parasympathetic responses to affective stimuli

While loneliness has been associated with altered neural activity in social brain networks and reduced heart rate variability (HRV) in response to social stressors, it is still unclear whether these are related or parallel effects. Thus, the current study aimed to examine the relationship between loneliness and neural and parasympathetic responses to social stimuli by using an experimental induction of momentary loneliness. Sixty-three participants (18-35 y.o.) received manipulated feedback about their future relationships to induce either loneliness (Future Alone, FA; n = 31) or feelings of belonging (Future Belong, FB, n = 32) and completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging session with concomitant HRV measurement during which affective pictures with social or nonsocial content were presented. In line with our previous research, decreased vagal flexibility and more negative affect were observed in participants subjected to the loneliness induction. Furthermore, even though no significant between-group differences in neural activity were observed, the neural response to negative social vs nonsocial stimuli in the temporoparietal junction was positively associated with the parasympathetic response, and this relationship was stronger in the FA group. Taken together, these results suggest that transient feelings of loneliness may disrupt adaptive responding to environmental demands and negatively impact brain-heart interactions.

The Association Between Autistic Traits and Depression in College Students: The Mediating Roles of Interpersonal Emotion Regulation and Social Self-Efficacy

Purpose

Higher rates of depression are associated with autistic traits; however, the precise association between autistic traits and depression has yet to be fully elucidated. Good interpersonal emotional regulation and social self-efficacy are crucial for mental health; therefore, in this study, we investigated the relationships between autistic traits, interpersonal emotional regulation, social self-efficacy, and depression.

Patients and Methods

In total, 1024 participants (613 females and 411 males) aged 16 to 23 years old (M = 19.03, SD = 0.95) completed questionnaires that were designed to evaluate their autistic traits, interpersonal emotion regulation, social self-efficacy and depression. Data were analyzed by Spearman correlation and mediation effects analyses.

Results

Autistic traits were significantly and positively correlated with depression (r = 0.39, p < 0.001), and autistic traits were shown to positively predict depression (B = 0.28, p < 0.001). Interpersonal emotion regulation and social self-efficacy were found to play a serial mediating role between autistic traits and depression (indirect effect = 0.020, p = 0.006).

Conclusion

This study is a supplement to the mechanism of the relationship between autistic traits and depression. Interpersonal emotion regulation and social self-efficacy are important predictors of possible depression in individuals with high autistic traits. These findings suggest combining interpersonal emotional regulation training and exploring the clinical value of interpersonal emotional regulation interventions in individuals with high autistic traits and autism spectrum disorder, aiming to build social confidence, reduce negative moods, restore social functioning, and other aspects.

Downsides to the empathic brain? A review of neural correlates of empathy in major depressive disorder

Empathy as one of the basic prerequisites for successful social interactions seems to be aberrant in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). Although understanding empathic impairments in MDD is crucial considering the frequently reported social skill deficits in patients, the current state of research is still inconclusive, pointing to both elevated and impaired levels of empathy. In this review, we extend previous reports of MDD-related aberrations in self-reported and behavioral empathy by shedding light on the neural correlates of empathy in MDD. Study findings indicate a complex and potentially state-dependent association, comprising both elevated and lower neural activity in empathy-related brain regions such as the inferior frontal gyri, bilateral anterior insulae, and cingulate areas. Predominantly, lower activity in these areas seems to be induced by antidepressant treatment or remission, with accompanying behavioral results indicating a reduced negativity-bias in empathic processing compared to acute states of MDD. We propose a preliminary model of empathy development throughout the course of the disorder, comprising initially elevated levels of empathy and a somewhat detached and lower empathic responding during the further progression of the disorder or post-treatment. The seemingly multifaceted nature of the association between empathy and MDD requires further exploration in future multimodal and longitudinal studies. The study of neural correlates of empathy in MDD should prospectively be enlarged by including further socio-affective and -cognitive capacities in MDD and related mental disorders.

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).

Midbrain glutamatergic circuit mechanism of resilience to socially transferred allodynia in male mice

The potential brain mechanism underlying resilience to socially transferred allodynia remains unknown. Here, we utilize a well-established socially transferred allodynia paradigm to segregate male mice into pain-susceptible and pain-resilient subgroups. Brain screening results show that ventral tegmental area glutamatergic neurons are selectively activated in pain-resilient mice as compared to control and pain-susceptible mice. Chemogenetic manipulations demonstrate that activation and inhibition of ventral tegmental area glutamatergic neurons bi-directionally regulate resilience to socially transferred allodynia. Moreover, ventral tegmental area glutamatergic neurons that project specifically to the nucleus accumbens shell and lateral habenula regulate the development and maintenance of the pain-resilient phenotype, respectively. Together, we establish an approach to explore individual variations in pain response and identify ventral tegmental area glutamatergic neurons and related downstream circuits as critical targets for resilience to socially transferred allodynia and the development of conceptually innovative analgesics.

The effective connectivity analysis of fMRI based on asymmetric detection of transfer brain entropy

It is important to explore causal relationships in functional magnetic resonance imaging study. However, the traditional effective connectivity analysis method is easy to produce false causality, and the detection accuracy needs to be improved. In this paper, we introduce a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging effective connectivity method based on the asymmetry detection of transfer entropy, which quantifies the disparity in predictive information between forward and backward time, subsequently normalizing this disparity to establish a more precise criterion for detecting causal relationships while concurrently reducing computational complexity. Then, we evaluate the effectiveness of this method on the simulated data with different level of nonlinearity, and the results demonstrated that the proposed method outperforms others methods on the detection of both linear and nonlinear causal relationships, including Granger Causality, Partial Granger Causality, Kernel Granger Causality, Copula Granger Causality, and traditional transfer entropy. Furthermore, we applied it to study the effective connectivity of brain functional activities in seafarers. The results showed that there are significantly different causal relationships between different brain regions in seafarers compared with non-seafarers, such as Temporal lobe related to sound and auditory information processing, Hippocampus related to spatial navigation, Precuneus related to emotion processing as well as Supp_Motor_Area associated with motor control and coordination, which reflects the occupational specificity of brain function of seafarers.

Comparisons are Odious? The neural basis of in-group and out-group social comparison among game players: An fMRI study

Social comparison is an important way for individuals to define their social characteristics. Online games with a large amount of social information provide a convenient platform for social comparison between players. However, few studies have examined the neural basis of different social comparisons in game players. This study aims to explore the activation of brain regions triggered by social comparison in different contexts and the possible moderating effect of group identity. A total of 26 subjects participated in our experiment. We referred to the minimum group paradigm to evoke group identity and used the dot estimation paradigm to generate in-group or out-group social comparisons. The activation of brain regions was measured and analyzed. Compared to upward comparison, the fusiform gyrus, putamen, lentiform nucleus, precuneus, and precentral gyrus were significantly activated in downward comparison when the group identity of the comparison object was the same as that of the player. When the two had different identities, downward comparison significantly activated the angular gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus. However, the moderating effect of group identity was not significant. Further functional connectivity analysis based on the brain region activation results was performed. Our study has shown that social comparison in group contexts leads to the activation of different brain regions and provides neurophysiological evidence of social interaction among game players.

Risk factors for internalizing symptoms: The influence of empathy, theory of mind, and negative thinking processes

Internalizing symptoms such as elevated stress and sustained negative affect can be important warning signs for developing mental disorders. A recent theoretical framework suggests a complex interplay of empathy, theory of mind (ToM), and negative thinking processes as a crucial risk combination for internalizing symptoms. To disentangle these relationships, this study utilizes neural, behavioral, and self-report data to examine how the interplay between empathy, ToM, and negative thinking processes relates to stress and negative affect. We reanalyzed the baseline data of N = 302 healthy participants (57% female, Mage  = 40.52, SDage  = 9.30) who participated in a large-scale mental training study, the ReSource project. Empathy and ToM were assessed using a validated fMRI paradigm featuring naturalistic video stimuli and via self-report. Additional self-report scales were employed to measure internalizing symptoms (perceived stress, negative affect) and negative thinking processes (rumination and self-blame). Our results revealed linear associations of self-reported ToM and empathic distress with stress and negative affect. Also, both lower and higher, compared to average, activation in the anterior insula during empathic processing and in the middle temporal gyrus during ToM performance was significantly associated with internalizing symptoms. These associations were dependent on rumination and self-blame. Our findings indicate specific risk constellations for internalizing symptoms. Especially people with lower self-reported ToM and higher empathic distress may be at risk for more internalizing symptoms. Quadratic associations of empathy- and ToM-related brain activation with internalizing symptoms depended on negative thinking processes, suggesting differential effects of cognitive and affective functioning on internalizing symptoms. Using a multi-method approach, these findings advance current research by shedding light on which complex risk combinations of cognitive and affective functioning are relevant for internalizing symptoms.

Effects of acute psychosocial stress on source level EEG power and functional connectivity measures

The usage of EEG to uncover the influence of psychosocial stressors (PSSs) on neural activity has gained significant attention throughout recent years, but the results are often troubled by confounding stressor types. To investigate the effect of PSSs alone on neural activity, we employed a paradigm where participants are exposed to negative peer comparison as PSS, while other possible stressors are kept constant, and compared this with a condition where participants received neutral feedback. We analyzed commonly used sensor level EEG indices (frontal theta, alpha, and beta power) and further investigated whether source level power and functional connectivity (i.e., the temporal dependence between spatially seperated brain regions) measures, which have to our knowledge not yet been used, are more sensitive to PSSs than sensor level-derived EEG measures. Our results show that on sensor level, no significant frontal power changes are present (all p's > 0.16), indicating that sensor level frontal power measures are not sensitive enough to be affected by only PSSs. On source level, we find increased alpha power (indicative of decreased cortical activity) in the left- and right precuneus and right posterior cingulate cortex (all p's < 0.03) and increased functional connectivity between the left- and right precuneus (p < 0.001), indicating that acute, trial based PSSs lead to decreased precuneus/PCC activity, and possibly indicates a temporary disruption in the self-referential neural processes of an individual.