Abstract
As observers we excel in decoding the emotional signals telling us that a social interaction is turning violent. The neural substrate and its modulation by personality traits remain ill understood. We performed an fMRI experiment in which participants watched videos displaying a violent conflict between two people. Observers’ attention was directed to either the aggressor or the victim. Focusing on the aggressor (vs. focusing on the victim) activated the superior temporal sulcus (STS), extra-striate body area (EBA), occipital poles and centro-medial amygdala (CMA). Stronger instantaneous connectivity occurred between these and the EBA, insula, and the red nucleus. When focusing on the victim, basolateral amygdala (BLA) activation was related to trait empathy and showed increased connectivity with the insula and red nucleus. STS activation was associated with trait aggression and increased connectivity with the hypothalamus. The findings reveal that focusing on the aggressor of a violent conflict triggers more activation in categorical (EBA) and emotion (CMA, STS) areas. This is associated with increased instantaneous connectivity among emotion areas (CMA-insula) and between categorical and emotion (EBA-STS) areas. When the focus is on the victim, personality traits (aggression/empathy) modulate activity in emotion areas (respectively STS and postcentral gyrus/ BLA), along with connectivity in the emotional diencephalon (hypothalamus) and early visual areas (occipital pole).
Highlights
As observers we excel in decoding the emotional signals telling us that a social interaction is turning violent
Based on the findings reported above and the postulated function of the anterior insula (aIns) in integrating interoceptive signals into a subjective affective experience[12], we hypothesise that trait empathy will modulate activation in the aIns and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) when the observer is focussing on the victim[11]
We investigated the neural basis of witnessing a violent conflict using video clips of two individuals engaged in an aggressive interaction and by varying the focus of attention on the aggressor or the victim
Summary
As observers we excel in decoding the emotional signals telling us that a social interaction is turning violent. The findings reveal that focusing on the aggressor of a violent conflict triggers more activation in categorical (EBA) and emotion (CMA, STS) areas. This is associated with increased instantaneous connectivity among emotion areas (CMA-insula) and between categorical and emotion (EBA-STS) areas. When the focus is on the victim, personality traits (aggression/empathy) modulate activity in emotion areas (respectively STS and postcentral gyrus/ BLA), along with connectivity in the emotional diencephalon (hypothalamus) and early visual areas (occipital pole). Aggression has been related to decreased response inhibition and higher motor impulsivity and has, at the neural level, been associated with hypo-activation of motor and somatosensory cortices, including during perception of angry emotions[13,14] Based on these findings, we hypothesize aggression-related modulation of motorand somatosensory areas. We hypothesize differential connectivity with areas related to categorical body perception such as the extra-striate body area (EBA)[16] and fusiform body area (FBA)[17], as well as with areas associated with body emotion processing such as the amygdala, insula and premotor cortex[18]
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