The neural basis of emotions varies over time: different regions go with onset- and offset-bound processes underlying emotion intensity

Abstract

According to theories of emotion dynamics, emotions unfold across two phases in which different types of processes come to the fore: emotion onset and emotion offset. Differences in onset-bound processes are reflected by the degree of explosiveness or steepness of the response at onset, and differences in offset-bound processes by the degree of accumulation or intensification of the subsequent response. Whether onset- and offset-bound processes have distinctive neural correlates and, hence, whether the neural basis of emotions varies over time, still remains unknown. In the present fMRI study, we address this question using a recently developed paradigm that allows to disentangle explosiveness and accumulation. Thirty-one participants were exposed to neutral and negative social feedback, and asked to reflect on its contents. Emotional intensity while reading and thinking about the feedback was measured with an intensity profile tracking approach. Using non-negative matrix factorization, the resulting profile data were decomposed in explosiveness and accumulation components, which were subsequently entered as continuous regressors of the BOLD response. It was found that the neural basis of emotion intensity shifts as emotions unfold over time with emotion explosiveness and accumulation having distinctive neural correlates.

The impact of self-distancing on emotion explosiveness and accumulation: An fMRI study

“…The first aim is to replicate seminal findings on the neural correlates of emotion explosiveness and accumulation. Consistent with Résibois, Verduyn, and colleagues [ 11 ], we expect explosiveness to be related to activity in the medial prefrontal cortex and accumulation to activity in the posterior insula. The second aim is to replicate the previously found effect of perspective taking on emotion explosiveness and accumulation at the level of self-report.…”

“…These findings are consistent with theoretical claims in the field of emotion dynamics and emotion regulation that emotion onset and offset are partially governed by different processes [ 12 – 16 ]. However, as the study reported in [ 11 ] was the first attempt to uncover the neural basis of emotion explosiveness and accumulation, it was largely exploratory in nature and its results need to be replicated, which is also in line with recent calls for more replication studies in the field of fMRI [ 17 ].…”

“…In a recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, it was found that different neural regions underlie emotion explosiveness and accumulation [ 11 ]. In particular, whereas explosiveness was found to be related to regions involved in self-referential processing such as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), accumulation was related to regions underlying sustained visceral arousal such as the posterior insula.…”

A neuroscientific approach to exploring fundamental questions in VR

“…The psychology and neuroscience of human emotion demonstrate that human affect is time-dependent (e.g. [11]). Accordingly, our approach treats emotions within virtual environments not as momentary responses to evocative stimuli, but as responses that can evolve from anticipation, to reactivity, to recovery and adaptation.…”

Default and Control networks connectivity dynamics track the stream of affect at multiple timescales

“…Nonetheless, to reveal brain regions involved in the processing of affect, the majority of neuroimaging studies have employed static or relatively brief stimuli (e.g., Posner et al, 2009;Baucom et al, 2012;Kim et al, 2017, but see also Raz et al, 2012;2016;Résibois et al, 2017) that may not be adequate to account for the temporal dynamics of the experience (Waugh and Schirillo, 2012). The use of movies in the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) setting could provide valuable insights instead.…”