Neural activity of the anterior insula in emotional processing depends on the individuals' emotional susceptibility

Abstract

Differences in personality factors between individuals may manifest themselves with different patterns of neural activity while individuals process stimuli with emotional content. We attempted to verify this hypothesis by investigating emotional susceptibility (ES), a specific emotional trait of the human personality defined as the tendency to "experience feelings of discomfort, helplessness, inadequacy and vulnerability" after exposure to stimuli with emotional valence. By administering a questionnaire evaluating the individuals' ES, we selected two groups of participants with high and low ES respectively. Then, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate differences between the groups in the neural activity involved while they were processing emotional stimuli in an explicit (focusing on the content of the stimuli) or an incidental (focusing on spatial features of the stimuli, irrespectively of their content) way. The results showed a selective difference in brain activity between groups only in the explicit processing of the emotional stimuli: bilateral activity of the anterior insula was present in subjects with high ES but not in subjects with low ES. This difference in neural activity within the anterior insula proved to be purely functional since no brain morphological differences were found between groups, as assessed by a voxel-based morphometry analysis. Although the role of the anterior insula in the processing of contexts perceived as emotionally salient is well established, the present study provides the first evidence of a modulation of the insular activity depending on the individuals' ES trait of personality.

Analysis of alcohol use disorders from the Nathan Kline Institute—Rockland Sample: Correlation of brain cortical thickness with neuroticism

“…Furthermore, the strong emotional states produced by substance abuse have been proposed to enhance insula connectivity, which in turn leads to strong associations between drugs of abuse and emotional states in drug abusing subjects (Viswanath et al, 2015). Interestingly, several studies have indicated that activation in the anterior subdivision of the left insula is negatively correlated with emotional control-related neuroticism (Iaria et al, 2008; Meriau et al, 2009; Simmons et al, 2011). We speculate that the insula-neuroticism correlation we observed in AUD may reflect the same relationship.…”

Padrões de funcionamento cerebral em voluntários saudáveis antes e após o uso de antidepressivo: estudo de ressonância magnética funcional durante indução emocional através de estimulação visual

“…Tais estudos vêm sendo realizados tanto em voluntários saudáveis como em pacientes com transtorno obsessivo compulsivo (TOC), esquizofrenia, transtornos depressivos e outros Hariri et al, 2003;Banks et al, 2007;Iaria et al, 2008;Mériau et al, 2009). …”

“…Também observaram que o tamanho desta correlação poderia predizer a capacidade do indivíduo regular com sucesso um estímulo negativo (Banks et al, 2007). Iaria et al (2008), utilizando um paradigma de processamento emocional explícito com fotografias do IAPS, observaram que a atividade da ínsula encontrava-se aumentada em indivíduos saudáveis, mas com maior sucetibilidade individual de sentir desconforto e inadequação em resposta a um estímulo afetivo (Iaria et al, 2008). Mériau et al (2009) (Mériau et al, 2009).…”

“…A ínsula pode ser subdividida em duas grandes regiões baseadas em suas conexões anatômicas e características citoarquitetônicas: uma posterior e uma anterior Simmons et al, 2006;Stein et al, 2007;Eckert et al, 2008;Iaria et al, 2008;Craig, 2009).…”

“…A região posterior da ínsula tem papel na integração somato-sensorial, vestibular e motora Simmons et al, 2006;Stein et al, 2007;Eckert et al, 2008;Iaria et al, 2008;Craig, 2009 Simmons et al, 2006;Stein et al, 2007;Eckert et al, 2008;Iaria et al, 2008;Craig, 2009).…”