vmPFC activation during a stressor predicts positive emotions during stress recovery

Abstract

Despite accruing evidence showing that positive emotions facilitate stress recovery, the neural basis for this effect remains unclear. To identify the underlying mechanism, we compared stress recovery for people reflecting on a stressor while in a positive emotional context with that for people in a neutral context. While blood–oxygen-level dependent data were being collected, participants (N = 43) performed a stressful anagram task, which was followed by a recovery period during which they reflected on the stressor while watching a positive or neutral video. Participants also reported positive and negative emotions throughout the task as well as retrospective thoughts about the task. Although there was no effect of experimental context on emotional recovery, we found that ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activation during the stressor predicted more positive emotions during recovery, which in turn predicted less negative emotions during recovery. In addition, the relationship between vmPFC activation and positive emotions during recovery was mediated by decentering—the meta-cognitive detachment of oneself from one’s feelings. In sum, successful recovery from a stressor seems to be due to activation of positive emotion-related regions during the stressor itself as well as to their downstream effects on certain cognitive forms of emotion regulation.

Ventromedial prefrontal cortex connectivity during and after psychological stress in women

“…However, no study has examined the relationship between stressorevoked functional vmPFC changes using a seed-based approach and stressor-evoked physiological changes. vmPFC activation has also been associated with self-reported taskrelated stress and anxiety (van der Werff et al, 2013;Wager, Waugh et al, 2009;Wheelock et al, 2016;Yang et al, 2018) and higher trait-level coping (Sinha et al, 2016). A recent study found large-scale brain networks involving the vmPFC to be associated with individual differences in stress-induced emotions (Tobia et al, 2017).…”

“…The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is implicated in physiological control processes, particularly involving the autonomic and cardiovascular systems (Gianaros & Wager, ; Roy, Shohamy, & Wager, ; Sinha, Lacadie, Constable, & Seo, ; Tobia, Hayashi, Ballard, Gotlib, & Waugh, ; Wager, van Ast et al, ; Wager, Waugh et al, ; Winecoff et al, ; Yang et al, ). The vmPFC has also been implicated in ascribing meaning to or evaluating the personal significance of emotionally evocative contexts (e.g., threatening stimuli) and stressors (Levy & Glimcher, ; Montague & Berns, ).…”

“…In support of the latter proposal, human neuroimaging studies demonstrate that psychological stressors reliably engage the vmPFC and alter its activation (Roy et al, ; van der Werff, van den Berg, Pannekoek, Elzinga, & van der Wee, ; Wager, Waugh et al, ; Wheelock et al, ). Moreover, vmPFC activity changes that are evoked by psychological stressors have been associated with individual differences in self‐reported emotional intensity during and after stressor exposure (Orem et al, ; Tobia et al, ; van der Werff et al, ; Wheelock et al, ; Yang et al, ). Recent analyses examining 270 participants across 18 studies demonstrated that patterns of vmPFC activity are reliably associated with negative affective responding (Kragel, Kano et al, ).…”

Pain Catastrophising Predicts Alcohol Hangover Severity and Symptoms

“…Product measures supported the interpretation that PC was more strongly related with 'Gastric and cardiovascular' symptoms than eBAC, and robust regression provided some validation of this model. PC has been related to activity in the mPFC [24], an anatomical area that has also been shown to mediate stress response [55]. This may provide a link through which this cognitive strategy can influence stress responses occurring as a result of hangover.…”

A neurobehavioral account for decentering as the salve for the distressed mind

“…Gains in decentering predict acute and enduring improvement in distress disorders following treatment with mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) [17][18][19][20] as well as mindfulness enriched CBTs [21][22][23][24]. Theoretical accounts [16,25,26] and empirical findings [27,28] are beginning to reveal the neurobehavioral underpinnings of decentering and suggest MBIs lead to engagement and enduring alterations in large-scale neural networks associated with attention, executive control, and self-referential processing [29][30][31]. However, as the science of decentering continues to mature [32], more work is need to carefully elucidate how mindfulness acts on the distressed brain possibly via increases in decentering [20].…”