scholarly journals Neural correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation in traumatized North Korean refugees

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyung Hwa Lee ◽  
Ha Young Lee ◽  
Inkyung Park ◽  
Yu Jin Lee ◽  
Nambeom Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Psychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Trauma Exposure ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Psychophysiological Interaction

AbstractRefugees often report heightened emotional reactivity and emotion regulation difficulties and are at high risk for mental health problems. Given that refugees are repeatedly exposed to traumatic events that may cause changes in the brain, the present study examined neural correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation and their associations with refugee features (e.g., cumulative trauma) and the severity of psychiatric symptoms (e.g., post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) in North Korean (NK) refugees. Forty NK refugees with trauma exposure and varying levels of psychopathology and 41 healthy South Korean (SK) controls without trauma exposure participated in this study. They performed an emotion regulation task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) assessment. Region of interest (ROI), whole brain, and generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analyses were conducted. NK refugees with trauma exposure and varying levels of psychopathology showed increased activation in response to negative socio-affective pictures in regions involved in affective processing, including the amygdala and hippocampus, relative to healthy SK controls without trauma exposure. They also exhibited greater prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation, amygdala–PFC functional connectivity (FC), and hippocampal–PFC FC during emotion regulation. More severe PTSD symptoms were associated with greater hippocampal response to negative pictures (vs. neutral pictures) in NK refugees. This study provides neuroscientific evidence for neural alterations in association with emotional reactivity and regulation in traumatized refugees. These findings may contribute to a better mechanistic understanding of emotional reactivity and regulation in refugees and suggest potential ways to address the emotional and mental problems of traumatized refugees.

Neural predictors and effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for depression: the role of emotional reactivity and regulation

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harry Rubin-Falcone ◽  
Jochen Weber ◽  
Ronit Kishon ◽  
Kevin Ochsner ◽  
Lauren Delaparte ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Treatment Outcome ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral ◽  
Longitudinal Change ◽  
Bold Signal

AbstractBackgroundCognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for many patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD), but predictors of treatment outcome are lacking, and little is known about its neural mechanisms. We recently identified longitudinal changes in neural correlates of conscious emotion regulation that scaled with clinical responses to CBT for MDD, using a negative autobiographical memory-based task.MethodsWe now examine the neural correlates of emotional reactivity and emotion regulation during viewing of emotionally salient images as predictors of treatment outcome with CBT for MDD, and the relationship between longitudinal change in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses and clinical outcomes. Thirty-two participants with current MDD underwent baseline MRI scanning followed by 14 sessions of CBT. The fMRI task measured emotional reactivity and emotion regulation on separate trials using standardized images from the International Affective Pictures System. Twenty-one participants completed post-treatment scanning. Last observation carried forward was used to estimate clinical outcome for non-completers.ResultsPre-treatment emotional reactivity Blood Oxygen Level-Dependent (BOLD) signal within hippocampus including CA1 predicted worse treatment outcome. In contrast, better treatment outcome was associated with increased down-regulation of BOLD activity during emotion regulation from time 1 to time 2 in precuneus, occipital cortex, and middle frontal gyrus.ConclusionsCBT may modulate the neural circuitry of emotion regulation. The neural correlates of emotional reactivity may be more strongly predictive of CBT outcome. The finding that treatment outcome was predicted by BOLD signal in CA1 may suggest overgeneralized memory as a negative prognostic factor in CBT outcome.

scholarly journals The Neurocircuitry Underlying Additive Effects of Safety Instruction on Extinction Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arash Javanbakht ◽  
Lana Ruvolo Grasser ◽  
Shantanu Madaboosi ◽  
Asadur Chowdury ◽  
Israel Liberzon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Unconditioned Stimulus ◽  
Exposure Therapy ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Laboratory Model ◽  
Additive Effects ◽  
Extinction Learning ◽  
Psychophysiological Interaction ◽  
Healthy Participants

Extinction learning is the dominant laboratory model for exposure therapy, a treatment involving both experience of safety near the feared object, and safety instructions relayed by a therapist. While the experiential aspect of extinction learning is well researched, less is known about instructed extinction learning and its neurocircuitry. Here, in 14 healthy participants we examined the neural correlates of, and the network interactions evoked by instructed extinction learning. Following fear conditioning to two CS+ stimuli, participants were instructed about the absence of the aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) for one of the CS+s (instructed CS; CS+I) but not the second CS+ (uninstructed CS+; CS+U). Early during extinction learning, greater activation was observed for the CS+I > CS+U contrast in regions including the vmPFC, dmPFC, vlPFC, and right parahippocampus. Subsequently, psychophysiological interaction (PPI) was applied to investigate functional connectivity of a seed in the vmPFC. This analyses revealed significant modulation of the dmPFC, parahippocampus, amygdala, and insula. Our findings suggest that the addition of cognitive instruction yields greater activation of emotion regulation and reappraisal networks during extinction learning. This work is a step in advancing laboratory paradigms that more accurately model exposure therapy and identifies regions which may be potential targets for neuromodulation to enhance psychotherapy effects.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of up-regulating positive emotions in fMRI and their link to affect in daily life

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1049-1059
Author(s):  
Johanna M Grosse Rueschkamp ◽  
Annette Brose ◽  
Arno Villringer ◽  
Michael Gaebler
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Ventral Striatum ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Affective Valence ◽  
Daily Affect ◽  
Subcortical Regions

Abstract Emotion regulation is typically used to down-regulate negative or up-regulate positive emotions. While there is considerable evidence for the neural correlates of the former, less is known about the neural correlates of the latter—and how they are associated with emotion regulation and affect in daily life. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were acquired from 63 healthy young participants (22 ± 1.6 years, 30 female), while they up-regulated their emotions to positive and neutral images or passively watched them. The same participants’ daily affect and emotion regulation behavior was measured using experience sampling over 10 days. Focusing on the ventral striatum (VS), previously associated with positive affective processing, we found increased activation during the up-regulation to both positive and neutral images. VS activation for the former positively correlated with between- and within-person differences in self-reported affective valence during fMRI but was not significantly associated with up-regulation in daily life. However, participants with lower daily affect showed a stronger association between changes in affect and activation in emotion-related (medial frontal and subcortical) regions—including the VS. These results support the involvement of the VS in up-regulating positive emotions and suggest a neurobehavioral link between emotion-related brain activation and daily affect.

scholarly journals Neural correlates of mindful emotion regulation in high and low ruminators

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Rosenbaum ◽  
Agnes M. Kroczek ◽  
Justin Hudak ◽  
Julian Rubel ◽  
Moritz J. Maier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotional Distress ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Depressive Rumination ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
Depressive Episodes

Abstract Depressive rumination is considered a prominent risk factor for the occurrence, severity, and duration of depressive episodes. A variety of treatment options have been developed to treat depressive rumination of which mindfulness based programs are especially promising. In the current study, we investigated the neural underpinnings of a short mindfulness intervention and mindful emotion regulation in high and low trait ruminators in an ecologically valid environment using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Participants were randomly assigned to a mindfulness instruction (MT) group or an instructed thinking (IT) group. Participants in the MT group were trained to either focus their attention mindfully on their breath or their emotions, while the IT group focused their attention on the past or future. Afterwards, all participants underwent an emotion regulation paradigm in which they either watched negative or neutral movie clips. During both paradigms cortical hemodynamic changes were assessed by means of fNIRS. Participants in the MT group showed lower activity in the cognitive control network (CCN) during the focus on breath condition in comparison to the focus on emotion condition. Additionally, oxygenated hemoglobin in the MT group tended to be lower than in the IT group. Further, self-reports of emotional distress during the instruction paradigm were reduced in the MT group. During the emotion regulation paradigm, we observed reduced emotional reactivity in terms of emotional distress and avoidance in the MT group in comparison to the IT group. Furthermore, on a neural level, we observed higher CCN activity in the MT group in comparison to the IT group. We did not find any effect of rumination, neither on the intervention nor on the emotion regulation task. The results of this pilot study are discussed in light of the present literature on the neural correlates of mindfulness based interventions in rumination and emphasize the use of fNIRS to track neural changes in situ over the course of therapy.

scholarly journals Gender Differences in Functional Connectivity during Emotion Regulation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teodora Stoica ◽  
Lindsay Knight ◽  
Farah Naaz ◽  
Samantha Patton ◽  
Brendan Depue
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
Affective Disorders ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Aversive Stimulus ◽  
Negative Emotion ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
Neural Basis

Gender differences in emotion regulation (ER) have been postulated, yet their neural basis remains poorly understood. The goal of this study was to investigate this issue from a functional connectivity (FC) perspective. Utilizing a region of interest (ROI) analysis, we investigated whether men and women (N=48) differed in their FC pattern while viewing versus regulating negative emotion induced by highly salient pictures, and whether this pattern related to their self-reported negative affect and suppression success. Despite women reporting more negative affect, both genders had comparable suppression success. Moreover, differences emerged between men and women’s FC patterns. During the regulation of negative emotion, better suppression in women was associated with stronger FC within a cingulo-opercular network, while men exhibited stronger FC within posterior regions of the ventral attentional network. We conclude that due to their propensity for higher emotional reactivity, women may employ a frontal top-down control network to downregulate negative emotion, while men may redirect attention away from the aversive stimulus by using posterior regions of the ventral attention network. The findings may have significant implications for understanding women’s vulnerability for developing affective disorders and developing targeted individualized treatment.

scholarly journals Age-related decline in positive emotional reactivity and emotion regulation in a population-derived cohort

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Schweizer ◽  
Jason Stretton ◽  
Janna van Belle ◽  
Darren Price ◽  
Andrew J. Calder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Older People ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Functional Decline ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Affective Processing ◽  
Cognitive Domains ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Positive Reactivity ◽  
Age Related Changes

Human older age ushers in functional decline across the majority of cognitive domains. A notable exception seems be affective processing, with older people reporting higher levels of emotional well-being. Here we evaluated age-related changes in emotional reactivity and regulation in a representative subsample (n=104; 23-88 years) of the population-derived Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience cohort. Performance on a film-based emotion reactivity and regulation task in the MRI scanner showed an age-related decline in positive reactivity, alongside a similar decline in the capacity to down-regulate negative affect. Decreased positivity with age was associated with reduced activation in the middle frontal gyrus. These findings, from the largest neuroimaging investigation to-date, provide no support for age-related increases in positive emotional reactivity.

scholarly journals The brain at war: effects of stress on brain structure in soldiers deployed to a war zone

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simone Kühn ◽  
Oisin Butler ◽  
Gerd Willmund ◽  
Ulrich Wesemann ◽  
Peter Zimmermann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Medial Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Trauma Exposure ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Cross Sectional Studies ◽  
Volume Decrease

AbstractIn search of the neural basis of severe trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a multitude of cross-sectional studies have been conducted, most of them pointing at structural deficits in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex including the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Since cross-sectional studies are silent to causality, the core question remains: which brain structural alterations constitute a risk factor for disease and therewith precede the stressor, and which brain regions may undergo alterations as a consequence of exposure to the stressor. We assessed 121 soldiers before and after deployment to regions of war and 40 soldiers as controls, who were not deployed. Analysis using voxel-based morphometry revealed volumetric reductions in the ACC, vmPFC (region of interest analysis, effect does not survive conservative multiple test correction) and in bilateral thalamus (whole-brain analysis) in the deployment group. Remarkably, the ACC and vmPFC volume decrease was not limited to the period of deployment, but continued over the following 6 months after deployment. Volumetric reductions did not correlate with increases in PTSD symptoms. The volume decreases in medial prefrontal cortex and thalamus seem to be driven by trauma exposure rather than a vulnerability factor for PTSD. However, data indicate that the volume decrease in medial prefrontal cortex surpasses the time period of deployment. This may hint at an initiated pathobiological process below a symptom threshold, potentially paving the way to future mental health problems.

scholarly journals The neural correlates of sex differences in emotional reactivity and emotion regulation

2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 758-769 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Domes ◽  
Lars Schulze ◽  
Moritz Böttger ◽  
Annette Grossmann ◽  
Karlheinz Hauenstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Neural Correlates

scholarly journals Post-traumatic Stress and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents After the 2015 Earthquake in Nepal: A Longitudinal Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanju Silwal ◽  
Roshan Chudal ◽  
Ragnhild Dybdahl ◽  
Lauri Sillanmäki ◽  
Lars Lien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Traumatic Stress ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Psychiatric Symptoms ◽  
Post Traumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Symptoms ◽  
Potential Risk Factors ◽  
Post Traumatic

AbstractFew longitudinal studies have focused on mental health problems among adolescents after earthquakes. We investigated changes in post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and depressive symptoms from 18 to 31 months after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal and explored potential risk factors associated with the change in psychiatric symptoms. This study comprised of 515 adolescents, aged 11–17 years from two earthquake-affected areas, one severely affected than the other. The psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the standardized Child Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Scale and the Depression Self-Rating Scale. No significant change was observed in the prevalence of PTSS and depressive symptoms from 18 to 31 months after the earthquake. Living in severely affected area and exposure to trauma after the earthquake were associated with adolescents who developed chronic or delayed PTSS and depressive symptoms. The study findings highlight the need for disaster preparedness and early interventions that strengthen support at various levels.

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