Emotional bias and inhibitory control processes in mania and depression

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1307-1321 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. C. MURPHY ◽  
B. J. SAHAKIAN ◽  
J. S. RUBINSZTEIN ◽  
A. MICHAEL ◽  
R. D. ROGERS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Neuropsychological Functioning ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Planning Ability ◽  
Affective Bias ◽  
Emotional Bias ◽  
Manic Patients

Background. Despite markedly different clinical presentations, few studies have reported differences in neuropsychological functioning between mania and depression. The disinhibited behaviour characteristic of mania and evidence that subgenual prefrontal cortex is differentially activated in mania and depression both suggest that dissociable deficits will emerge on tasks that require inhibitory control and are subserved by ventromedial prefrontal cortex.Methods. Manic patients and controls undertook computerized neuropsychological tests of memory and planning ability. In addition, manic and depressed patients were directly compared with controls on a novel affective shifting task that requires inhibitory control over different components of cognitive and emotional processing.Results. Manic patients were impaired on tests of memory and planning. Importantly, affective shifting performance of manic patients differed from that of depressed patients. Manic patients were impaired in their ability to inhibit behavioural responses and focus attention, but depressed patients were impaired in their ability to shift the focus of attention. Depressed patients exhibited an affective bias for negative stimuli, and we believe this to be the first demonstration of an affective bias for positive stimuli in manic patients.Conclusions. Observed impairments on tests of memory and planning suggest a global pathology for mania consistent with previous profiles for this disorder and similar to established profiles for depression. The results on the affective shifting task demonstrate the presence of mood-congruent bias and dissociable components of inhibitory control in mania and depression. Against a background of memory and planning impairments in the two groups, these findings are consistent with a role for the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in mediating mood–cognition relationships.

scholarly journals Repeated noninvasive stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex reveals cumulative amplification of pleasant compared to unpleasant scene processing: a single subject pilot study

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constantin Winker ◽  
Maimu A. Rehbein ◽  
Dean Sabatinelli ◽  
Markus Junghofer
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Cue Reactivity ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Emotional Bias

AbstractThe ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is a major hub of the reward system and has been shown to activate specifically in response to pleasant / rewarding stimuli. Previous studies demonstrate enhanced pleasant cue reactivity after single applications of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the vmPFC. Here we present a pilot case study in which we assess the cumulative impact of multiple consecutive vmPFC-tDCS sessions on the processing of visual emotional stimuli in an event-related MEG recording design. The results point to stable modulation of increased positivity biases (pleasant > unpleasant stimulus signal strength) after excitatory vmPFC stimulation and a reversed pattern (pleasant < unpleasant) after inhibitory stimulation across five consecutive tDCS sessions. Moreover, cumulative effects of these emotional bias modulations were observable for several source-localized spatio-temporal clusters, suggesting an increase in modulatory efficiency by repeated tDCS sessions. This pilot study provides evidence for improvements in the effectiveness and utility of a novel tDCS paradigm in the context of emotional processing.

scholarly journals Ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity and pathological worry in generalised anxiety disorder

2018 ◽  
Vol 213 (1) ◽  
pp. 437-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Via ◽  
M. A. Fullana ◽  
X. Goldberg ◽  
D. Tinoco-González ◽  
I. Martínez-Zalacaín ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Qualitative Difference ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Generalised Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Conditioning Paradigm ◽  
Pathological Worry ◽  
Learned Safety ◽  
Hallmark Feature

BackgroundPathological worry is a hallmark feature of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), associated with dysfunctional emotional processing. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is involved in the regulation of such processes, but the link between vmPFC emotional responses and pathological v. adaptive worry has not yet been examined.AimsTo study the association between worry and vmPFC activity evoked by the processing of learned safety and threat signals.MethodIn total, 27 unmedicated patients with GAD and 56 healthy controls (HC) underwent a differential fear conditioning paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsCompared to HC, the GAD group demonstrated reduced vmPFC activation to safety signals and no safety–threat processing differentiation. This response was positively correlated with worry severity in GAD, whereas the same variables showed a negative and weak correlation in HC.ConclusionsPoor vmPFC safety–threat differentiation might characterise GAD, and its distinctive association with GAD worries suggests a neural-based qualitative difference between healthy and pathological worries.Declaration of interestNone.

Decision-making cognition in mania and depression

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 679-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. C. MURPHY ◽  
J. S. RUBINSZTEIN ◽  
A. MICHAEL ◽  
R. D. ROGERS ◽  
T. W. ROBBINS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Neuropsychological Functioning ◽  
Cognitive Tasks ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Depressed Patients ◽  
Clinical Presentations ◽  
Patient Groups ◽  
Mood And Cognition ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Manic Patients

Background. Despite markedly different clinical presentations, few studies have reported differences in neuropsychological functioning between mania and depression. Recent work has suggested that differences may emerge on cognitive tasks requiring affective processing, such as decision-making. The present study sought to compare decision-making cognition in mania and depression in order to clarify the current profiles of impairment for these disorders and to contribute to our more general understanding of the relationship between mood and cognition.Methods. Medicated manic patients, depressed patients, and normal healthy controls completed a computerized decision-making task. All subjects were asked to win as many points as possible by choosing outcomes based on variably-weighted probabilities and by placing ‘bets’ on each decision.Results. Both patient groups were impaired on this task, as evidenced by slower deliberation times, a failure to accumulate as many points as controls and suboptimal betting strategies. Manic, but not depressed, patients made suboptimal decisions – an impairment that correlated with the severity of their illness.Conclusions. These findings are consistent with a growing consensus that manic and depressed patients are characterized by significant impairments in cognitive and particularly executive, functioning. Furthermore, the distinct patterns of observed impairment in manic and depressed patients suggests that the nature and extent of cognitive impairment differ between these two groups. Viewed in the context of other recent studies, these findings are consistent with a role for the ventromedial prefrontal cortex in mediating mood–cognition relationships.

scholarly journals The role of dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the processing of emotional dimensions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vahid Nejati ◽  
Reyhaneh Majdi ◽  
Mohammad Ali Salehinejad ◽  
Michael A. Nitsche
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Anodal Tdcs ◽  
Stimulation Condition ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal

AbstractThe ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are two major prefrontal regions that usually interact in serving different cognitive functions. On the other hand, these regions are also involved in cognitive processing of emotions but their contribution to emotional processing is not well-studied. In the present study, we investigated the role of these regions in three dimensions (valence, arousal and dominance) of emotional processing of stimuli via ratings of visual stimuli performed by the study participants on these dimensions. Twenty- two healthy adult participants (mean age 25.21 ± 3.84 years) were recruited and received anodal and sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) (1.5 mA, 15 min) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in three separate sessions with an at least 72-h interval. During stimulation, participants underwent an emotional task in each stimulation condition. The task included 100 visual stimuli and participants were asked to rate them with respect to valence, arousal, and dominance. Results show a significant effect of stimulation condition on different aspects of emotional processing. Specifically, anodal tDCS over the dlPFC significantly reduced valence attribution for positive pictures. In contrast, anodal tDCS over the vmPFC significantly reduced arousal ratings. Dominance ratings were not affected by the intervention. Our results suggest that the dlPFC is involved in control and regulation of valence of emotional experiences, while the vmPFC might be involved in the extinction of arousal caused by emotional stimuli. Our findings implicate dimension-specific processing of emotions by different prefrontal areas which has implications for disorders characterized by emotional disturbances such as anxiety or mood disorders.

Age differences in ventromedial prefrontal cortex functional connectivity during socioemotional content processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Ryan T. Daley ◽  
Holly J. Bowen ◽  
Eric C. Fields ◽  
Angela Gutchess ◽  
Elizabeth A. Kensinger
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Emotional Content ◽  
Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Content Processing

Self-relevance effects are often confounded by the presence of emotional content, rendering it difficult to determine how brain networks functionally connected to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are affected by the independent contributions of self-relevance and emotion. This difficulty is complicated by age-related changes in functional connectivity between the vmPFC and other default mode network regions, and regions typically associated with externally oriented networks. We asked groups of younger and older adults to imagine placing emotional and neutral objects in their home or a stranger's home. An age-invariant vmPFC cluster showed increased activation for self-relevant and emotional content processing. Functional connectivity analyses revealed age × self-relevance interactions in vmPFC connectivity with the anterior cingulate cortex. There were also age × emotion interactions in vmPFC functional connectivity with the anterior insula, orbitofrontal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. Interactions occurred in regions with the greatest differences between the age groups, as revealed by conjunction analyses. Implications of the findings are discussed.

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