Using joint experience-sampling and fMRI methods to understand how the brain supports differentiated emotional experiences

该奖项是作为NSF社会、行为和经济学博士后研究奖学金(SPRF)计划的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门和政府的科学职业生涯培养有前途的、早期职业博士水平的科学家。SPRF奖项包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。国家科学基金会致力于促进科学界所有阶层的科学家参与其研究方案和活动，包括那些来自代表性不足的群体的科学家；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的一个重要水平。每个博士后研究员都必须解决推动各自学科领域向前发展的重要科学问题。在耶鲁大学Dylan Gee博士的赞助下，这一博士后奖学金奖项支持一位早期职业科学家研究支持差异化情感体验的神经过程。尽管情感科学家和临床科学家已经证明，明确识别一个人的情绪的能力(一种称为情绪区分的技能)与心理健康广泛相关，但有两个关键的尚未回答的问题阻碍了对这一现象的基本理解。首先，是什么神经机制支持差异化的情绪体验，其次，是什么心理生物学机制解释了为什么情绪差异化与更好的幸福感相关？目前的项目旨在使用尖端的神经成像和生态瞬时评估(EMA)方法来解决这两个问题。总体而言，本研究旨在阐明支持不同情绪体验的神经过程，并将这种神经措施与有效的情绪调节联系起来。因此，它的目的是促进对人类情感的基本理解和支持心理健康的多层次机制。目前的项目使用联合功能磁共振成像-生态瞬间评估(fMRI-EMA)设计来研究情绪区分的神经基础。成年参与者完成一项fMRI任务，在14天的EMA测量之前，他们观看并调节他们对中性、悲伤和恐惧诱导的图像的反应。参与者每天四次报告他们短暂的负面情绪经历，他们用来调节情绪的策略，以及这些调节尝试如何成功地减少负面情绪。情绪分化分数是从他们的情绪体验的EMA报告中计算出来的，而一种新的神经情绪分化的衡量标准是使用代表性相似性分析从fMRI数据中计算出来的。目标1测试当参与者看到悲伤和恐惧刺激时，情绪分化的EMA测量是否跟踪神经的不同。目的2检验情绪表征上较大的神经差异性是否解释情绪分化的EMA测量与情绪调节效能之间的关系。总而言之，这些目标解决了以下悬而未决的问题：(I)大脑如何支持不同的情绪体验，以及(Ii)将高情绪分化与更好的情绪调节(心理健康的关键组成部分)联系起来的神经生物学途径。总之，这项研究旨在开发关于情绪差异的研究方法和基本见解，可以在未来的研究中转化为改善心理健康。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Dylan Gee at Yale University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist in examining the neural processes that support differentiated emotional experiences. Although affective and clinical scientists have shown that the ability to specifically identify one’s emotions (a skill called emotion differentiation) is widely associated with mental health, there are two key unanswered questions that that stymie basic understanding of this phenomenon. First, what neural mechanisms support differentiated emotional experiences, and second, what psychobiological mechanisms explain why emotion differentiation is associated with better well-being? The current project aims to address both of these questions using cutting-edge neuroimaging and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods. Overall, this study aims to clarify the neural processes that support differentiated emotional experiences and connect this neural measure to effective emotion regulation. As such, it aims to advance both basic understanding of human emotion and the multilevel mechanisms that support psychological well-being. The current project uses a joint functional magnetic resonance imaging – ecological momentary assessment (fMRI-EMA) design to investigate the neural bases of emotion differentiation. Adult participants complete an fMRI task in which they view and regulate their responses to neutral, sadness-inducing, and fear-inducing images before 14 days of EMA measures. Four times each day, participants report on their momentary experiences of negative emotions, the strategies they use to regulate their emotions, and how successfully those regulation attempts reduce negative affect. Emotion differentiation scores are computed from their EMA reports of emotional experiences, and a novel measure of neural emotion differentiation is computed from fMRI data using representational similarity analyses. Aim 1 tests whether the EMA measure of emotion differentiation tracks neural dissimilarity when participants view sad vs. fear stimuli. Aim 2 tests whether greater neural dissimilarity in emotion representation explains the relationship between the EMA measure of emotion differentiation and emotion regulation efficacy. Together, these aims address open questions about (i) how the brain supports differentiated emotional experiences and (ii) the neurobiological pathways that connect high emotion differentiation with better emotion regulation (a key component of mental health). Together, this study aims to develop research methods and basic insights about emotion differentiation that can be translated in future research to improve psychological well-being.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.