The role of dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex in the processing of emotional dimensions

Abstract

The ventromedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex are two major prefrontal regions that usually interact in serving different cognitive functions. On the other hand, these regions are also involved in cognitive processing of emotions but their contribution to emotional processing is not well-studied. In the present study, we investigated the role of these regions in three dimensions (valence, arousal and dominance) of emotional processing of stimuli via ratings of visual stimuli performed by the study participants on these dimensions. Twenty- two healthy adult participants (mean age 25.21 ± 3.84 years) were recruited and received anodal and sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) (1.5 mA, 15 min) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in three separate sessions with an at least 72-h interval. During stimulation, participants underwent an emotional task in each stimulation condition. The task included 100 visual stimuli and participants were asked to rate them with respect to valence, arousal, and dominance. Results show a significant effect of stimulation condition on different aspects of emotional processing. Specifically, anodal tDCS over the dlPFC significantly reduced valence attribution for positive pictures. In contrast, anodal tDCS over the vmPFC significantly reduced arousal ratings. Dominance ratings were not affected by the intervention. Our results suggest that the dlPFC is involved in control and regulation of valence of emotional experiences, while the vmPFC might be involved in the extinction of arousal caused by emotional stimuli. Our findings implicate dimension-specific processing of emotions by different prefrontal areas which has implications for disorders characterized by emotional disturbances such as anxiety or mood disorders.

Prefrontal tDCS Attenuates Self-Referential Attentional Deployment: A Mechanism Underlying Adaptive Emotional Reactivity to Social-Evaluative Threat

“…However, in the current study, tDCS applied to the prefrontal cortex did not reveal a valence specific effect. Past research has shown mixed results regarding the role of valence on tDCS effects, with some studies showing valencedependent tDCS effects (Mondino et al, 2015;Nejati et al, 2021), and others showing valence-independent tDCS effects (Sanchez-Lopez et al, 2018). Possibly, in the current study, tDCS could have promoted the employment of a general and sustained attentional strategy to a broader context of social evaluative threat, instead of trial-by-trial adjustments based on valence.…”

“…First, based on the self-regulation theories proposing adaptive SET reactivity consists of both decreased self-attention and increased otherattention (Hess and Pickett, 2010;Durlik and Tsakiris, 2015), and given the wide array of research showing adaptive left prefrontal tDCS effects on attention processes and emotional reactivity (Mondino et al, 2015;Smits et al, 2020), we expected that active (in contrast to sham) left prefrontal tDCS would be associated with attenuated self-attention (i.e., slower first fixation to and less total fixation time on this information) and increased other-attention (i.e., faster first fixation to and more total fixation time on this information). We had no clear expectations whether these effects would be modulated by valence, as previous prefrontal tDCS research has shown both valence-independent (Sanchez-Lopez et al, 2018;Allaert et al, 2020), and valence-dependent tDCS effects (Mondino et al, 2015;Nejati et al, 2021). Second, based on the proposed association between prefrontal-mediated attentional processes and emotional reactivity, we expected the attentional processes that are modulated by tDCS to be more strongly associated with attenuated emotional reactivity (assessed via SCRs) among participants receiving active (versus sham) tDCS.…”

“…and consists mainly of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), with the latter two regions often considered as a relatively uniform structure; the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC; Kolb and Whishaw, 2009). The vmPFC and DLPFC are thought to be both involved in emotional processing, with the vmPFC being involved in the generation of emotional reactivity (i.e., emotional arousal) and the DLPFC being more involved in the attribution of positive or negative valence (Nejati et al, 2021). In addition, the vmPFC has been shown to play a central role in the processing of self-referent information (Northoff et al, 2006).…”

Contribution of the right temporoparietal junction and ventromedial prefrontal cortex to theory of mind in autism: A randomized, sham‐controlled tDCS study

“…First, although both vmPFC and r‐TPJ are involved in social cognition, they differ in specific functions. The vmPFC is engaged in a broad range of social‐processing tasks, involving other‐ and self‐referential processing (Northoff & Bermpohl, 2004; Salehinejad, Nejati, & Nitsche, 2020; Spreng & Andrews‐Hanna, 2015) as well as emotional processing (Nejati et al, 2021; Winecoff et al, 2013), while the r‐TPJ is suggested to play a particular role in reflecting on the beliefs of other people (Spreng & Andrews‐Hanna, 2015). These broader functions of the vmPFC and medial prefrontal regions might explain the discernable effects of stimulation of the respective regions.…”

Electrophysiological Studies of Cognitive Reappraisal Success and Failure in aMCI

“…They found a frontoparietal network and a left-lateralized prefrontal network, linked mainly to the cognition domain [25]. Previous studies have shown that despite memory decline, the executive function is also impaired in aMCI [26,27], which may affect the efficiency and time course of emotion regulation. Combined with these results, the effectiveness of downregulating emotions will evidently be influenced by cognitive decline, but this influence has not yet been systematically tested.…”