Decoding Spontaneous Emotional States in the Human Brain

Kragel, Philip A.; Knodt, Annchen R.; Hariri, Ahmad R.; LaBar, Kevin S.

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.2000106

Cited by 140 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…On the neuronal level, emotional expressions, like other visual stimuli, are processed via the neocortex, mainly by visual areas constituting the what-and where-pathways (Kret, Pichon, Grezes, & de Gelder, 2011; for reviews, see Kragel, Knodt, Hariri, & LaBar, 2016;Vuilleumier & Pourtois, 2007). Additionally, a subcortical route might also exist that travels from the relay nuclei of the thalamus directly to the amygdala, superior colliculus, and pulvinar (de Gelder, Frissen, Barton, & Hadjikhani, 2003;Garvert, Friston, Dolan, & Garrido, 2014;LeDoux, 1996).…”

Section: Neuroscientific Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dot-probe task to measure emotional attention: A suitable measure in comparative studies?

2017

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For social animals, attending to and recognizing the emotional expressions of other individuals is of crucial importance for their survival and likely has a deep evolutionary origin. Gaining insight into how emotional expressions evolved as adaptations over the course of evolution can be achieved by making direct cross-species comparisons. To that extent, experimental paradigms that are suitable for investigating emotional processing across species need to be developed and evaluated. The emotional dot-probe task, which measures attention allocation toward emotional stimuli, has this potential. The task is implicit, and subjects need minimal training to perform the task successfully. Findings in nonhuman primates, although scarce, show that they, like humans, have an attentional bias toward emotional stimuli. However, the wide literature on human studies has shown that different factors can have important moderating effects on the results. Due to the large heterogeneity of this literature, these moderating effects often remain unnoticed. We here review this literature and show that subject characteristics and differences in experimental designs affect the results of the dot-probe task. We conclude with specific recommendations regarding these issues that are particularly relevant to take into consideration when applying this paradigm to study animals.

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Section: Neuroscientific Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The dot-probe task to measure emotional attention: A suitable measure in comparative studies?

2017

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“…Although this vast literature leaves little doubt that the EAc plays a crucial role in evaluating and responding to a variety of potential threats, it does not act in isolation. Fear and anxiety reflect functional circuits that extend well beyond the borders of the EAc (Chang, Gianaros, Manuck, Krishnan, & Wager, ; Fox & Shackman, in press; Kragel, Knodt, Hariri, & LaBar, ; Nummenmaa & Saarimaki, in press ; Pessoa, ; Shackman & Fox, ; Shackman, Fox, & Seminowicz, ; Wager et al, ). Anatomically, the BST and the Ce are embedded within a complex web of mono‐ and polysynaptically connected brain regions (Figure a) (Carrive & Morgan, ; Fox et al, a; Freese & Amaral, ; Fudge et al, ; Oler et al, ; Ongur & Price, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intrinsic functional connectivity of the central extended amygdala

Tillman

Stockbridge

Nacewicz

et al. 2017

Human Brain Mapping

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The central extended amygdala (EAc)—including the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST) and central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce)—plays a critical role in triggering fear and anxiety and is implicated in the development of a range of debilitating neuropsychiatric disorders. While it is widely believed that these disorders reflect the coordinated activity of widely distributed neural circuits, the functional architecture of the EAc network, and the degree to which the BST and the Ce show distinct patterns of functional connectivity, is unclear. Here, we used a novel combination of approaches to trace the connectivity of the BST and the Ce in 130 healthy, racially diverse, community-dwelling adults. Multiband imaging, high-precision registration techniques, and spatially unsmoothed data maximized anatomical specificity. Using newly developed seed regions, whole-brain regression analyses revealed robust functional connectivity between the BST and Ce via the sublenticular extended amygdala, the ribbon of subcortical gray matter encompassing the ventral amygdalofugal pathway. Both regions displayed coupling with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), midcingulate cortex (MCC), insula, and anterior hippocampus. The BST showed stronger connectivity with the thalamus, striatum, periaqueductal gray, and several prefrontal territories. The only regions showing stronger functional connectivity with the Ce were neighboring regions of the dorsal amygdala, amygdalohippocampal area, and anterior hippocampus. These observations provide a baseline against which to compare a range of special populations, inform our understanding of the role of the EAc in normal and pathological fear and anxiety, and showcase image registration techniques which may be useful for researchers working with ‘de-identified’ neuroimaging data.

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“…This pattern is then applied to a second set of data to track the occurrence of that mental process. Neural decoding has been used to track ongoing perceptions (15), memory (16) and emotional processes (17, 18). To our knowledge it has not been used to track the occurrence of a specific type of thought.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking Deceased-Related Thinking With Neural Pattern Decoding of a Cortical-Basal Ganglia Circuit

Schneck

Haufe

et al. 2017

Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging

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Background Deceased-related thinking is central to grieving and potentially critical to processing of the loss. Self-report measurements might fail to capture important elements of deceased-related thinking and processing. Here, we used a machine learning approach applied to fMRI - known as neural decoding - to develop a measure of ongoing deceased-related processing. Methods 23 subjects grieving the loss of a first-degree relative, spouse or partner within 14 months underwent two fMRI tasks. They first viewed pictures and stories related to the deceased, a living control and a demographic control figure while providing ongoing valence and arousal ratings. Second, they performed a 10-minute Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) with thought probes every 25–35 seconds to identify deceased, living and self-related thoughts. Results A conjunction analysis, controlling for valence/arousal, identified neural clusters in basal ganglia, orbital prefrontal cortex and insula associated with both types of deceased-related stimuli vs. the two control conditions in the first task. This pattern was applied to fMRI data collected during the SART, and discriminated deceased-related but not living or self-related thoughts, independently of grief-severity and time since loss. Deceased-related thoughts on the SART correlated with self-reported avoidance. The neural model predicted avoidance over and above deceased-related thoughts. Conclusions A neural pattern trained to identify mental representations of the deceased tracked deceased-related thinking during a sustained attention task and also predicted subject-level avoidance. This approach provides a new imaging tool to be used as an index of processing the deceased for future studies of complicated grief.

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Decoding Spontaneous Emotional States in the Human Brain

Cited by 140 publications

References 56 publications

The dot-probe task to measure emotional attention: A suitable measure in comparative studies?

The dot-probe task to measure emotional attention: A suitable measure in comparative studies?

Intrinsic functional connectivity of the central extended amygdala

Tracking Deceased-Related Thinking With Neural Pattern Decoding of a Cortical-Basal Ganglia Circuit

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