The emotional adaptation aftereffect discriminates between individuals with high and low levels of depressive symptoms

The Left Amygdala and Right Frontoparietal Cortex Support Emotional Adaptation Aftereffects

“…Using fMRI technology and the classic emotional adaptation paradigm, this study examined the neural mechanism of emotional adaptation aftereffects. Consistent with previous studies [ 18 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 28 , 66 , 67 ], the behavioral results showed a typical emotional adaptation aftereffect. Specifically, participants tended toward sad judgments of the subsequent morphed images after adapting to a happy facial image and tended toward happy judgments after adapting to a sad facial image.…”

“…Our study provides precise spatial locations of brain regions associated with emotional adaptation aftereffects. As discussed in the Introduction, much behavioral research has shown the existence of emotional adaptation aftereffects [ 18 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 28 , 66 , 67 ], and numerous electrophysiological studies have examined the time course of these aftereffects [ 17 , 20 , 48 ]. Here, we specified which brain regions support emotional adaptation aftereffects.…”

“…For high-level adaptation, emotional adaptation aftereffects have received great attention because they are critical for species survival as well as individual quality of life [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Emotional adaptation aftereffects are typically investigated by using a task in which participants are presented with an emotional stimulus (i.e., adapting stimulus) first and then judging the emotional category of the subsequent morphed stimuli.…”

“…For instance, long-term exposure to a happy face can lead to a neutral face appearing sad afterwards [ 20 ]. By using the emotional adaptation paradigm, numerous studies have shown that emotional adaptation aftereffects can be consistently elicited in different populations, regardless of their age, gender, and race [ 17 , 21 , 22 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. Moreover, emotional adaptation aftereffects are quite robust, even when the duration of adaptation is very short [ 30 , 31 ] or the faces used as adapting stimuli are outside awareness [ 32 , 33 ] or covered [ 23 , 28 , 34 ].…”

“…Moreover, emotional adaptation aftereffects are quite robust, even when the duration of adaptation is very short [ 30 , 31 ] or the faces used as adapting stimuli are outside awareness [ 32 , 33 ] or covered [ 23 , 28 , 34 ]. In addition, emotional adaptation aftereffects occur across identities [ 22 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], levels [ 40 , 41 ], and modalities [ 20 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ].…”