Abstract
Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) contributes to regulation of emotion. However, the adaptive response of the vmPFC under acute stress is not understood. We used fMRI to analyse brain activity of people viewing and rating the emotional strength of emotional images after acute social stress. Here, we show that the vmPFC is strongly activated by highly emotional images, indicating its involvement in emotional regulation, and that the midbrain is activated as a main effect of stress during the emotional response. vmPFC activation also exhibits individual differences in behavioural scores reflecting individual reactions to stress. Moreover, functional connectivity between the vmPFC and midbrain under stress reflects stress-induced emotion regulation. Those results suggest that the functions of the network including the vmPFC in emotion regulation is affected by stress depending on the individuals' level of reaction to the stress.
Highlights
Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex contributes to regulation of emotion
Emotion regulation is associated with anterior parts of the default mode network, the medial prefrontal cortex[6,7], suggesting that default mode network dysfunction can lead to neuropsychiatric disorders and may impair emotion regulation[8]
We found that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) exhibits higher activation for images with high valence and that the brain region associated in stress is involved in the emotion regulation function of the vmPFC
Summary
Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) contributes to regulation of emotion. We hypothesised that stress affects vmPFC activation, thereby affecting emotion regulation involving the vmPFC, and that the level of effect is influenced by the individuals’ level of reaction to the stress. To examine this hypothesis, we conducted a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment in which participants viewed emotional images and rated the emotional impact of the images after the induction of acute social stress. We found that the vmPFC exhibits higher activation for images with high valence and that the brain region associated in stress is involved in the emotion regulation function of the vmPFC
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