Subjective rating of emotionally salient stimuli modulates neural activity

doi:10.1016/S1053-8119(02)00051-4

NeuroImage

Volume 18, Issue 3, March 2003, Pages 650-659

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8119(02)00051-4 Get rights and content

Abstract

Studies using emotionally salient stimuli have demonstrated neural activation in limbic and paralimbic brain regions. In some studies, subjects passively perceive evocative stimuli, while in other studies, they perform specific cognitive tasks. Evidence is emerging that even a simple cognitive task performed on emotionally salient stimuli can affect neural activation in emotion-associated brain regions. We tested the hypothesis that rating the subjective experience of an aversive visual stimulus would decrease limbic/paralimbic activation and increase activity in medial frontal regions. Ten healthy subjects underwent ¹⁵O PET scans while they viewed pictures of aversive (AV) and nonaversive (NA) content, taken from the International Affective Picture System. Subjects appraised pictures on a scale of pleasantness/unpleasantness during one set of scans (RTNG), and they passively viewed pictures during another set (PSVW). After each scan, emotional responses were assessed. RTNG was associated with significantly less intensity of sadness and significantly less activation (AV − NA) of the right insula/amygdala and left insula, relative to PSVW. RTNG also activated the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex and the anterior cingulate sulcus, which were not differentially activated during PSVW. For both RTNG and PSVW, subjects activated the left fusiform gyrus. The results support the proposition that task instructions about how subjects should process evocative stimuli can affect neural activity.

Section snippets

Subjects

Ten healthy subjects were recruited from community advertisements (6 women, 4 men; mean age ± SD 21.2 ± 2.6 years). They were not taking medication and were free of all Axis I psychiatric disorders according to a Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (First et al., 1996). The purpose and risks of the study were explained to all subjects, who gave written, informed consent to participate, as approved by the local institutional review board.

Experimental design

The experiment consisted of two orthogonal factors:

Behavioral results

On-line ratings demonstrated clear effects of content, with ratings as follows (mean ± SD): NA = 0.91 ± 0.96; AV = −3.7 ± 0.92 (t = 10.9, df = 9, P < 0.0001). Results from the PANAS adjective ratings are depicted in Fig. 1, representing the target emotions of the aversive stimuli (disgusted, sad, shocked, upset, and disturbed). For both RTNG and PSVW, these five target emotions showed clear elevations following AV conditions, compared to NA conditions. Difference scores for AV − NA were as

Discussion

This study investigated the functional anatomic correlates of a simple cognitive task operating upon salient emotional stimuli. There was significantly more activation in the right insula/amygdala and left insula during PSVW, relative to RTNG. Whereas prior work has shown that a cognitive task that directs attention away from emotional aspects of salient stimuli can reduce limbic activity (Liberzon et al., 2000), the current study demonstrated that a simple cognitive task that does not redirect

Acknowledgements

Supported by grants from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression and the National Institute of Mental Health (K08 MH01258) to S.F.T. The authors gratefully acknowledge assistance in construction of the stimulus sets and data analysis from Greta Lorge and Michael Young. This work was previously presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, November 2000, New Orleans.

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Regular articleSubjective rating of emotionally salient stimuli modulates neural activity

Abstract

Section snippets

Subjects

Experimental design

Behavioral results

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Brain Res. Brain Res. Rev.

Brain Res. Bull.

Neuron

Behav. Brain Res.

Trends Cogn. Sci.

Behav. Brain Res.

Brain Res.

Neuropsychopharmacology

Biol. Psychiatry

Psychiatr. Clin. N. Am.

Neurosci. Lett.

Behav. Res. Ther.

NeuroImage

NeuroImage

Neuropsychologia

The AmygdalaNeurobiological Aspects of Emotion, Memory and Mental Dysfunction

Amygdalo-cortical projections in the monkey (Macaca fascicularis)

J. Comp. Neurol.

The insular lobe in primates including humans

Neurol. Res.

Feelings, direction of attention, and expressed evaluations of others

Cogn. Emot.

Hemispheric asymmetry for emotional stimuli detected with fMRI

NeuroReport

Improved signal-to-noise in activation studies by exploiting the kinetics of oxygen-15-labeled water

J. Cereb. Blood Flow Metab.

Explicit and implicit neural mechanisms for processing of social information from facial expressionsa functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Hum. Brain Mapp.

The use of cognitive appraisal to reduce stress reactionsa replication

J. Soc. Behav. Personal.

Dysfunction in the neural circuitry of emotion regulation—a possible prelude to violence

Science

Contributions of anterior cingulate cortex to behavior

Brain

Cerebral representation of one’s own pastneural networks involved in autobiographical memory

J. Neurosci.

Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders (SCID), Clinician VersionUser’s Guide

Interpretations of observed aggression and their effect on GSR

J. Exp. Res. Personal.

Normal conditioned inhibition and extinction of freezing and fear-potentiated startle following electrolytic lesions of medical prefrontal cortex in rats

Behav. Neurosci.

Emotion regulationpast, present and future

Cogn. Emot.

Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activityrelation to a default mode of brain function

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA

Regular article
Subjective rating of emotionally salient stimuli modulates neural activity