Abstract
Ruminations are repetitive thoughts associated with symptoms, causes, and consequences of one’s negative feelings. The objective of this study was to explore the neuronal basis of depressive rumination in a non-clinical population within the context of emotional control. Participants scoring high or low on the tendency to ruminate scale took part in the EEG experiment. Their EEG data were collected during a state of induced depressive ruminations and compared with positive and neutral conditions. We hypothesized that both groups would differ according to the level of activation and effective connectivity among the structures involved in the emotional control circuit. Clustering of independent components, together with effective connectivity (Directed Transfer Function), was performed using the EEG signal. The main findings involved decreased activation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and increased activation of the left temporal lobe structures in the highly ruminating group. The latter result was most pronounced during the ruminative condition. Decreased information from the left DLPFC to the left temporal lobe structures was also found, leading to the conclusion that hypoactivation of the left DLPFC and its inability to modulate the activation of the left temporal lobe structures is crucial for the ruminative tendencies.
Highlights
Self-reflection can have both light and dark sides
We have found a negative relationship between the information flow from the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to the left temporal cortex, and difficulties engaging in the goal directed behavior which were not explained by tendency to ruminate
Significant differences were found in the left temporal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex – structures that are part of the emotional control brain circuit
Summary
Self-reflection can have both light and dark sides. The ability to analyze one’s own mental states is unique to humans and seems to be highly adaptive for functioning in a complex world. There is a form of self-reflection that has harmful consequences and can lead to the magnification and prolongation of depressive moods. Ruminative response style, according to Nolen-Hoeksema, Wisco, and Lyubomirsky (2008), is a form of responding to distress, which Binvolves repetitively and passively focusing on symptoms of distress and on the possible causes and consequences of these symptoms.^ It is suggested that ineffective cognitive control over emotional information, accompanied by increased emotional reactivity to negative self-referential stimuli, underlie depressive ruminations (Kühn, Vanderhasselt, De Raedt, & Gallinat, 2012; Mandell, Siegle, Shutt, Feldmiller, & Thase, 2014). Ruminating individuals experience difficulties with diverting attention away from the negative material (Joormann & D’Avanzato, 2010) and recall more negative autobiographical memories than positive ones (Lyubomirsky, Caldwell, & NolenHoeksema, 1998). As we assume that extensive rumination arises due to ineffective cognitive emotional control, in the present study we investigate the brain’s emotional control circuit and its relationships to ruminative tendencies in a nonclinical population
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