Negative Emotional Processing Research Articles

Abnormal neural activation during negative emotion processing in anxiety disorders: a coordinate-based meta-analysis.

Abnormal neural activation during negative emotion processing in anxiety disorders: a coordinate-based meta-analysis.

The effects of prefrontal tDCS and hf-tRNS on the processing of positive and negative emotions evoked by video clips in first- and third-person

The causal role of the cerebral hemispheres in positive and negative emotion processing remains uncertain. The Right Hemisphere Hypothesis proposes right hemispheric superiority for all emotions, while the Valence Hypothesis suggests the left/right hemisphere's primary involvement in positive/negative emotions, respectively. To address this, emotional video clips were presented during dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) electrical stimulation, incorporating a comparison of tDCS and high frequency tRNS stimulation techniques and manipulating perspective-taking (first-person vs third-person Point of View, POV). Four stimulation conditions were applied while participants were asked to rate emotional video valence: anodal/cathodal tDCS to the left/right DLPFC, reverse configuration (anodal/cathodal on the right/left DLPFC), bilateral hf-tRNS, and sham (control condition). Results revealed significant interactions between stimulation setup, emotional valence, and POV, implicating the DLPFC in emotions and perspective-taking. The right hemisphere played a crucial role in both positive and negative valence, supporting the Right Hemisphere Hypothesis. However, the complex interactions between the brain hemispheres and valence also supported the Valence Hypothesis. Both stimulation techniques (tDCS and tRNS) significantly modulated results. These findings support both hypotheses regarding hemispheric involvement in emotions, underscore the utility of video stimuli, and emphasize the importance of perspective-taking in this field, which is often overlooked.

Are There Two Kinds of Reasoners?

There is little consensus about the underlying parameters of human reasoning. Two major theories have been proposed that suppose very different mechanisms. The mental model theory proposes that people use working memory intensive processes in order to construct limited models of problem parameters. Probabilistic theories propose that reasoning is a process by which people use the sum of their existing knowledge in order to generate an estimate of the probability of a conclusion given problem parameters. Following an initial proposition by Verschueren et al., the dual-strategy model supposes that these different approaches to reasoning are in fact an important individual difference. Specifically, a recently developed diagnostic questionnaire has identified two major categories of reasoners: Counterexample reasoners use a mental model form of processing, while Statistical reasoners use a probabilistic form of processing. In the following, I describe results that show that the Counterexample/Statistical distinction affects information processing across a variety of reasoning and judgment tasks. In addition, strategy use correlates with performance on very different kinds of thinking, such as contingency judgments, processing of negative emotions, or susceptibility to social biases. Although this distinction is related to differences in cognitive ability, it has been found to predict performance over and above these differences. More recent results have shown that it is possible to experimentally modify strategy use. These results suggest that strategy use is an important individual difference that can affect performance in a wide variety of contexts.

Alexithymia profiles and depression, anxiety, and stress

BackgroundAlexithymia is a multidimensional trait comprised of difficulties identifying feelings, difficulties describing feelings, and externally orientated thinking. It is regarded as an important risk factor for emotional disorders, but there are presently limited data on each specific facet of alexithymia, or the extent to which deficits in processing negative emotions, positive emotions, or both, are important. In this study, we address these gaps by using the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) to comprehensively examine the relationships between alexithymia and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. MethodsUniversity students (N = 1250) completed the PAQ and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21. Pearson correlations, hierarchical regressions, and latent profile analysis were conducted. ResultsAll facets of alexithymia, across both valence domains, were significantly correlated with depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms (r = 0.27–0.40). Regression analyses indicated that the alexithymia facets, together, could account for a significant 14.6 %–16.4 % of the variance in depression, anxiety, and stress. Difficulties identifying negative feelings and difficulties identifying positive feelings were the strongest unique predictors across all symptom categories. Our latent profile analysis extracted eight profiles, comprising different combinations of alexithymia facets and psychopathology symptoms, collectively highlighting the transdiagnostic relevance of alexithymia facets. LimitationsOur study involved a student sample, and further work in clinical samples will be beneficial. ConclusionsOur data indicate that all facets of alexithymia, across both valence domains, are relevant for understanding depression, anxiety, and stress. These findings demonstrate the value of facet-level and valence-specific alexithymia assessments, informing more comprehensive understanding and more targeted treatments of emotional disorder symptoms.

Sex differences in alcohol's effects on fronto-amygdalar functional connectivity during processing of emotional stimuli.

Amygdala function underlying emotion processing has been shown to vary with an individuals' biological sex. Expanding upon functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) findings reported previously where a low level of response was the focus, we examined alcohol and sex effects on functional connectivity between the amygdala and other brain regions. The central hypothesis predicted that sex would influence alcohol's effects on frontal-limbic functional circuits underlying the processing of negative and positive facial emotions. Secondary analyses were conducted on data from a double-blind, placebo controlled, within-subjects, cross-over study in 54 sex-matched pairs (N = 108) of 18- to 25-year-old individuals without an alcohol use disorder at baseline. Participants performed an emotional faces fMRI processing task after placebo or approximately 0.7 mL/kg of ethanol. Psychophysiological interaction analyses examined functional connectivity between the amygdala with other brain regions. There were significant alcohol-by-sex interactions when processing negatively valenced faces. Whereas intoxicated men exhibited decreased functional connectivity between the amygdala and ventral and dorsal anterior cingulate, angular gyrus, and middle frontal gyrus connectivity was increased in intoxicated women. There was also a main sex effect where women exhibited less functional connectivity in the middle insula than men regardless of whether they received alcohol or placebo. For happy faces, main effects of both sex and alcohol were observed. Women exhibited less amygdala functional connectivity in the right inferior frontal gyrus than men. Both men and women exhibited greater functional connectivity in the superior frontal gyrus in response to alcohol than placebo. Alcohol's effects on amygdala functional circuits that underlying emotional processing vary by sex. Women had higher functional connectivity than men following exposure to a moderate dose of alcohol which could indicate that women arebetter than men at processing affectively laden stimuli when intoxicated.

Facial emotion processing in patients with borderline personality disorder as compared with healthy controls: an fMRI and ECG study

BackgroundMaladaptive behaviors and interpersonal difficulties in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) seem connected to biased facial emotion processing. This bias is often accompanied by heightened amygdala activity in patients with BPD as compared to healthy controls. However, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies exploring differences between patients and healthy controls in facial emotion processing have produced divergent results. The current study explored fMRI and heart rate variability (HRV) correlates of negative facial emotion processing in patients with BPD and healthy controls.MethodsThe study included 30 patients with BPD (29 females; age: M = 24.22, SD = 5.22) and 30 healthy controls (29 females; M = 24.66, SD = 5.28). All participants underwent the “faces” task, an emotional face perception task, in an fMRI session simultaneously with ECG. In this task, participants are presented with emotional expressions of disgust, sadness, and fear (as a negative condition) and with the same pictures in a scrambled version (as a neutral condition).ResultsWe found no differences in brain activity between patients with BPD and healthy controls when processing negative facial expressions as compared to neutral condition. We observed activation in large-scale brain areas in both groups when presented with negative facial expressions as compared to neutral condition. Patients with BPD displayed lower HRV than healthy controls in both conditions. However, there were no significant associations between HRV and amygdala activity and BPD symptoms.ConclusionThe results of this study indicate no abnormal brain activity during emotional facial processing in patients with BPD. This result contrasts with previous studies and more studies are needed to clarify the relationship between facial emotion processing and brain activity in patients with BPD. Possible reasons for the absence of brain activity differences are discussed in the study. Consistent with previous findings, patients showed lower HRV than healthy controls. However, HRV was not associated with amygdala activity and BPD symptoms.

Sex differences in the effects of individual anxiety state on regional responses to negative emotional scenes

BackgroundMen and women are known to show differences in the incidence and clinical manifestations of mood and anxiety disorders. Many imaging studies have investigated the neural correlates of sex differences in emotion processing. However, it remains unclear how anxiety might impact emotion processing differently in men and women.MethodWe recruited 119 healthy adults and assessed their levels of anxiety using State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) State score. With functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined regional responses to negative vs. neutral (Neg-Neu) picture matching in the Hariri task. Behavioral data were analyzed using regression and repeated-measures analysis of covariance with age as a covariate, and fMRI data were analyzed using a full-factorial model with sex as a factor and age as a covariate.ResultsMen and women did not differ in STAI score, or accuracy rate or reaction time (RT) (Neg-Neu). However, STAI scores correlated positively with RT (Neg-Neu) in women but not in men. Additionally, in women, STAI score correlated positively with lingual gyrus (LG) and negatively with medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and superior frontal gyrus (SFG) activity during Neg vs. Neu trials. The parameter estimates (βs) of mPFC also correlated with RT (Neg-Neu) in women but not in men. Generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) analysis in women revealed mPFC connectivity with the right inferior frontal gyrus, right SFG, and left parahippocampal gyrus during Neg vs. Neu trials in positive correlation with both STAI score and RT (Neg-Neu). In a mediation analysis, mPFC gPPI but not mPFC activity fully mediated the association between STAI scores and RT (Neg-Neu).ConclusionWith anxiety affecting the behavioral and neural responses to negative emotions in women but not in men and considering the known roles of the mPFC in emotion regulation, we discussed heightened sensitivity and regulatory demands during negative emotion processing as neurobehavioral markers of anxiety in women.

Persistence of amygdala hyperactivity to subliminal negative emotion processing in the long-term course of depression.

Biased emotion processing has been suggested to underlie the etiology and maintenance of depression. Neuroimaging studies have shown mood-congruent alterations in amygdala activity in patients with acute depression, even during early, automatic stages of emotion processing. However, due to a lack of prospective studies over periods longer than 8 weeks, it is unclear whether these neurofunctional abnormalities represent a persistent correlate of depression even in remission. In this prospective case-control study, we aimed to examine brain functional correlates of automatic emotion processing in the long-term course of depression. In a naturalistic design, n = 57 patients with acute major depressive disorder (MDD) and n = 37 healthy controls (HC) were assessed with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at baseline and after 2 years. Patients were divided into two subgroups according to their course of illness during the study period (n = 37 relapse, n = 20 no-relapse). During fMRI, participants underwent an affective priming task that assessed emotion processing of subliminally presented sad and happy compared to neutral face stimuli. A group × time × condition (3 × 2 × 2) ANOVA was performed for the amygdala as region-of-interest (ROI). At baseline, there was a significant group × condition interaction, resulting from amygdala hyperactivity to sad primes in patients with MDD compared to HC, whereas no difference between groups emerged for happy primes. In both patient subgroups, amygdala hyperactivity to sad primes persisted after 2 years, regardless of relapse or remission at follow-up. The results suggest that amygdala hyperactivity during automatic processing of negative stimuli persists during remission and represents a trait rather than a state marker of depression. Enduring neurofunctional abnormalities may reflect a consequence of or a vulnerability to depression.

The control patterns of affective processing and cognitive reappraisal: insights from brain controllability analysis.

Perceiving and modulating emotions is vital for cognitive function and is often impaired in neuropsychiatric conditions. Current tools for evaluating emotional dysregulation suffer from subjectivity and lack of precision, especially when it comes to understanding emotion from a regulatory or control-based perspective. To address these limitations, this study leverages an advanced methodology known as functional brain controllability analysis. We simultaneously recorded electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 17 healthy subjects engaged in emotion processing and regulation tasks. We then employed a novel EEG/fMRI integration technique to reconstruct cortical activity in a high spatiotemporal resolution manner. Subsequently, we conducted functional brain controllability analysis to explore the neural network control patterns underlying different emotion conditions. Our findings demonstrated that the dorsolateral and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex exhibited increased controllability during the processing and regulation of negative emotions compared to processing of neutral emotion. Besides, the anterior cingulate cortex was notably more active in managing negative emotion than in either controlling neutral emotion or regulating negative emotion. Finally, the posterior parietal cortex emerged as a central network controller for the regulation of negative emotion. This study offers valuable insights into the cortical control mechanisms that support emotion perception and regulation.

The effect of negative emotion processing on spatial navigation: an experimental study using virtual reality.

Finding one's way in unfamiliar environments is an essential ability. When navigating, people are overwhelmed with an enormous amount of information. However, some information might be more relevant than others. Despite the mounting knowledge about the mechanisms underlying orientational skills, and the notable effects of facial emotions on human behavior, little is known about emotions' effects on spatial navigation. Hereby, this study aimed to explore how exposure to others' negative emotional facial expressions affects wayfinding performances. Moreover, gender differences that characterize both processes were considered. Fifty-five participants (31 females) entered twice in three realistic virtual reality environments: the first time, to encode a route to find an object and then to recall the learned path to reach the same object again. In between the two explorations of the virtual environment, participants were asked to undergo a gender categorization task during which they were exposed to sixty faces showing either neutral, fearful, or angry expressions. Results showed a significant interaction between emotions, time, and gender. In particular, the exposition to fearful faces, but not angry and neutral ones, decreased males' wayfinding performances (i.e., travel times and distance travelled), while females' performances were unaffected. Possible explanations for such gender and emotional dissimilarities are discussed.

Increased fiber density of the fornix in patients with chronic tinnitus revealed by diffusion-weighted MRI.

Up to 45% of the elderly population suffer from chronic tinnitus - the phantom perception of sound that is often perceived as ringing, whistling, or hissing "in the ear" without external stimulation. Previous research investigated white matter changes in tinnitus patients using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) to assess measures such as fractional anisotropy (a measure of microstructural integrity of fiber tracts) or mean diffusivity (a measure for general water diffusion). However, findings overlap only minimally and are sometimes even contradictory. We here present the first study encompassing higher diffusion data that allow to focus on changes in tissue microstructure, such as number of axons (fiber density) and macroscopic alterations, including axon diameter, and a combination of both. In order to deal with the crossing-fibers problem, we applied a fixel-based analysis using a constrained spherical deconvolution signal modeling approach. We investigated differences between tinnitus patients and control participants as well as how cognitive abilities and tinnitus distress are related to changes in white matter morphology in chronic tinnitus. For that aim, 20 tinnitus patients and 20 control participants, matched in age, sex and whether they had hearing loss or not, underwent DWI, audiometric and cognitive assessments, and filled in questionnaires targeting anxiety and depression. Our results showed increased fiber density in the fornix in tinnitus patients compared to control participants. The observed changes might, reflect compensatory structural alterations related to the processing of negative emotions or maladaptive changes related to the reinforced learning of the chronic tinnitus sensation. Due to the low sample size, the study should be seen as a pilot study that motivates further research to investigate underlying white matter morphology alterations in tinnitus.

Effects of psychotherapy on brain activation during negative emotional processing in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition which has been related to problems in emotional regulation, memory and cognitive control. Psychotherapy has a non-response rate of around 50% and understanding the neurobiological working mechanisms might help improve treatment. To integrate findings from multiple smaller studies, we performed the first meta-analysis of changes in brain activation with a specific focus on emotional processing after psychotherapy in PTSD patients. We performed a meta-analysis of brain activation changes after treatment during emotional processing for PTSD with seed-based d mapping using a pre-registered protocol (PROSPERO CRD42020211039). We analyzed twelve studies with 191 PTSD patients after screening 3700 studies. We performed systematic quality assessment both for the therapeutic interventions and neuroimaging methods. Analyses were done in the full sample and in a subset of studies that reported whole-brain results. We found decreased activation after psychotherapy in the left amygdala, (para)hippocampus, medial temporal lobe, inferior frontal gyrus, ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, right pallidum, anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral putamen, and insula. Decreased activation in the left amygdala and left ventrolateral PFC was also found in eight studies that reported whole-brain findings. Results did not survive correction for multiple comparisons. There is tentative support for decreased activation in the fear and cognitive control networks during emotional processing after psychotherapy for PTSD. Future studies would benefit from adopting a larger sample size, using designs that control for confounding variables, and investigating heterogeneity in symptom profiles and treatment response.

Subjective and neural reactivity during savoring and rumination

Repetitive thinking about negative emotions or events is strongly associated with worse mental health, whereas repetitive positive thought is generally believed to be beneficial. This observation is at odds with the idea that all forms of repetitive thinking share underlying neural mechanisms. To resolve this apparent discrepancy, the present study examined relationships between subjective affect and neural mechanisms during periods of sustained processing of positive (savoring) and negative (rumination) emotion. We also examined potential common moderators of savoring and rumination including memory specificity and sleep quality. Results indicated that individuals who experience high positive affect during savoring also are likely to experience more intense negative affect during rumination. fMRI-derived brain activity revealed common mechanisms of rumination and savoring. Memory specificity had common effects on neural correlates of rumination and savoring; sleep quality was not associated with mechanisms of savoring or rumination. These results suggest that repetitive engagement with positive and negative affect is similar both subjectively and mechanistically. Clinical interventions for rumination may benefit from capitalizing on preserved capacity for savoring.

An fNIRS investigation of novel expressed emotion stimulations in schizophrenia

Living in high expressed emotion (EE) environments tends to increase the relapse rate in schizophrenia (SZ). At present, the neural substrates responsible for high EE in SZ remain poorly understood. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) may be of great use to quantitatively assess cortical hemodynamics and elucidate the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. In this study, we designed novel low- (positivity and warmth) and high-EE (criticism, negative emotion, and hostility) stimulations, in the form of audio, to investigate cortical hemodynamics. We used fNIRS to measure hemodynamic signals while participants listened to the recorded audio. Healthy controls (HCs, n=42) showed increased hemodynamic activation in the major language centers across EE stimulations, with stronger activation in Wernicke’s area during the processing of negative emotional language. Compared to HCs, people with SZ (n=41) exhibited smaller hemodynamic activation in the major language centers across EE stimulations. In addition, people with SZ showed weaker or insignificant hemodynamic deactivation in the medial prefrontal cortex. Notably, hemodynamic activation in SZ was found to be negatively correlated with the negative syndrome scale score at high EE. Our findings suggest that the neural mechanisms in SZ are altered and disrupted, especially during negative emotional language processing. This supports the feasibility of using the designed EE stimulations to assess people who are vulnerable to high-EE environments, such as SZ. Furthermore, our findings provide preliminary evidence for future research on functional neuroimaging biomarkers for people with psychiatric disorders.

Altered beta band spatial-temporal interactions during negative emotional processing in major depressive disorder: An MEG study

BackgroundThe mood-concordance bias is a key feature of major depressive disorder (MDD), but the spatiotemporal neural activity associated with emotional processing in MDD remains unclear. Understanding the dysregulated connectivity patterns during emotional processing and their relationship with clinical symptoms could provide insights into MDD neuropathology. MethodsWe enrolled 108 MDD patients and 64 healthy controls (HCs) who performed an emotion recognition task during magnetoencephalography recording. Network-based statistics (NBS) was used to analyze whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) across different frequency ranges during distinct temporal periods. The relationship between the aberrant FC and affective symptoms was explored. ResultsMDD patients exhibited decreased FC strength in the beta band (13–30 Hz) compared to HCs. During the early stage of emotional processing (0-100 ms), reduced FC was observed between the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left cuneus. In the late stage (250-400 ms), aberrant FC was primarily found in the cortex-limbic-striatum systems. Moreover, the FC strength between the right fusiform gyrus and left thalamus, and between the left calcarine fissure and left inferior temporal gyrus were negatively associated with Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) scores. LimitationsMedication information was not involved. ConclusionMDD patients exhibited abnormal temporal-spatial neural interactions in the beta band, ranging from early sensory to later cognitive processing stages. These aberrant interactions involve the cortex-limbic-striatum circuit. Notably, aberrant FC in may serve as a potential biomarker for assessing depression severity.

Neurocognitive Correlates of Cerebellar Volumetric Alterations in Youth with Pediatric Bipolar Spectrum Disorders and Bipolar Offspring.

Emerging evidence points towards the involvement of the cerebellum in the processing of emotions and pathophysiology of mood disorders. However, cerebellar and related cognitive alterations in youth with pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) and those at high risk to develop the disorder, such as bipolar offspring (BD-OFF) are not clearly defined. To investigate cerebellar gray and white matter volumes, cognition, and their relationship in youth with PBD and BD-OFF. Thirty youth (7 to 17 years, inclusive) with PBD, 30 BD-OFF and 40 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. Study participants underwent a computer-based cognitive battery assessing affective processing, executive function, attention, psychomotor speed, and learning. Three-tesla MRI scan was performed to assess cerebellar white and gray matter volumes. Cerebellar segmentation was performed with FreeSurfer. Statistical analyses include between-group differences in cognitive domains, cerebellar gray, and white matter volumes. Relationships between cerebellar volumes and cognitive domains were examined. Youth with PBD showed greater cerebellar gray matter volumes than both BD-OFF and HC, whereas no differences were present between BD-OFF and HC. Both youth with PBD and BD-OFF showed altered processing of negative emotions and a bias towards positive emotions. In youth with PBD and BD-OFF, greater impairment in the processing of emotions correlated with greater cerebellar gray matter volumes. The present findings corroborate hypotheses on cerebellar involvement in the processing of emotions and the pathophysiology of PBD. The presence of cerebellar dysfunction in BD-OFF is unclear.

Age-related reduction in trait anxiety: Behavioral and neural evidence of automaticity in negative facial emotion processing

Trait anxiety diminishes with age, which may result from age-related decline in registering salient emotional stimuli and/or enhancement in emotion regulation. We tested the hypotheses in 88 adults 21 to 85 years of age and studied with fMRI of the Hariri task. Age-related decline in stimulus registration would manifest in delayed reaction time (RT) and diminished saliency circuit activity in response to emotional vs. neutral stimuli. Enhanced control of negative emotions would manifest in diminished limbic/emotional circuit and higher prefrontal cortical (PFC) responses to negative emotion. The results showed that anxiety was negatively correlated with age. Age was associated with faster RT and diminished activation of the medial PFC, in the area of the dorsal and rostral anterior cingulate cortex (dACC/rACC) – a hub of the saliency circuit – during matching of negative but not positive vs. neutral emotional faces. A slope test confirmed the differences in the regressions. Further, age was not associated with activation of the PFC in whole-brain regression or in region-of-interest analysis of the dorsolateral PFC, an area identified from meta-analyses of the emotion regulation literature. Together, the findings fail to support either hypothesis; rather, the findings suggest age-related automaticity in processing negative emotions as a potential mechanism of diminished anxiety. Automaticity results in faster RT and diminished anterior cingulate activity in response to negative but not positive emotional stimuli. In support, analyses of psychophysiological interaction demonstrated higher dACC/rACC connectivity with the default mode network, which has been implicated in automaticity in information processing. As age increased, individuals demonstrated faster RT with higher connectivity during matching of negative vs. neutral images. Automaticity in negative emotion processing needs to be investigated as a mechanism of age-related reduction in anxiety.

How do bipolar disease states affect positive and negative emotion processing? Insights from a meta-analysis on the neural fingerprints of emotional processing.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies on emotion processing in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) show hyperactivity of limbic-striatal brain areas and hypoactivity in inferior frontal areas compared to healthy participants. However, heterogeneous results in patients with different disease states and different valences of emotional stimuli have been identified. To integrate previous results and elucidate the impact of disease state and stimulus valence, we conducted a systematic literature search for journal articles in the Web of Science Core Collection including MEDLINE databases and employed a coordinate-based-meta-analysis of functional-MRI studies comparing emotion processing in BD-patients with healthy participantsusing seed-based d mapping (SDM) to test for between-subjects-effects. We included 31 studies published before 11/2022 with a total of N = 766 BD-patients and N = 836 controls. Patients with BD showed hyperactivated regions involved in salience processing of emotional stimuli (e.g., the bilateral insula) and hypoactivation of regions associated with emotion regulation (e.g., inferior frontal gyrus) during emotion processing, compared to healthy participants. A more detailed descriptive analysis revealed a hypoactive (anterior) insula in manic BD-patients specifically for negative in comparison to positive emotion processing. This meta-analysis corroborates the overall tenor of existing literature that patients with BD show an increased emotional reactivity (hyperactivity of salience-processing regions) together with a lower (cognitive) control (hypoactivity of brain areas associated with emotion regulation) over emotional states. Our analysis suggests reduced interoceptive processing of negative stimuli in mania, pointing out the need for longitudinal within-subject analyses of emotion processing.

Structural and functional improvement of amygdala sub-regions in postpartum depression after acupuncture.

This study aimed to analyze the changes in structure and function in amygdala sub-regions in patients with postpartum depression (PPD) before and after acupuncture. A total of 52 patients with PPD (All-PPD group) were included in this trial, 22 of which completed 8 weeks of acupuncture treatment (Acu-PPD group). An age-matched control group of 24 healthy postpartum women (HPW) from the hospital and community were also included. Results from the 17-Hamilton Depression Scale (17-HAMD) and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) were evaluated, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans were performed at baseline and after the acupuncture treatment. Sub-regions of the amygdala were used as seed regions to measure gray matter volume (GMV) and analyzed for resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) values separately. Finally, correlation analyses were performed on all patients with PPD to evaluate association values between the clinical scale scores, GMV, and RSFC values, while controlling for age and education. Pearson's correlation analyses were conducted to investigate the relevance between GMV and RSFC values of brain regions that differed before and after acupuncture treatment and clinical scale scores in Acu-PPD patients. The HAMD scores for Acu-PPD were reduced after acupuncture treatment (P < 0.05), suggesting the positive effects of acupuncture on depression symptoms. Structurally, the All-PPD group showed significantly decreased GMV in the left lateral part of the amygdala (lAMG.L) and the right lateral part of the amygdala (lAMG.R) compared to the HPW group (P < 0.05). In addition, the GMV of lAMG.R was marginally increased in the Acu-PPD group after acupuncture (P < 0.05). Functionally, the Acu-PPD group showed a significantly enhanced RSFC between the left medial part of the amygdala (mAMG.L) and the left vermis_6, an increased RSFC between the right medial part of the amygdala (mAMG.R) and left vermis_6, and an increased RSFC between the lAMG.R and left cerebelum_crus1 (P < 0.05). Moreover, correlation studies revealed that the GMV in the lAMG.R was significantly related to the EPDS scores in the All-PPD group (P < 0.05). Our findings demonstrated that the structure of amygdala sub-regions is impaired in patients with PPD. Acupuncture may improve depressive symptoms in patients with PPD, and the mechanism may be attributed to changes in the amygdala sub-region structure and the functional connections of brain areas linked to the processing of negative emotions. The fMRI-based technique can provide comprehensive neuroimaging evidence to visualize the central mechanism of action of acupuncture in PPD.

Neural Predictors of Improvement With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescents With Depression: An Examination of Reward Responsiveness and Emotion Regulation.

Earlier depression onsets are associated with more debilitating courses and poorer life quality, highlighting the importance of effective early intervention. Many youths fail to improve with evidence-based treatments for depression, likely due in part to heterogeneity within the disorder. Multi-method assessment of individual differences in positive and negative emotion processing could improve predictions of treatment outcomes. The current study examined self-report and neurophysiological measures of reward responsiveness and emotion regulation as predictors of response to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Adolescents (14-18years) with depression (N = 70) completed monetary reward and emotion regulation tasks while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded, and self-report measures of reward responsiveness, emotion regulation, and depressive symptoms at intake. Adolescents then completed a 16-session group CBT program, with depressive symptoms and clinician-rated improvement assessed across treatment. Lower reward positivity amplitudes, reflecting reduced neural reward responsiveness, predicted lower depressive symptoms with treatment. Larger late positive potential residuals during reappraisal, potentially reflecting difficulty with emotion regulation, predicted greater clinician-rated improvement. Self-report measures were not significant predictors. Results support the clinical utility of EEG measures, with impairments in positive and negative emotion processing predicting greater change with interventions that target these processes.