Volitional Control of Anterior Insula Activity Modulates the Response to Aversive Stimuli. A Real-Time Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
Volitional Control of Anterior Insula Activity Modulates the Response to Aversive Stimuli. A Real-Time Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study
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DOI：
10.1016/j.biopsych.2010.04.020
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发表时间：
2010-09-01
影响因子：
10.6
通讯作者：
Birbaumer, Niels
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Caria, Andrea;Sitaram, Ranganatha;Birbaumer, Niels
背景：基于实时功能磁共振成像(RtfMRI)的认知神经科学的一种新方法表明，大脑受限区域神经生理活动的习得调节可以作为观察其对行为影响的独立变量。本研究首次探讨了学习调节左前岛血氧水平依赖(BOLD)反应对视觉情绪刺激知觉的调节作用。方法：对三组受试者(n=27)进行测试：两组分别接受四次rtfMRI训练，分别接受特定(n=9)或非特异性反馈(n=9)的脑岛BOLD反应，一组只使用情绪意象(n=9)而不接受rtfMRI反馈。结果：能够显著增加目标区域黑体信号的受试者对厌恶图片的评价更消极。我们测量了左前岛活动增强与厌恶刺激负价率增加之间的显著相关性。对照组接受非特异性反馈的rtfMRI训练或单独进行情绪表象训练，都不能显著增强左前岛的活动，也没有表现出主观情绪反应的变化。结论：本研究证实了传统的神经成像研究证实了前岛在情绪刺激的显性评估中的关键作用，并表明所采用的方法作为一种潜在的工具应用于情绪障碍的临床应用。
Background: A promising new approach to cognitive neuroscience based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) demonstrated that the learned regulation of the neurophysiological activity in circumscribed brain regions can be used as an independent variable to observe its effects on behavior. Here, for the first time, we investigated the modulatory effect of learned regulation of blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response in the left anterior insula on the perception of visual emotional stimuli.Methods: Three groups of participants (n = 27) were tested:two underwent four rtfMRI training sessions receiving either specific (n = 9) or unspecific feedback (n = 9) of the insula's BOLD response, respectively, and one group used emotional imagery alone (n = 9) without rtfMRI feedback. During training, all groups were required to assess aversive and neutral pictures.Results: Participants able to significantly increase BOLD signal in the target region rated the aversive pictures more negatively. We measured a significant correlation between enhanced left anterior insula activity and increased negative valence ratings of the aversive stimuli. Control groups performing either rtfMRI training with unspecific feedback or an emotional imagery training alone were not able to significantly enhance activity in the left anterior insula and did not show changes in subjective emotional responses.Conclusions: This study corroborates traditional neuroimaging studies demonstrating a critical role of the anterior insula in the explicit appraisal of emotional stimuli and indicates the adopted approach as a potential tool for clinical applications in emotional disorders.