Revisiting potential associations between brain morphology, fear acquisition and extinction through new data and a literature review

Inter-individual differences in defensive responding are widely established but their morphological correlates in humans have not been investigated exhaustively. Previous studies reported associations with cortical thickness of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and medial orbitofrontal cortex as well as amygdala volume in fear conditioning studies. However, these associations are partly inconsistent and often derived from small samples. The current study aimed to replicate previously reported associations between physiological and subjective measures of fear acquisition and extinction and brain morphology. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 107 healthy adults who completed a differential cued fear conditioning paradigm with 24h delayed extinction while skin conductance response (SCR) and fear ratings were recorded. Cortical thickness and subcortical volume were obtained using the software Freesurfer. Results obtained by traditional null hypothesis significance testing and Bayesians statistics do not support structural brain-behavior relationships: Neither differential SCR nor fear ratings during fear acquisition or extinction training could be predicted by cortical thickness or subcortical volume in regions previously reported. In summary, the current pre-registered study does not corroborate associations between brain morphology and inter-individual differences in defensive responding but differences in experimental design and analyses approaches compared to previous work should be acknowledged.

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Revisiting potential associations between brain morphology, fear acquisition and extinction through new data and a literature review

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-76683-1 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Mana R. Ehlers ◽

Janne Nold ◽

Manuel Kuhn ◽

Maren Klingelhöfer-Jens ◽

Tina B. Lonsdorf

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Fear Conditioning ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Brain Morphology ◽

Small Samples ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Defensive Responding ◽

Brain Behavior ◽

Subcortical Volume

AbstractInter-individual differences in defensive responding are widely established but their morphological correlates in humans have not been investigated exhaustively. Previous studies reported associations with cortical thickness of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and medial orbitofrontal cortex as well as amygdala volume in fear conditioning studies. However, these associations are partly inconsistent and often derived from small samples. The current study aimed to replicate previously reported associations between physiological and subjective measures of fear acquisition and extinction and brain morphology. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 107 healthy adults who completed a differential cued fear conditioning paradigm with 24 h delayed extinction while skin conductance response (SCR) and fear ratings were recorded. Cortical thickness and subcortical volume were obtained using the software Freesurfer. Results obtained by traditional null hypothesis significance testing and Bayesians statistics do not support structural brain-behavior relationships: Neither differential SCR nor fear ratings during fear acquisition or extinction training could be predicted by cortical thickness or subcortical volume in regions previously reported. In summary, the current pre-registered study does not corroborate associations between brain morphology and inter-individual differences in defensive responding but differences in experimental design and analyses approaches compared to previous work should be acknowledged.

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The human anterior cingulate cortex is involved in individual differences in Pavlovian fear conditioning

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/s1053-8119(18)31746-4 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 7 (4) ◽

pp. S913

Author(s):

Maria Tillfors Olsson ◽

Tomas Furmark ◽

Håkan Fischer ◽

Jesper Andersson ◽

Gustav Wik ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Fear Conditioning ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Pavlovian Fear Conditioning

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Macro and micro structures in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex contribute to individual differences in self-monitoring

Brain Imaging and Behavior ◽

10.1007/s11682-015-9398-0 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 477-485 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Junyi Yang ◽

Xue Tian ◽

Dongtao Wei ◽

Huijuan Liu ◽

Qinglin Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Self Monitoring ◽

Micro Structures

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Context-Dependent Probability Estimation and its Neurocomputational Substrates

10.1101/624163 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Wei-Hsiang Lin ◽

Justin L. Gardner ◽

Shih-Wei Wu

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Context Effects ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Probability Estimation ◽

List Type ◽

Probability Estimate ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Bold Imaging ◽

Probability Estimates ◽

Subjective Estimates

ABSTRACTMany decisions rely on how we evaluate potential outcomes associated with the options under consideration and estimate their corresponding probabilities of occurrence. Outcome valuation is subjective as it requires consulting internal preferences and is sensitive to context. In contrast, probability estimation requires extracting statistics from the environment and therefore imposes unique challenges to the decision maker. Here we show that probability estimation, like outcome valuation, is subject to context effects that bias probability estimates away from other stimuli present in the same context. However, unlike valuation, these context effects appeared to be scaled by estimated uncertainty, which is largest at intermediate probabilities. BOLD imaging showed that patterns of multivoxel activity in dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) predicted individual differences in context effects on probability estimate. These results establish VMPFC as the neurocomputational substrate shared between valuation and probability estimation and highlight the additional involvement of dACC that can be uniquely attributed to probability estimation. As probability estimation is a required component of computational accounts from sensory inference to higher cognition, the context effects found here may affect a wide array of cognitive computations.HighlightsContext impacts subjective estimates on reward probability – Stimuli carrying greater variance are more strongly affected by other stimuli present in the same contextThis phenomenon can be explained by reference-dependent computations that are gated by reward varianceMultivoxel patterns of dACC and VMPFC activity predicts individual differences in context effect on probability estimate

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Habitual action video game players display increased cortical thickness in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex

Neuroreport ◽

10.1097/wnr.0000000000000981 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (5) ◽

pp. 393-396 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jessica Benady-Chorney ◽

Yvonne Yau ◽

Yashar Zeighami ◽

Veronique D. Bohbot ◽

Greg L. West

Keyword(s):

Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Cortical Thickness ◽

Video Game ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Action Video Game ◽

Game Players

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Neural reward related-reactions to monetar gains for self and charity are associated with donating behavior in adolescence

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience ◽

10.1093/scan/nsaa027 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 151-163

Author(s):

Jochem P Spaans ◽

Sabine Peters ◽

Eveline A Crone

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Perspective Taking ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Precentral Gyrus ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Subjective Value ◽

Donation Behavior ◽

The Individual ◽

Zero Sum ◽

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanning

Abstract The aim of the current study was to examine neural signatures of gaining money for self and charity in adolescence. Participants (N = 160, aged 11–21) underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging-scanning while performing a zero-sum vicarious reward task in which they could either earn money for themselves at the expense of charity, for a self-chosen charity at the expense of themselves, or for both parties. Afterwards, they could donate money to charity, which we used as a behavioral index of giving. Gaining for self and for both parties resulted in activity in the ventral striatum (specifically in the NAcc), but not gaining for charity. Interestingly, striatal activity when gaining for charity was positively related to individual differences in donation behavior and perspective taking. Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and precentral gyrus were active when gaining only for self, and temporal-parietal junction when gaining only for charity, relative to gaining for both parties (i.e. under equity deviation). Taken together, these findings show that striatal activity during vicarious gaining for charity depends on levels of perspective taking and predicts future acts of giving to charity. These findings provide insight in the individual differences in the subjective value of prosocial outcomes.

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Resting-state functional connectivity in adults with childhood emotional maltreatment

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291712002942 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 43 (9) ◽

pp. 1825-1836 ◽

Cited By ~ 67

Author(s):

S. J. A. van der Werff ◽

J. N. Pannekoek ◽

I. M. Veer ◽

M.-J. van Tol ◽

A. Aleman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Functional Connectivity ◽

Resting State ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Brain Morphology ◽

Salience Network ◽

Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Emotional Maltreatment ◽

The Brain

BackgroundChildhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) has been associated with disturbances in emotional and behavioral functioning, and with changes in regional brain morphology. However, whether CEM has any effect on the intrinsic organization of the brain is not known. In this study, we investigated the effects of CEM on resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) using seeds in the limbic network, the default-mode network (DMN) and the salience network, and the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC).MethodUsing 3-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), resting-state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) scans were obtained. We defined seeds in the bilateral amygdala, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and the left dmPFC, and used these to examine whether individuals reporting CEM (n=44) differed from individuals reporting no CEM (n=44) in RSFC with other brain regions. The two groups were matched for age, gender, handedness and the presence of psychopathology.ResultsCEM was associated with decreased RSFC between the right amygdala and the bilateral precuneus and a cluster extending from the left insula to the hippocampus and putamen. In addition, CEM was associated with decreased RSFC between the dACC and the precuneus and also frontal regions of the brain.ConclusionsWe found that CEM has a profound effect on RSFC in the limbic network and the salience network. Regions that show aberrant connectivity are related to episodic memory encoding, retrieval and self-processing operations.

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Neural correlates of trait anxiety in fear extinction

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291710001248 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 789-798 ◽

Cited By ~ 102

Author(s):

C. Sehlmeyer ◽

U. Dannlowski ◽

S. Schöning ◽

H. Kugel ◽

M. Pyka ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fear Conditioning ◽

Trait Anxiety ◽

Conditioned Fear ◽

Neural Correlates ◽

Fear Extinction ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Neural Structure ◽

Amygdala Activation ◽

Conditioned Responses

BackgroundFear conditioning involves the amygdala as the main neural structure for learning fear responses whereas fear extinction mainly activates the inhibitory prefrontal cortex (PFC). In this study we investigated whether individual differences in trait anxiety affect amygdala and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation during fear conditioning and extinction.MethodThirty-two healthy subjects were investigated by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 T while performing a cued fear-conditioning task. All participants completed the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T). Activations of the amygdala and the dACC were examined with respect to the effects of trait anxiety.ResultsAnalysis of the fMRI data demonstrated enhanced activation in fear-related brain areas, such as the insula and the ACC, during both fear conditioning and extinction. Activation of the amygdala appeared only during the late acquisition phase whereas deactivation was observed during extinction. Regression analyses revealed that highly trait-anxious subjects exhibited sustained amygdala activation and reduced dACC involvement during the extinction of conditioned responses.ConclusionsThis study reveals that high levels of trait anxiety are associated with both increased amygdala activation and reduced dACC recruitment during the extinction of conditioned fear. This hyper-responsitivity of the amygdala and the deficient cognitive control during the extinction of conditioned fear in anxious subjects reflect an increased resistance to extinct fear responses and may thereby enhance the vulnerability to developing anxiety disorders.

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The Angry Brain: Neural Correlates of Anger, Angry Rumination, and Aggressive Personality

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/jocn.2009.21051 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 21 (4) ◽

pp. 734-744 ◽

Cited By ~ 139

Author(s):

Thomas F. Denson ◽

William C. Pedersen ◽

Jaclyn Ronquillo ◽

Anirvan S. Nandy

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Aggressive Behavior ◽

Subjective Experience ◽

Cingulate Cortex ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

Neural Pathways ◽

Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex ◽

Neural Processes ◽

Angry Rumination ◽

Aggressive Personality

Very little is known about the neural circuitry guiding anger, angry rumination, and aggressive personality. In the present fMRI experiment, participants were insulted and induced to ruminate. Activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex was positively related to self-reported feelings of anger and individual differences in general aggression. Activity in the medial prefrontal cortex was related to self-reported rumination and individual differences in displaced aggression. Increased activation in the hippocampus, insula, and cingulate cortex following the provocation predicted subsequent self-reported rumination. These findings increase our understanding of the neural processes associated with the risk for aggressive behavior by specifying neural regions that mediate the subjective experience of anger and angry rumination as well as the neural pathways linked to different types of aggressive behavior.

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