Inter-individual differences in the experience of negative emotion predict variations in functional brain architecture

Abstract

Current evidence suggests that two spatially distinct neuroanatomical networks, the dorsal attention network (DAN) and the default mode network (DMN), support externally and internally oriented cognition, respectively, and are functionally regulated by a third, frontoparietal control network (FPC). Interactions among these networks contribute to normal variations in cognitive functioning and to the aberrant affective profiles present in certain clinical conditions, such as major depression. Nevertheless, their links to non-clinical variations in affective functioning are still poorly understood. To address this issue, we used fMRI to measure the intrinsic functional interactions among these networks in a sample of predominantly younger women (N = 162) from the Human Connectome Project. Consistent with the previously documented dichotomous motivational orientations (i.e., withdrawal versus approach) associated with sadness versus anger, we hypothesized that greater sadness would predict greater DMN (rather than DAN) functional dominance, whereas greater anger would predict the opposite. Overall, there was evidence of greater DAN (rather than DMN) functional dominance, but this pattern was modulated by current experience of specific negative emotions, as well as subclinical depressive and anxiety symptoms. Thus, greater levels of currently experienced sadness and subclinical depression independently predicted weaker DAN functional dominance (i.e., weaker DAN-FPC functional connectivity), likely reflecting reduced goal-directed attention towards the external perceptual environment. Complementarily, greater levels of currently experienced anger and subclinical anxiety predicted greater DAN functional dominance (i.e., greater DAN-FPC functional connectivity and, for anxiety only, also weaker DMN-FPC coupling). Our findings suggest that distinct affective states Negative mood states foster internally oriented attention and perceptual decoupling from the here-and-now (Smallwood, O'Connor, Sudbery, & Obonsawin, 2007;Smallwood, Fitzgerald, Miles, & Phillips, 2009). Nevertheless, the neural signature and unique contribution of distinct negative emotions to this effect of mood on engagement with the external world have not been identified despite their significance to both normal and pathological variations in emotional functioning. To address this issue, the present research capitalized on existing evidence that the human brain is organized into dissociable anatomical networks (Fox & Raichle, 2007), which provide a latent functional architecture that is readily recruited during goal-directed cognition (Laird et al., 2011;Smith et al., 2009). Importantly, recent investigations have documented the key role that these intrinsic functional networks play in supporting not only cognitive, but also affective processes (i.e., emotion experience and perception, cf. Touroutoglou, Lindquist, Dickerson, & Barrett, in press), including those observed during experimentally induced variations in mood states (e.g., sadness, Harri...

Resting-state functional connectivity of the human habenula in healthy individuals: Associations with subclinical depression

“…Finally, caution is warranted in generalizing our findings of group differences in Hb connectivity, based on healthy subjects with low or high subclinical depression scores, to clinical populations with MDD or other psychiatric disorders, particularly given the lack of multiple comparison correction for these results. We note, however, that several similar studies have emerged examining possible clinical implications of the HCP dataset [Baroni and Castellanos, ; Pagliaccio et al, ], including a recent resting‐state functional connectivity analysis describing the impact of subclinical depressive symptoms on large‐scale cortical networks [Petrican et al, ]. Such work reflects the growing recognition that psychiatric symptomatology occurs on a continuum and can be found to varying degrees in the general population, with individuals who meet diagnostic criteria representing the upper tail of this distribution [NIMH Strategic Plan, ; Morris and Cuthbert, ].…”

The correlation between mood states and functional connectivity within the default mode network can differentiate Internet gaming disorder from healthy controls

“…Second, the DMN has been suggested to support a baseline state of brain activity and be involved in rudimentary functions (Raichle et al, 2001;Shirer et al, 2012). Distinct affective states and subclinical mood symptoms appear to have dissociable neural signatures, and there may exist a symbiotic relationship between cognitive processes and emotional states (Petrican et al, 2015). On the other hand, depressed people have altered DMN patterns during implicit emotional processing, suggesting a link between DMN FC and impaired abilities to regulate emotions in clinical populations (Shi et al, 2015).…”

Brain-Environment Alignment during Movie Watching Predicts Cognitive-Affective Function in Adulthood

“…Our study also provided novel insights into the adverse functional implications linked to brain-environment entrainment with respect to momentary featural fluctuations. Prior evidence indicates that anxiety and depression are associated with divergent processing biases (i.e., preferential reliance on perceptual versus abstract information), which impact event perception and segmentation (Belzung et al, 2015;Brewin et al, 2010;Petrican et al, 2015;Sherrill et al, 2019). Accordingly, we find that subclinical anxiety is linked to increased brain-environment alignment, compatible with an attentional bias towards lower level featural information ( Figure 9-a, b), while an opposite tendency, consistent with attentional disengagement from concrete object representations in the here-and-now, is observed for subclinical depression (Figure 9-e).…”