Comprehensive neural networks for guilty feelings in young adults

Abstract

Feelings of guilt are associated with widespread self and social cognitions, e.g., empathy, moral reasoning, and punishment. Neural correlates directly related to the degree of feelings of guilt have not been detected, probably due to the small numbers of subjects, whereas there are growing numbers of neuroimaging studies of feelings of guilt. We hypothesized that the neural networks for guilty feelings are widespread and include the insula, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), amygdala, subgenual cingulate cortex (SCC), and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), which are essential for cognitions of guilt. We investigated the association between regional gray matter density (rGMD) and feelings of guilt in 764 healthy young students (422 males, 342 females; 20.7 ± 1.8 years) using magnetic resonance imaging and the guilty feeling scale (GFS) for the younger generation which comprises interpersonal situation (IPS) and rule-breaking situation (RBS) scores. Both the IPS and RBS were negatively related to the rGMD in the right posterior insula (PI). The IPS scores were negatively correlated with rGMD in the left anterior insula (AI), right IPL, and vmPFC using small volume correction. A post hoc analysis performed on the significant clusters identified through these analyses revealed that rGMD activity in the right IPL showed a significant negative association with the empathy quotient. These findings at the whole-brain level are the widespread comprehensive neural network regions for guilty feelings. Interestingly, the novel finding in this study is that the PI was implicated as a common region for feelings of guilt with interaction between the IPS and RBS. Additionally, the neural networks including the IPL were associated with empathy and with regions implicated in moral reasoning (AI and vmPFC), and punishment (AI).

State-of-art neuroanatomical target analysis of high-definition and conventional tDCS montages used for migraine and pain control

“…Remarkably, in the present study M1-SO and DLPFC montages produced significant peaks of electric current in the PFC, a region intrinsically related to cognitive and emotional functions (Gusnard et al, 2001 ; Phelps et al, 2004 ; Tabibnia et al, 2014 ; Haas et al, 2015 ; Kong et al, 2015 ; Nakagawa et al, 2015 ) and thus important for the modulation of the emotional dimension of pain (Lorenz et al, 2002 ; Porro et al, 2002 ; Apkarian et al, 2004 ; Kuchinad et al, 2007 ; DaSilva et al, 2008 ; Boggio et al, 2009b ; Metz et al, 2009 ; Jin et al, 2013 ; Baliki et al, 2014 ; Bogdanov et al, 2015 ). Based on the results of the current study, it is possible to speculate that not only DLPFC tDCS but also M1-SO produces its clinical effects through direct PFC modulation.…”

Parental Praise Correlates with Posterior Insular Cortex Gray Matter Volume in Children and Adolescents

“…The capacity for interoception is correlated with the ability to understand the emotions of others [ 36 ], and indeed, the posterior insular cortex has been shown to be involved in emotional functioning. For example, previous studies have shown that greater gray matter volume in the posterior insula is associated with guilty feelings, which are related to empathy [ 37 ], and that there is a reduction in gray matter volume in patients with cognitive alexithymia [ 38 ]. Because greater gray matter volume in the posterior insula is associated with the recognition of self and of other’s emotional status, it is reasonable to expect that praising a child frequently would facilitate the development of empathy.…”

Mean diffusivity related to rule-breaking guilt: the Macbeth effect in the sensorimotor regions

“…IPS guilt mainly refers to situations in which a friend is hurt, whereas RBS guilt is more public and sometimes involves specific others (parents). For more details, please refer to our previous study 7 .…”

“…shame and embarrassment) 6 . A previous brain grey matter (GM) anatomical study conducted by our group directly demonstrated that scores related to feelings of guilt in both interpersonal and rule-breaking situations were uniquely and negatively related to regional GM density (rGMD) in the right posterior insula (PI) 7 . To the best of our knowledge, no studies have used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess the correlation of guilt feelings and white-matter (WM) structure, including WM volume (WMV).…”