Neural responses to witnessing peer rejection after being socially excluded: fMRI as a window into adolescents' emotional processing

Abstract Background Prolonged grief disorder (PGD) has recently been recognized as a separate psychiatric diagnosis, despite controversy over the extent to which it is distinctive from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods This study investigated distinctive neural processes underpinning emotion processing in participants with PGD, PTSD, and MDD with functional magnetic resonance study of 117 participants that included PGD (n = 21), PTSD (n = 45), MDD (n = 26), and bereaved controls (BC) (n = 25). Neural responses were measured across the brain while sad, happy, or neutral faces were presented at both supraliminal and subliminal levels. Results PGD had greater activation in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC), bilateral insula, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortices and right caudate and also greater pgACC–right pallidum connectivity relative to BC during subliminal processing of happy faces. PGD was distinct relative to both PTSD and MDD groups with greater recruitment of the medial orbitofrontal cortex during supraliminal processing of sad faces. PGD were also distinct relative to MDD (but not PTSD) with greater activation in the left amygdala, caudate, and putamen during subliminal presentation of sad faces. There was no distinction between PGD, PTSD, and MDD during processing of happy faces. Conclusions These results provide initial evidence of distinct neural profiles of PGD relative to related psychopathological conditions, and highlight activation of neural regions implicated in reward networks. This pattern of findings validates current models of PGD that emphasize the roles of yearning and appetitive processes in PGD.

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Neural responses to peer rejection in anxious adolescents

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025411406854 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 36-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 43

Author(s):

Jennifer Y. F. Lau ◽

Amanda E. Guyer ◽

Erin B. Tone ◽

Jessica Jenness ◽

Jessica M. Parrish ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Negative Emotion ◽

Peer Rejection ◽

Group Differences ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Subjective Ratings ◽

Social Feedback ◽

Cognitive Differences ◽

Adolescent Anxiety ◽

Neuroimaging Data ◽

Hippocampal Complex

Peer rejection powerfully predicts adolescent anxiety. While cognitive differences influence anxious responses to social feedback, little is known about neural contributions. Twelve anxious and twelve age-, gender- and IQ-matched, psychiatrically healthy adolescents received “not interested” and “interested” feedback from unknown peers during a chat room task administered in a neuroimaging scanner. No group differences emerged in subjective ratings to peer feedback, but all participants reported more negative emotion at being rejected (than accepted) by peers to whom they had assigned high-desirability ratings. Further highlighting the salience of such feedback, all adolescents, independently of anxiety levels, manifested elevated responses in the amygdala-hippocampal complex bilaterally, during the anticipation of feedback. However, anxious adolescents differed from healthy adolescents in their patterns of persistent amygdala-hippocampal activation following rejection. These data carry interesting implications for using neuroimaging data to inform psychotherapeutic approaches to social anxiety.

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Interaction between a history of depression and rumination on neural response to emotional faces

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291711000043 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 41 (9) ◽

pp. 1845-1855 ◽

Cited By ~ 32

Author(s):

E. J. Thomas ◽

R. Elliott ◽

S. McKie ◽

D. Arnone ◽

D. Downey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emotional Processing ◽

Negative Emotion ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Emotional Faces ◽

History Of ◽

Consistent Picture ◽

Depressive Episodes ◽

The Relationship ◽

History Of Depression

BackgroundBoth past depressive episodes and the personality trait of depressive rumination are strong risk factors for future depression. Depression is associated with abnormal emotional processing, which may be a neurobiological marker for vulnerability to depression. A consistent picture has yet to emerge as to how a history of depression and the tendency to ruminate influence emotional processing. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between rumination, past depression and neural responses when processing face emotions.MethodThe Ruminative Responses Scale (RRS) was completed by 30 remitted depressives and 37 controls who underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning while viewing happy, sad, fearful and neutral faces.ResultsThe remitted depressives showed overall reductions in neural responses to negative emotions relative to the controls. However, in the remitted depressives, but not the controls, RRS scores were correlated with increased neural responses to negative emotions and decreased responses to happiness in limbic regions.ConclusionsAutomatic emotion processing biases and rumination seem to be correlated to aspects of vulnerability to depression. However, remission from depression may be maintained by a general suppression of limbic responsiveness to negative emotion.

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Neural responses during emotional processing before and after cognitive trauma therapy for battered women

Psychiatry Research Neuroimaging ◽

10.1016/j.pscychresns.2013.05.001 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 214 (1) ◽

pp. 48-55 ◽

Cited By ~ 53

Author(s):

Robin L. Aupperle ◽

Carolyn B. Allard ◽

Alan N. Simmons ◽

Taru Flagan ◽

Steven R. Thorp ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Battered Women ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Trauma Therapy ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Before And After

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Associations Among Pubertal Development, Empathic Ability, and Neural Responses While Witnessing Peer Rejection in Adolescence

Child Development ◽

10.1111/cdev.12056 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 84 (4) ◽

pp. 1338-1354 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Carrie L. Masten ◽

Naomi I. Eisenberger ◽

Jennifer H. Pfeifer ◽

Natalie L. Colich ◽

Mirella Dapretto

Keyword(s):

Peer Rejection ◽

Pubertal Development ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Empathic Ability

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Brain Responsivity to Emotional Faces Differs in Alcoholic Men and Women

10.1101/496166 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Marlene Oscar-Berman ◽

Susan Mosher Ruiz ◽

Ksenija Marinkovic ◽

Mary M. Valmas ◽

Gordon J. Harris ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Gender Effects ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Reverse Direction ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Neuropsychological Dysfunction ◽

Emotional Faces ◽

The Right ◽

Emotional Face

AbstractInclusion of women in alcoholism research has shown that gender differences contribute to unique profiles of cognitive, emotional, and neuropsychological dysfunction. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of abstinent long-term alcoholics (21 women [ALCw] and 21 men [ALCm]) and demographically-similar nonalcoholic controls (21 women [NCw] and 21 men [NCm]) to explore how gender and alcoholism interact to influence emotional processing and memory. Participants completed a delayed match-to-sample emotional face memory fMRI task. While the results corroborated reports implicating amygdalar, superior temporal, and cerebellar involvement in emotional processing overall, the alcoholic participants showed hypoactivation of the left intraparietal sulcus to encoding the identity of the emotional face stimuli. The nonalcoholic participants demonstrated more reliable gender differences in neural responses to encoding the identity of the emotional faces than did the alcoholic group, and widespread neural responses to these stimuli were more pronounced in the NCw than in the NCm. By comparison, gender differences among ALC participants were either smaller or in the opposite direction (higher brain activation in ALCm than ALCw). Specifically, Group by Gender interaction effects indicated stronger responses to emotional faces by ALCm than ALCw in the left superior frontal gyrus and the right inferior frontal sulcus, while NCw had stronger responses than NCm. However, this pattern was inconsistent throughout the brain, with results suggesting the reverse direction of gender effects in the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex. Together, these findings demonstrated that gender plays a significant role in the profile of functional brain abnormalities observed in alcoholism.

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Chronic Childhood Peer Rejection is Associated with Heightened Neural Responses to Social Exclusion During Adolescence

Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology ◽

10.1007/s10802-015-9983-0 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 44 (1) ◽

pp. 43-55 ◽

Cited By ~ 55

Author(s):

Geert-Jan Will ◽

Pol A. C. van Lier ◽

Eveline A. Crone ◽

Berna Güroğlu

Keyword(s):

Social Exclusion ◽

Peer Rejection ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Chronic Childhood

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An fMRI Investigation of Attributing Negative Social Treatment to Racial Discrimination

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2010.21520 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 23 (5) ◽

pp. 1042-1051 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

Carrie L. Masten ◽

Eva H. Telzer ◽

Naomi I. Eisenberger

Keyword(s):

Racial Discrimination ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Racial Bias ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Social Pain ◽

Affective Processes ◽

Social Treatment ◽

Socially Excluded

We used fMRI to examine the neural responses that occur during experiences of perceived racial discrimination. Previous neuroimaging studies have focused exclusively on the processes underlying racial bias from the perpetrator's perspective and have yet to examine the processes that occur when individuals are being discriminated against. To extend this work, we examined the neural correlates associated with attributing negative social treatment to racial discrimination to explore the cognitive and affective processes that occur as discrimination is being experienced. To do this, we scanned Black participants while they were ostensibly excluded by Whites and then measured distress levels and race-based attributions for exclusion. In response to being socially excluded by Whites, Black participants who appeared to be more distressed showed greater social pain-related neural activity and reduced emotion regulatory neural activity. In addition, those who attributed exclusion to racial discrimination displayed less social pain-related and more emotion regulatory neural activity. The potential negative impact that frequent negative social treatment and discrimination-related distress regulation might have on individuals' long-term mental and physical health is discussed.

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Risk for depression and neural responses to fearful facial expressions of emotion

The British Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1192/bjp.bp.107.047993 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 194 (2) ◽

pp. 139-145 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

Author(s):

Stella W. Y. Chan ◽

Ray Norbury ◽

Guy M. Goodwin ◽

Catherine J. Harmer

Keyword(s):

Facial Expressions ◽

Emotional Processing ◽

Opposite Effect ◽

Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽

Neural Responses ◽

Facial Expressions Of Emotion ◽

The Right ◽

Left Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽

Left Middle ◽

Risk For Depression

BackgroundDepression is associated with neural abnormalities in emotional processing.AimsThis study explored whether these abnormalities underlie risk for depression.MethodWe compared the neural responses of volunteers who were at high and low-risk for the development of depression (by virtue of high and low neuroticism scores; high-N group and low-N group respectively) during the presentation of fearful and happy faces using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).ResultsThe high-N group demonstrated linear increases in response in the right fusiform gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus to expressions of increasing fear, whereas the low-N group demonstrated the opposite effect. The high-N group also displayed greater responses in the right amygdala, cerebellum, left middle frontal and bilateral parietal gyri to medium levels of fearful v. happy expressions.ConclusionsRisk for depression is associated with enhanced neural responses to fearful facial expressions similar to those observed in acute depression.

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