Humor regulates cognitive control: a neural mechanism

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Humor regulates cognitive control: a neural mechanism Guido P. Band1*, Henk Steenbergen1, Bernhard Hommel1, Sander Nieuwenhuis1 and Serge Rombouts1 1 Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Netherlands Positive emotional states are known to reduce the impact of cognitive demands and information-processing conflict on human behavior, but the underlying neural mechanism of this modulation is unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how pleasure induced by funny cartoons regulates behavioral control and neural adaptations to cognitive conflict. Humor activated hedonic hotspots in the basal ganglia, which attenuated the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) response to conflict. This reduced subsequent conflict adaptation as observed in behavior and monitoring-related dorsal ACC activation. Our observations reveal the neural mechanism by which positive emotions regulate adaptive goal-directed behavior. Funding: Supported by a NWO grant to G. Band. Keywords: emotion, fMRI Conference: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI), Palma, Mallorca, Spain, 25 Sep - 29 Sep, 2011. Presentation Type: Symposium: Oral Presentation Topic: Poster Sessions: Emotion, Motivation and the Social Brain Citation: Band GP, Steenbergen H, Hommel B, Nieuwenhuis S and Rombouts S (2011). Humor regulates cognitive control: a neural mechanism. Conference Abstract: XI International Conference on Cognitive Neuroscience (ICON XI). doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2011.207.00496 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 22 Nov 2011; Published Online: 28 Nov 2011. * Correspondence: Dr. Guido P Band, Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), Leiden, Netherlands, band@fsw.leidenuniv.nl Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Guido P Band Henk Steenbergen Bernhard Hommel Sander Nieuwenhuis Serge Rombouts Google Guido P Band Henk Steenbergen Bernhard Hommel Sander Nieuwenhuis Serge Rombouts Google Scholar Guido P Band Henk Steenbergen Bernhard Hommel Sander Nieuwenhuis Serge Rombouts PubMed Guido P Band Henk Steenbergen Bernhard Hommel Sander Nieuwenhuis Serge Rombouts Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.