Abstract
Awe differs from common positive emotions, triggered by vast stimuli, and characterized by a need for accommodation (NFA). Although studies have revealed the downstream effects of awe experience, little is known about the neural basis of dispositional awe. In the current study, we determined the neural correlation of dispositional awe by using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in 42 young healthy adults, as measured by the Dispositional Positive Emotion Scale (DPES). Results revealed that the dispositional awe score was negatively associated with the regional gray matter volume (rGMV) in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), middle/posterior cingulate cortex (MCC/PCC) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG). These results suggest that individual differences in dispositional awe involve multiple brain regions related to attention, conscious self-regulation, cognitive control and social emotion. This study is the first to provide evidence for the structural neural basis of individual differences in dispositional awe.
Highlights
Awe has long been of interest in philosophy, sociology and religion, which is different from other related states such as elevation, admiration, inspiration and the epiphanic experience (Keltner and Haidt, 2003; Kristjánsson, 2017)
Based on the aforementioned behavioral and brain imaging studies, we hypothesized that individual differences in dispositional awe could be associated with the regional gray matter volume of regions that are involved in cognitive control, conscious self-regulation, attention and social emotion
The current study aimed to explore the neural correlates of dispositional awe using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis in healthy adults
Summary
Awe has long been of interest in philosophy, sociology and religion, which is different from other related states such as elevation, admiration, inspiration and the epiphanic experience (Keltner and Haidt, 2003; Kristjánsson, 2017). The experience of awe is a social emotion involved in the perception of vastness (e.g., Keltner and Haidt, 2003), NFA (e.g., Keltner and Haidt, 2003; Shiota et al, 2007) as well as in the metaphorical sense of smallness of the self (Sober and Wilson, 1999; Nowak, 2006; Keltner et al, 2014) All these factors are related with conscious self-regulation, cognitive control and social emotion. We predicted that the neural correlates underlying individual differences in dispositional awe are associated with brain regions reflecting attention, conscious self-regulation, cognitive control and social emotion. Based on the aforementioned behavioral and brain imaging studies, we hypothesized that individual differences in dispositional awe could be associated with the regional gray matter volume (rGMV) of regions that are involved in cognitive control, conscious self-regulation, attention and social emotion. We examined the association between the rGMV and dispositional awe using VBM
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