The neural correlates of sex differences in emotional reactivity and emotion regulation

Abstract

Sex differences in emotional responding have been repeatedly postulated but less consistently shown in empirical studies. Because emotional reactions are modulated by cognitive appraisal, sex differences in emotional responding might depend on differences in emotion regulation. In this study, we investigated sex differences in emotional reactivity and emotion regulation using a delayed cognitive reappraisal paradigm and measured whole-brain BOLD signal in 17 men and 16 women. During fMRI, participants were instructed to increase, decrease, or maintain their emotional reactions evoked by negative pictures in terms of cognitive reappraisal. We analyzed BOLD responses to aversive compared to neutral pictures in the initial viewing phase and the effect of cognitive reappraisal in the subsequent regulation phase. Women showed enhanced amygdala responding to aversive stimuli in the initial viewing phase, together with increased activity in small clusters within the prefrontal cortex and the temporal cortex. During cognitively decreasing emotional reactions, women recruited parts of the orbitofrontal cortex, the anterior cingulate, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to a lesser extent than men, while there was no sex effect on amygdala activity. In contrast, compared to women, men showed an increased recruitment of regulatory cortical areas during cognitively increasing initial emotional reactions, which was associated with an increase in amygdala activity. Clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Jarricot Dermatome Pain Test Validation as a Diagnostic Test of Organic Stress

“…In men, an average of 5.30 in the test of Hamilton is not significant, nor is the average of 2.6 dermalgias, indicating absence of stress. These facts are consistent with the literature that women suffer a higher prevalence in generalized anxiety disorders and pains of psychosomatic origin (Domes, Schulze, & Bottger, 2010;Ros, Comas, & García, 2010).…”

Beyond sex differences: new approaches for thinking about variation in brain structure and function

“…This concern is emphasized by our and others' findings that different structural and functional differences between brains of females and brains of males are often found in different samples (e.g. [55][56][57][58]). We therefore recommend avoiding the use of sex category as an analytic variable in studies of the structure and function of the human brain (for a similar recommendation, see [3,73,74] Since sex category is one of the most salient grouping dimensions of humans, psychological and social variables, such as socio-economic status, stress, type of education and personality characteristics, often correlate with sex category.…”

“…using different samples of females and males) report different structural and functional differences between brains of females and brains of males (e.g. [55][56][57][58]). …”

Neural Correlates of Emotional Memories: A Review of Evidence From Brain Imaging Studies

“…Thus, it becomes critical to understand the factors that might contribute to individual differences in the involvement of the AMY as well as its interaction with cognitive control regions in emotional memory. Such factors could be linked to personality-and sex-related differences in emotional reactivity as well as in emotion control/regulation (e.g., Domes et al, 2010;Mak, Hu, Zhang, Xiao, & Lee, 2009), which might explain the increased incidence of affective disorders in people high in neuroticism (Bienvenu et al, 2004) and in women (Kessler, 2003). In addition to those factors, investigation of age-related differences in emotion processing also has the potential to contribute to our understanding of the neural mechanisms of altered emotional memory in mood and anxiety disorders as well as potential therapeutic cures, as aging is characterised not only by overall preservation of ability to process emotional information (Keightley, Winocur, Burianova, Hongwanishkul, & Grady, 2006;Mather, 2006;Phillips, MacLean, & Allen, 2002), but also by an enhanced ability to control emotion (Gross et al, 1997;Mather & Knight, 2005); the latter is reflected in a positive bias-i.e., the tendency to attenuate negative emotions and enhance positive emotions (Mather, 2006;Mather & Carstensen, 2005).…”