scholarly journals Neural basis for anxiety and anxiety-related physiological responses during simulated driving: An fMRI study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takafumi Sasaoka ◽  
Tokiko Harada ◽  
Daichi Sato ◽  
Nanae Michida ◽  
Hironobu Yonezawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Video Clip ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Autonomic Response ◽  
Attention Condition ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Autonomic Responses ◽  
Person Perspective ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
The Right ◽  
Safe Condition

While the exteroceptive and interoceptive prediction of a negative event increases a person's anxiety in daily life situations, the relationship between the brain mechanism of anxiety and anxiety-related autonomic response have not been fully understood. In this fMRI study, we examined the neural basis of anxiety and anxiety-related autonomic responses in a daily driving situation. Participants viewed a driving video clip in the first-person perspective. In the middle of the video clip, participants were presented with a cue to indicate whether a subsequent crash could occur (attention condition) or not (safe condition). Compared with the safe condition, there were more activities in the anterior insula, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, thalamus, and periaqueductal gray, and higher sympathetic nerve responses, such as pupil dilation and peripheral arterial stiffness in the attention condition. We also observed autonomic response-related functional connectivity in the visual cortex, cerebellum, brainstem, and MCC/PCC with the right anterior insula and its adjacent regions as seed regions. Thus, the right anterior insula and adjacent regions, collaborating with the other related regions, could play a fundamental role in eliciting anxiety based on the prediction of negative events by mediating anxiety-related autonomic responses according to interoceptive information.

The narcissistic self and its psychological and neural correlates: an exploratory fMRI study

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (8) ◽  
pp. 1641-1650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Fan ◽  
C. Wonneberger ◽  
B. Enzi ◽  
M. de Greck ◽  
C. Ulrich ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Neural Underpinnings ◽  
The Right ◽  
First Time

BackgroundThe concept of narcissism has been much researched in psychoanalysis and especially in self psychology. One of the hallmarks of narcissism is altered emotion, including decreased affective resonance (e.g. empathy) with others, the neural underpinnings of which remain unclear. The aim of our exploratory study was to investigate the psychological and neural correlates of empathy in two groups of healthy subjects with high and low narcissistic personality trait. We hypothesized that high narcissistic subjects would show a differential activity pattern in regions such as the anterior insula that are typically associated with empathy.MethodA sample of 34 non-clinical subjects was divided into high (n=11) and low (n=11) narcissistic groups according to the 66th and 33rd percentiles of their scores on the Narcissism Inventory (NI). Combining the psychological, behavioral and neuronal [i.e. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)] measurements of empathy, we compared the high and low narcissistic groups of subjects.ResultsHigh narcissistic subjects showed higher scores on the Symptom Checklist-90 – Revised (SCL-90-R) and the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) when compared to low narcissistic subjects. High narcissistic subjects also showed significantly decreased deactivation during empathy, especially in the right anterior insula.ConclusionsPsychological and neuroimaging data indicate respectively higher degrees of alexithymia and lower deactivation during empathy in the insula in high narcissistic subjects. Taken together, our preliminary findings demonstrate, for the first time, psychological and neuronal correlates of narcissism in non-clinical subjects. This might stipulate both novel psychodynamic conceptualization and future psychological–neuronal investigation of narcissism.

scholarly journals The neural correlates of ideation in product design engineering practitioners

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Hay ◽  
A. H. B. Duffy ◽  
S. J. Gilbert ◽  
L. Lyall ◽  
G. Campbell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Design Engineering ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Design Engineers ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Fmri Analysis ◽  
The Right ◽  
Creative Ideation

In product design engineering (PDE), ideation involves the generation of technical behaviours and physical structures to address specific functional requirements. This differs from generic creative ideation tasks, which emphasise functional and technical considerations less. To advance knowledge about the neural basis of PDE ideation, we present the first fMRI study on professional product design engineers practising in industry. We aimed to explore brain activation during ideation, and compare activation in open-ended and constrained tasks. Imagery manipulation tasks were contrasted with ideation tasks in a sample of 29 PDE professionals. The key findings were: (1) PDE ideation is associated with greater activity in left cingulate gyrus; (2) there were no significant differences between open-ended and constrained tasks; and (3) a preliminary association with activity in the right superior temporal gyrus was also observed. The results are consistent with existing fMRI work on generic creative ideation, suggesting that PDE ideation may share a number of similarities at the neural level. Future work includes: functional connectivity analysis of open-ended and constrained ideation to further investigate potential differences; investigating the effects of aspects of design expertise/training on processing; and the use of novelty measures directly linked to the designer’s internal processing in fMRI analysis.

Emotional Reactivity to Visual Content as Revealed by ERP Component Clustering

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslaw Wyczesany ◽  
Szczepan J. Grzybowski ◽  
Jan Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Occipital Lobe ◽  
Stimulus Onset ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. In the study, the neural basis of emotional reactivity was investigated. Reactivity was operationalized as the impact of emotional pictures on the self-reported ongoing affective state. It was used to divide the subjects into high- and low-responders groups. Independent sources of brain activity were identified, localized with the DIPFIT method, and clustered across subjects to analyse the visual evoked potentials to affective pictures. Four of the identified clusters revealed effects of reactivity. The earliest two started about 120 ms from the stimulus onset and were located in the occipital lobe and the right temporoparietal junction. Another two with a latency of 200 ms were found in the orbitofrontal and the right dorsolateral cortices. Additionally, differences in pre-stimulus alpha level over the visual cortex were observed between the groups. The attentional modulation of perceptual processes is proposed as an early source of emotional reactivity, which forms an automatic mechanism of affective control. The role of top-down processes in affective appraisal and, finally, the experience of ongoing emotional states is also discussed.

Improvement in prefrontal thalamic connectivity during the early course of the illness in recent-onset psychosis: a 12-month longitudinal follow-up resting-state fMRI study

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Daniel Bergé ◽  
Tyler A. Lesh ◽  
Jason Smucny ◽  
Cameron S. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Recent Onset ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Clinical Meaning ◽  
Mixed Pattern ◽  
The Right ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background Previous research in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) has shown a mixed pattern of disrupted thalamocortical connectivity in psychosis. The clinical meaning of these findings and their stability over time remains unclear. We aimed to study thalamocortical connectivity longitudinally over a 1-year period in participants with recent-onset psychosis. Methods To this purpose, 129 individuals with recent-onset psychosis and 87 controls were clinically evaluated and scanned using rs-fMRI. Among them, 43 patients and 40 controls were re-scanned and re-evaluated 12 months later. Functional connectivity between the thalamus and the rest of the brain was calculated using a seed to voxel approach, and then compared between groups and correlated with clinical features cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Results At baseline, participants with recent-onset psychosis showed increased connectivity (compared to controls) between the thalamus and somatosensory and temporal regions (k = 653, T = 5.712), as well as decreased connectivity between the thalamus and left cerebellum and right prefrontal cortex (PFC; k = 201, T = −4.700). Longitudinal analyses revealed increased connectivity over time in recent-onset psychosis (relative to controls) in the right middle frontal gyrus. Conclusions Our results support the concept of abnormal thalamic connectivity as a core feature in psychosis. In agreement with a non-degenerative model of illness in which functional changes occur early in development and do not deteriorate over time, no evidence of progressive deterioration of connectivity during early psychosis was observed. Indeed, regionally increased connectivity between thalamus and PFC was observed.

scholarly journals Brain Activation during Thoughts of One’s Own Death and Its Linear and Curvilinear Correlations with Fear of Death in Elderly Individuals: An fMRI Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanan Hirano ◽  
Kentaro Oba ◽  
Toshiki Saito ◽  
Shohei Yamazaki ◽  
Ryuta Kawashima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activation ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Negative Linear Correlation ◽  
The Right ◽  
Older Populations ◽  
Existential Issues

Abstract Facing one’s own death and managing the fear of death are important existential issues, particularly in older populations. Although recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated brain responses to death-related stimuli, none has examined whether this brain activation was specific to one’s own death or how it was related to dispositional fear of death. In this study, during fMRI, 34 elderly participants (aged, 60–72 years) were presented with either death-related or death-unrelated negative words and asked to evaluate the relevance of these words to the “self” or the “other.” The results showed that only the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was selectively activated during self-relevant judgments of death-related words. Regression analyses of the effect of fear of death on brain activation during death-related thoughts identified a significant negative linear correlation in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and an inverted-U-shaped correlation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) only during self-relevant judgments. Our results suggest potential involvement of the SMA in the existential aspect of thoughts of death. The distinct fear-of-death-dependent responses in the SMG and PCC may reflect fear-associated distancing of the physical self and the processing of death-related thoughts as a self-relevant future agenda, respectively.

scholarly journals Effects of behavioural activation on the neural circuit related to intrinsic motivation

BJPsych Open ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 317-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asako Mori ◽  
Yasumasa Okamoto ◽  
Go Okada ◽  
Koki Takagaki ◽  
Masahiro Takamura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Motivation ◽  
Neural Circuit ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Behavioural Activation ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Efficient Treatment ◽  
The Right ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanning

BackgroundBehavioural activation is an efficient treatment for depression and can improve intrinsic motivation. Previous studies have revealed that the frontostriatal circuit is involved in intrinsic motivation; however, there are no data on how behavioural activation affects the frontostriatal circuit.AimsWe aimed to investigate behavioural activation-related changes in the frontostriatal circuit.MethodFifty-nine individuals with subthreshold depression were randomly assigned to either the intervention or non-intervention group. The intervention group received five weekly behavioural activation sessions. The participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning on two separate occasions while performing a stopwatch task based on intrinsic motivation. We investigated changes in neural activity and functional connectivity after behavioural activation.ResultsAfter behavioural activation, the intervention group had increased activation and connectivity in the frontostriatal region compared with the non-intervention group. The increased activation in the right middle frontal gyrus was correlated with an improvement of subjective sensitivity to environmental rewards.ConclusionsBehavioural activation-related changes to the frontostriatal circuit advance our understanding of psychotherapy-induced improvements in the neural basis of intrinsic motivation.Declaration of interestNone.

Autonomic response after hemorrhagic stroke in the right insular cortex: What is the common pathophysiology in rat and human?; Reply

2021 ◽  
Vol 231 ◽  
pp. 102772
Author(s):  
Fernanda Ribeiro Marins ◽  
Marcelo Limborço-Filho ◽  
Carlos Henrique Xavier ◽  
Silvia Guatimosim ◽  
Marco Antônio Peliky Fontes
Keyword(s):  
Hemorrhagic Stroke ◽  
Insular Cortex ◽  
Autonomic Response ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right

Anesthesia-induced Suppression of Human Dorsal Anterior Insula Responsivity at Loss of Volitional Behavioral Response

2016 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 766-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Elizabeth Warnaby ◽  
Marta Seretny ◽  
Roísín Ní Mhuircheartaigh ◽  
Richard Rogers ◽  
Saad Jbabdi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Anterior Insula ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
Behavioral Responsiveness ◽  
Insula Cortex ◽  
Evoked Activity ◽  
The Right ◽  
Conjunction Analysis ◽  
External Stimuli

Abstract Background It has been postulated that a small cortical region could be responsible for the loss of behavioral responsiveness (LOBR) during general anesthesia. The authors hypothesize that any brain region demonstrating reduced activation to multisensory external stimuli around LOBR represents a key cortical gate underlying this transition. Furthermore, the authors hypothesize that this localized suppression is associated with breakdown in frontoparietal communication. Methods During both simultaneous electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) and electroencephalography data acquisition, 15 healthy volunteers experienced an ultraslow induction with propofol anesthesia while a paradigm of multisensory stimulation (i.e., auditory tones, words, and noxious pain stimuli) was presented. The authors performed separate analyses to identify changes in (1) stimulus-evoked activity, (2) functional connectivity, and (3) frontoparietal synchrony associated with LOBR. Results By using an FMRI conjunction analysis, the authors demonstrated that stimulus-evoked activity was suppressed in the right dorsal anterior insula cortex (dAIC) to all sensory modalities around LOBR. Furthermore, the authors found that the dAIC had reduced functional connectivity with the frontoparietal regions, specifically the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal lobule, after LOBR. Finally, reductions in the electroencephalography power synchrony between electrodes located in these frontoparietal regions were observed in the same subjects after LOBR. Conclusions The authors conclude that the dAIC is a potential cortical gate responsible for LOBR. Suppression of dAIC activity around LOBR was associated with disruption in the frontoparietal networks that was measurable using both electroencephalography synchrony and FMRI connectivity analyses.

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