TY - JOUR
T1 - Portraying emotions at their unfolding
T2 - A multilayered approach for probing dynamics of neural networks
AU - Raz, Gal
AU - Winetraub, Yonatan
AU - Jacob, Yael
AU - Kinreich, Sivan
AU - Maron-Katz, Adi
AU - Shaham, Galit
AU - Podlipsky, Ilana
AU - Gilam, Gadi
AU - Soreq, Eyal
AU - Hendler, Talma
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the University of Chicago's Arete Initiative - Science of Virtues Program (TH), a grant from the U.S. Department of Defense award number W81XWH-11-2-0008 (TH), the Dan David Scholarship Award (GR), and Human Frontier Science Program Grant RGP0054/2004-C, by European Commission-funded COBOL Contract 043403 (TH,GR). The authors thank Yoav Benjamini (Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Tel Aviv University) for helpful statistical consultation, and Gali Ellenblum and Tal Nissenson for conducting Experiment 3.
PY - 2012/4/2
Y1 - 2012/4/2
N2 - Dynamic functional integration of distinct neural systems plays a pivotal role in emotional experience. We introduce a novel approach for studying emotion-related changes in the interactions within and between networks using fMRI. It is based on continuous computation of a network cohesion index (NCI), which is sensitive to both strength and variability of signal correlations between pre-defined regions. The regions encompass three clusters (namely limbic, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and cognitive), each previously was shown to be involved in emotional processing. Two sadness-inducing film excerpts were viewed passively, and comparisons between viewer's rated sadness, parasympathetic, and inter-NCI and intra-NCI were obtained. Limbic intra-NCI was associated with reported sadness in both movies. However, the correlation between the parasympathetic-index, the rated sadness and the limbic-NCI occurred in only one movie, possibly related to a "deactivated" pattern of sadness. In this film, rated sadness intensity also correlated with the mPFC intra-NCI, possibly reflecting temporal correspondence between sadness and sympathy. Further, only for this movie, we found an association between sadness rating and the mPFC-limbic inter-NCI time courses. To the contrary, in the other film in which sadness was reported to commingle with horror and anger, dramatic events coincided with disintegration of these networks. Together, this may point to a difference between the cinematic experiences with regard to inter-network dynamics related to emotional regulation. These findings demonstrate the advantage of a multi-layered dynamic analysis for elucidating the uniqueness of emotional experiences with regard to an unguided processing of continuous and complex stimulation.
AB - Dynamic functional integration of distinct neural systems plays a pivotal role in emotional experience. We introduce a novel approach for studying emotion-related changes in the interactions within and between networks using fMRI. It is based on continuous computation of a network cohesion index (NCI), which is sensitive to both strength and variability of signal correlations between pre-defined regions. The regions encompass three clusters (namely limbic, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and cognitive), each previously was shown to be involved in emotional processing. Two sadness-inducing film excerpts were viewed passively, and comparisons between viewer's rated sadness, parasympathetic, and inter-NCI and intra-NCI were obtained. Limbic intra-NCI was associated with reported sadness in both movies. However, the correlation between the parasympathetic-index, the rated sadness and the limbic-NCI occurred in only one movie, possibly related to a "deactivated" pattern of sadness. In this film, rated sadness intensity also correlated with the mPFC intra-NCI, possibly reflecting temporal correspondence between sadness and sympathy. Further, only for this movie, we found an association between sadness rating and the mPFC-limbic inter-NCI time courses. To the contrary, in the other film in which sadness was reported to commingle with horror and anger, dramatic events coincided with disintegration of these networks. Together, this may point to a difference between the cinematic experiences with regard to inter-network dynamics related to emotional regulation. These findings demonstrate the advantage of a multi-layered dynamic analysis for elucidating the uniqueness of emotional experiences with regard to an unguided processing of continuous and complex stimulation.
KW - Emotion regulation
KW - Emotional cinematic experience
KW - Emotional dynamics
KW - FMRI
KW - Functional connectivity
KW - Network cohesion
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84857129666&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.12.084
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.12.084
M3 - Article
C2 - 22285693
AN - SCOPUS:84857129666
SN - 1053-8119
VL - 60
SP - 1448
EP - 1461
JO - NeuroImage
JF - NeuroImage
IS - 2
ER -