Affective Response to a Loved One's Pain: Insula Activity as a Function of Individual Differences

Abstract

Individual variability in emotion processing may be associated with genetic variation as well as with psychological predispositions such as dispositional affect styles. Our previous fMRI study demonstrated that amygdala reactivity was independently predicted by affective-cognitive styles (phobic prone or eating disorders prone) and genotype of the serotonin transporter in a discrimination task of fearful facial expressions. Since the insula is associated with the subjective evaluation of bodily states and is involved in human feelings, we explored whether its activity could also vary in function of individual differences. In the present fMRI study, the association between dispositional affects and insula reactivity has been examined in two groups of healthy participants categorized according to affective-cognitive styles (phobic prone or eating disorders prone). Images of the faces of partners and strangers, in both painful and neutral situations, were used as visual stimuli. Interaction analyses indicate significantly different activations in the two groups in reaction to a loved one's pain: the phobic prone group exhibited greater activation in the left posterior insula. These results demonstrate that affective-cognitive style is associated with insula activity in pain empathy processing, suggesting a greater involvement of the insula in feelings for a certain cohort of people. In the mapping of individual differences, these results shed new light on variability in neural networks of emotion.

In Between Ordinary Sadness and Clinical Depression

“…Indeed, individuals presenting these psychological predispositions tend to be more viscerally aware, more sensitive in the detection of changes in bodily states occurring during emotions and feelings. We showed this in a recent fMRI study, where such an individual variability in emotion processing was demonstrated (Mazzola et al, 2010).…”

Differences in neural activation to depictions of physical exercise and sedentary activity: an fMRI study of overweight and lean Chinese women

“…19,21,22 On a related note, in the sedentary-landscape contrast condition, O-W women showed comparatively weaker activation in the left posterior insula (BA 13), another area implicated in the anticipation and experience of negative affect, 46,47 fear and pain processing. 48,49 Although at odds with our hypothesis that the O-W might show stronger reward activation during exposure to sedentary images, decreased responsiveness in this area, compared with leaner controls, during exposure to sedentary images might have reflected comparatively more negative reinforcement (that is, reductions in aversive affective experiences) in the O-W group. From this perspective, behavioral evidence of preferences for sedentary activity or alternatives to physical activity 15,16 and increased time spent in sedentary activities among the O-W/obese can be reframed as a partial reflection of reductions in negative emotional reactions to increased physical activity rather than purely as a result of increased reward value such activities might engender.…”

Multidimensional assessment of empathic abilities in patients with insular glioma

“…In our study, insula patients had significantly lower scores in the AE scale as well as EC subscale. In the behavioral paradigms research, furthermore, the insula is a key structure in the perception of oneself and others' pain (Engen & Singer, 2013;Mazzola et al, 2010). Multiple imaging studies have shown that sharing pain in others most strongly activated the insular cortex (particularly the AI) (Lamm et al, 2011;Sheng, Liu, Li, Fang, & Han, 2014).…”