Abstract
The majority of the models of emotional processing attribute subjective emotional feelings to physiological changes in the internal milieu, which are sensed by the interoceptive system. These physiological reactions evoked by emotional phenomena occur via the autonomic nervous system, and give rise to alterations in body-mind interactions that are characterized by heartbeat evoked magnetic fields (HEFs) involving brain regions associated with emotional perception. The current study used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to examine regional cortical activity and connectivity changes in HEFs provoked by the emotion of disgust. MEG results from 39 healthy subjects (22 female) revealed that passively listening to sounds of disgust elicited right insular cortical activity and enhancement of cortical connectivity between the right anterior ventral insular cortex and left ventromedial prefrontal cortex, demonstrated by phase lag indexes in the beta frequency range. Furthermore, inter-trial coherence significantly increased at 19 Hz and 23 Hz, and decreased at 14 Hz, which highlights the involvement of low beta oscillations in emotional processing. As these results were based on spontaneously triggered bioelectrical signals, more indigenous and induced signals were extracted with a block designed experiment. The insular cortices play an important role in emotional regulation and perception as the main cortical target for signals with interoceptive information, providing direct substrates of emotional feelings. The current results provide a novel insight into frequency properties of emotional processing, and suggest that emotional arousal evoked by listening to sounds of disgust partially impact the autonomic nervous system, altering HEFs via connectivity changes in the right anterior ventral insular cortex and left ventromedial prefrontal cortex.
Highlights
The majority of the models of emotional processing attribute subjective emotional feelings to physiological changes in the internal milieu, including the skeletomuscular, neuroendocrine, and autonomic nervous systems [1,2,3]
When subjects felt disgust, brain activity in the right insular cortices and connectivity of beta frequency between the right anterior ventral insular cortices and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) increased. These results suggest that the insular cortices are core regions that mediate the physiological changes modulated by emotional state, and closely associated with the VMPFC in the processing and propagation of information to other brain regions
The neuromagnetic dynamics demonstrated in the current study revealed heartbeat evoked magnetic fields (HEFs)-evoked alterations in both activity and connectivity that were affected by emotional experiences
Summary
The majority of the models of emotional processing attribute subjective emotional feelings to physiological changes in the internal milieu, including the skeletomuscular, neuroendocrine, and autonomic nervous systems [1,2,3] These changes are often triggered by external events as well as the homeostatic changes of inner bodily status, and can affect body-mind interactions [4,5,6]. The lamina I spinothalamocortical pathway carries information regarding the internal milieu, such as muscle contractions in vessel walls, peripheral blood flow, temperature, pain, tissue injury, and levels of O2 and CO2, while the vagal nerve carries visceral signals regarding the cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and genito-urinary systems [14] The crosstalk between these two pathways within the projections of the brainstem to the insular and somatosensory cortices facilitates the organization of topographical maps of bodily status within structures [3]. The accuracy of heartbeat counts has been found to be positively correlated with the sensitivity of emotional traits, such as tendencies for general anxiety [19, 20]
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