Incorporating motivational intensity and direction into the study of emotions: Implications for brain mechanisms of emotion and cognition-emotion interactions (original) (raw)
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Human Brain Mapping, 2009
Emotion plays a significant role in goal-directed behavior, yet its neural basis is yet poorly understood. In several psychological models the cardinal dimensions that characterize the emotion space are considered to be valence and arousal. Here 3T functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to reveal brain areas that show valence-and arousal-dependent blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal responses. Seventeen healthy adults viewed pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) for brief 100 ms periods in a block design paradigm. In many brain regions BOLD signals correlated significantly positively with valence ratings of unpleasant pictures. Interestingly, partly in the same regions but also in several other regions BOLD signals correlated negatively with valence ratings of pleasant pictures. Therefore, there were several areas where the correlation across all pictures was of inverted U-shape. Such correlations were found bilaterally in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) extending to anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and insula. Self-rated arousal of those pictures which were evaluated to be unpleasant correlated with BOLD signal in the ACC, whereas for pleasant pictures arousal correlated positively with the BOLD signal strength in the right substantia innominata. We interpret our results to suggest a major division of brain mechanisms underlying affective behavior to those evaluating stimuli to be pleasant or unpleasant. This is consistent with the basic division of behavior to approach and withdrawal, where differentiation of hostile and hospitable stimuli is crucial.
Emotion-Modulated Performance and Activity in Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex
Emotion, 2005
Functional MRI (fMRI) was used to examine the relationship between processing of pleasant and unpleasant stimuli and activity in prefrontal cortex. Twenty volunteers identified the colors in which pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant words were printed. Pleasant words prompted more activity bilaterally in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) than did unpleasant words. In addition, pleasant words prompted more activity in left than in right DLPFC. Response speed to pleasant words was correlated with DLPFC activity. These data directly link positive affect, enhanced performance, and prefrontal activity, providing some of the first fMRI evidence supporting models of emotional valence and frontal brain asymmetry based on electroencephalography (EEG).
Cerebral Cortex, 2015
The ability to experience pleasant or unpleasant feelings or to represent objects as "positive" or "negative" is known as representing hedonic "valence." Although scientists overwhelmingly agree that valence is a basic psychological phenomenon, debate continues about how to best conceptualize it scientifically. We used a meta-analysis of 397 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography studies (containing 914 experimental contrasts and 6827 participants) to test 3 competing hypotheses about the brain basis of valence: the bipolarity hypothesis that positive and negative affect are supported by a brain system that monotonically increases and/or decreases along the valence dimension, the bivalent hypothesis that positive and negative affect are supported by independent brain systems, and the affective workspace hypothesis that positive and negative affect are supported by a flexible set of valence-general regions. We found little evidence for the bipolar or bivalent hypotheses. Findings instead supported the hypothesis that, at the level of brain activity measurable by fMRI, valence is flexibly implemented across instances by a set of valence-general limbic and paralimbic brain regions.
Biological Psychology, 2004
Research has suggested that approach-related positive emotions are associated with greater left frontal brain activity and that withdrawal-related negative emotions are associated with greater right frontal brain activity. Different explanations have been proposed. One posits that frontal asymmetry is due to emotional valence (positivity/negativity), one posits that frontal asymmetry is due to motivational direction (approach/withdrawal), and one posits that frontal asymmetry is due to a combination of emotional valence and motivational direction (positive-approach/negative-withdrawal). Because research had confounded emotional valence and motivational direction, the theoretical explanation was muddled. Solely supporting the motivational direction model, recent research has revealed that anger and cognitive dissonance, emotions with negative valence and approach motivational tendencies, are related to relatively greater left frontal activity.
Models of brain asymmetry in emotional processing
Psychology & Neuroscience, 2008
Two models of brain asymmetry in emotional processing were reviewed: the right hemisphere and the valence hypotheses. The first states a dominant role for the right hemisphere in emotional processing, whereas the second assumes that the left hemisphere is dominant for positive emotions and the right hemisphere for negative ones. Different methods, such as the divided visual field technique, have supported both hypotheses. The amygdala and the prefrontal cortex are presented as important structures involved on brain asymmetry in emotional processing. The paper ends pointing out new perspectives for the study of the neural subtrates of different components of emotions.
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
"Goal pursuit in humans sometimes involves approaching unpleasant and avoiding pleasant stimuli, such as when a dieter chooses to eat vegetables (though he does not like them) instead of doughnuts (which he greatly prefers). Previous neuroscience investigations have established a left-right prefrontal asymmetry between approaching pleasant and avoiding unpleasant stimuli, but these investigations typically do not untangle the roles of action motivation (approach vs. avoidance) and stimulus valence (pleasant vs. unpleasant) in this asymmetry. Additionally, studies on asymmetry have been conducted almost exclusively using electroencephalography and have been difficult to replicate using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The present fMRI study uses a novel goal pursuit task that separates action motivation from stimulus valence and a region-of-interest analysis approach to address these limitations. Results suggest that prefrontal asymmetry is associated with action motivation and not with stimulus valence. Specifically, there was increased left (vs. right) activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex during approach (vs. avoidance) actions regardless of the stimulus valence, but no such effect was observed for pleasant compared to unpleasant stimuli. This asymmetry effect during approach-avoidance action motivations occurred in the dorsolateral but not orbitofrontal aspects of the prefrontal cortex. Also, individual differences in approach-avoidance motivation moderated the effect such that increasing trait approach motivation was associated with greater left-sided asymmetry during approach actions (regardless of the stimulus valence). Together, these results support the notion that prefrontal asymmetry is associated with action motivation regardless of stimulus valence and as such might be linked with goal pursuit processes more broadly."
Brain and Cognition, 2008
The relative advantage of the left (LH) over the right hemisphere (RH) in processing of verbal material for most individuals is well established. Nevertheless, several studies have reported the ability of positively and negatively valenced stimuli to enhance and reverse, respectively, the usual LH > RH asymmetry. These studies, however, have used baseline stimuli that differed from emotional stimuli on two dimensions (i.e., valence and verbal/nonverbal nature), creating interpretive difficulties as to whether differences across these conditions are due to differences in valence or the verbal/nonverbal nature of the primes used in the baseline condition. In addition, these studies, along with many others in the literature, have failed to control for potential confounding effects of arousal. Emotional stimuli vary on dimensions of valence as well as arousal and arousal may be asymmetrically presented in the brain therefore contributing to observed asymmetries. Taken together, these considerations underscore the importance of controlling for both valence as well as arousal in any investigation of the effects of emotional stimuli. The objectives of the present study were twofold: (1) to employ an appropriate baseline condition to render emotional stimuli vs. baseline stimuli comparisons meaningful and (2) to examine the extent to which emotional verbal stimuli, equated for arousal level, alter the expected LH > RH asymmetry in a consonant trigram task. Results demonstrated that when LH lateralized consonant trigram presentations were preceded by a positive prime, an enhancement of the expected LH > RH asymmetry was observed. In contrast, when trigram presentations lateralized to the RH were preceded by a negative prime, a complete reversal of the typical asymmetry was found with RH > LH performance. These results are analogous to the pattern of relative hemispheric activations observed for various mood states. Controlling for arousal in studies investigating asymmetries associated with emotional processing may allow more clear interpretation of data intended to test predictions of neuropsychological models of emotion. Moreover, equating stimuli on the dimension of arousal as well as valence may shed more light on conflicting findings with regard to perception vs. expression of emotion.
Trait affect moderates cortical activation in response to state affect
To examine the influence of trait affect on cortical activation during state affect, 32 healthy female participants viewed video clips to induce positive and negative emotional states. Frontal and parietal electroencephalogram (EEG) of the alpha band was assessed while participants imagined the scene of each video that generated the most intense emotions. The results showed that affect-induced frontal asymmetry was moderated by negative trait affect. The difference in frontal asymmetry between positive and negative state affect increased linearly with negative trait affect. Moreover, positive trait affect was negatively correlated with activation in the right-parietal brain region. These results suggest that trait affect moderates the effects of state affect on brain activation.
Emotional valence and arousal effects on memory and hemispheric asymmetries
Brain and Cognition, 2010
This study examined predictions based upon the right hemisphere (RH) model, the valence-arousal model, and a recently proposed integrated model (Killgore & Yurgelun-Todd, 2007) of emotion processing by testing immediate recall and recognition memory for positive, negative, and neutral verbal stimuli among 35 right-handed women. Building upon methodologies of previous studies, we found that words presented to the right visual field/left hemisphere (RVF/LH) were recalled and recognized more accurately than words presented to the left visual field/right hemisphere (LVF/RH), and we found significant valence by visual field interactions. Some findings were consistent with one of the models evaluated whereas others were consistent with none of the models evaluated. Our findings suggest that an integration of the RH and valence-arousal models may best account for the findings with regard to hemispheric lateralization of memory for emotional stimuli.