Resolving Emotional Conflict: A Role for the Rostral Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Modulating Activity in the Amygdala

Abstract

Effective mental functioning requires that cognition be protected from emotional conflict due to interference by task-irrelevant emotionally salient stimuli. The neural mechanisms by which the brain detects and resolves emotional conflict are still largely unknown, however. Drawing on the classic Stroop conflict task, we developed a protocol that allowed us to dissociate the generation and monitoring of emotional conflict from its resolution. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we find that activity in the amygdala and dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices reflects the amount of emotional conflict. By contrast, the resolution of emotional conflict is associated with activation of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex. Activation of the rostral cingulate is predicted by the amount of previous-trial conflict-related neural activity and is accompanied by a simultaneous and correlated reduction of amygdalar activity. These data suggest that emotional conflict is resolved through top-down inhibition of amygdalar activity by the rostral cingulate cortex.

Common regions of dorsal anterior cingulate and prefrontal–parietal cortices provide attentional control of distracters varying in emotionality and visibility

“…This issue has been investigated through Stroop-type Bremner et al, 2004;Etkin et al, 2006;Shin et al, 2001;Whalen et al, 1998) and other attentional paradigms (Bishop et al, 2004;Mitchell et al 2007;Simpson et al, 2000;Vuilleumier, et al, 2001). These studies suggest that systems involved in the top-down attentional control of emotional distracters include ACC Bremner et al, 2004;Etkin et al, 2006;Shin et al, 2001;Whalen et al, 1998), PFC (Bishop et al, 2004;Blair et al, 2007;Shin et al, 2001;Simpson et al, 2000;Vuilleumier, et al, 2001;Whalen et al, 1998) and parietal cortex Bremner et al, 2004). However, very little work has addressed if regions providing attentional control of emotional distracters are similar to those responding to other features that increase the salience of the distracter, for example visibility level.…”

“…In particular, it has been argued that attentional control of emotional distracters recruits rACC (Bishop et al, 2004;Etkin et al, 2006;Shin et al, 2001;Vuilleumier et al, 2001;Whalen et al, 1998). In contrast, attentional control of nonemotional distracters is thought to implicate dACC Carter et al 1995Carter et al , 2000Durston et al, 2002;MacDonald et al 2000;Menon et al, 2001).…”

Neural functional architecture and modulation during decision making under uncertainty in individuals with generalized anxiety disorder

“…Decreased PFC‐amygdala connectivity is perhaps the most consistent FC abnormality reported for these regions in GAD (Hilbert et al., 2014; Mochcovitch et al., 2014; Taylor & Whalen, 2015). In HCs these regions are anticorrelated, which is often interpreted as PFC inhibiting amygdala (Banks, Eddy, Angstadt, Nathan, & Phan, 2007; Etkin, Egner, Peraza, Kandel, & Hirsch, 2006; Kim et al., 2011; Ochsner et al., 2012). Our results similarly indicate an absence of dACC‐amygdala anti‐correlation in GAD versus HC during DM.…”

Involvement of amygdala–prefrontal dysfunction in the influence of negative emotion on the resolution of cognitive conflict in patients with schizophrenia

“…Negative emotion reduces PFC activity to a greater extent than neutral or positive emotion (Sommer, Hajak, Döhnel, Meinhardt, & Müller, 2008). Amygdala–PFC interactions are involved in emotional conflict, and top–down inhibition of the amygdala by the ACC is important in resolving emotional conflict (Etkin, Egner, Peraza, Kandel, & Hirsch, 2006). Amygdala–PFC connectivity increases during cognitive conflict resolution was in subjects with high levels of trait or state anxiety (Bijsterbosch, Smith, & Bishop, 2015; Krug & Carter, 2010).…”