Emotion and the prefrontal cortex: An integrative review.

Abstract

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a critical role in the generation and regulation of emotion. However, we lack an integrative framework for understanding how different emotion-related functions are organized across the entire expanse of the PFC, as prior reviews have generally focused on specific emotional processes (e.g., decision making) or specific anatomical regions (e.g., orbitofrontal cortex). Additionally, psychological theories and neuroscientific investigations have proceeded largely independently because of the lack of a common framework. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of functional neuroimaging, electrophysiological, lesion, and structural connectivity studies on the emotion-related functions of 8 subregions spanning the entire PFC. We introduce the appraisal-by-content model, which provides a new framework for integrating the diverse range of empirical findings. Within this framework, appraisal serves as a unifying principle for understanding the PFC's role in emotion, while relative content-specialization serves as a differentiating principle for understanding the role of each subregion. A synthesis of data from affective, social, and cognitive neuroscience studies suggests that different PFC subregions are preferentially involved in assigning value to specific types of inputs: exteroceptive sensations, episodic memories and imagined future events, viscero-sensory signals, viscero-motor signals, actions, others' mental states (e.g., intentions), self-related information, and ongoing emotions. We discuss the implications of this integrative framework for understanding emotion regulation, value-based decision making, emotional salience, and refining theoretical models of emotion. This framework provides a unified understanding of how emotional processes are organized across PFC subregions and generates new hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying adaptive and maladaptive emotional functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Neuroanatomical Basis of Two Subcomponents of Rumination: A VBM Study

“…The DLPFC is strongly implicated in working memory and attention processes, as well as in manipulation of incoming information (Miller and Cohen, 2001; Dixon et al, 2017). Reduction of DLPFC volume has been found in patients with major depressive disorder (Grieve et al, 2013; Lai, 2013).…”

“…The DLPFC was proposed to perform memory and attention functions, as well as cognitive manipulation of incoming information (Dixon et al, 2017). Consistent with this, depressive patients show both DLPFC structural abnormalities and functional hypoactivity in resting-state and task-based fMRI (Gotlib and Hamilton, 2008; Koenigs and Grafman, 2009).…”

Neural connectivity in youth at-risk for bipolar disorder: a review of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies

“…The primary nuclei complexes-basolateral (BL) and centromedial (CM)-have been found to have different patterns of connectivity with prefrontal and subcortical networks during the processing of emotional material, with the CM complex typically connecting with sensory and autonomic areas and the BL complex connecting with motor and prefrontal areas [41]. Similarly, the ACC has important subdivisions, with different profiles of functional connectivity and functional specialization [40]. Subgenular ACC is important for the appraisal of viscero-motor signals based on anticipated interaction with the environment and drives changes in physiological arousal while the pregenular ACC is relatively specialized in the appraisal of viscero-sensory signals based on conceptual meaning and implications for self, contributing to subjective feelings of pleasure and displeasure.…”

“…Subgenular ACC is important for the appraisal of viscero-motor signals based on anticipated interaction with the environment and drives changes in physiological arousal while the pregenular ACC is relatively specialized in the appraisal of viscero-sensory signals based on conceptual meaning and implications for self, contributing to subjective feelings of pleasure and displeasure. The dorsal ACC appears to be preferentially in appraisal of actions based on expected outcomes, motor costs, task context and social goals [40]. Future functional neuroimaging connectivity studies in BD at-risk populations should take into account these different subdivisions in order to provide a more detailed understanding of the developmental trajectory of functional connectivity anomalies predisposing to BD.…”

“…When there is a discrepancy between desired and actual emotions, specific emotion regulation strategies (situation selection or modification; attentional deployment; reappraisal; response modulation) are then evaluated to determine which to implement. Ventrolateral PFC may contribute to these high-level appraisal mechanisms that assign value to ongoing emotional states and to emotion regulatory strategies [40] and anomalous patterns of functional connectivity with other cortical and subcortical brain regions could be a neural substrate of emotional lability and mood dysregulation in BD at-risk individuals.…”