Fast Temporal Dynamics of Human Brain Activity During Emotional Processing

情绪会影响我们对世界和人的理解，比如，当有人对我们微笑，或者当我们了解到关于某人的新信息时，我们对这个人的看法会发生什么变化？考虑到对他人做出反应的日常相关性，我们需要清楚地了解我们的大脑如何对他人产生情绪反应，以及这些情绪如何改变我们对他人的看法。在过去，人类大脑中情绪处理的知识主要来自行为，神经成像和其他方法。虽然这些工具教会了我们很多，但我们仍然没有关于大脑中特定神经元群体在响应情绪时被激活和协调的准确信息。事实上，我们还没有完全理解人类大脑对情绪刺激和中性刺激的反应。研究人员Parvizi和Gross博士将在有意识的人类受试者中使用行为，心理生理，颅内EEG（iEEG）和直接皮层刺激（DCS）来测试情绪对大脑活动的影响，特别是在选择性地对情绪和面部做出反应的大脑区域。沿着大脑活动，他们还将收集心脏和瞳孔活动，然后使用杏仁核的DCS可逆地改变这种情绪生成过程。本研究将有助于我们进一步了解情绪产生的机制，以及这些情绪过程对人类视觉感知系统的影响。所获得的知识将为未来的研究奠定基础，以研究临床疾病和回路水平异常如何影响人类大脑的情绪处理。这项合作研究还将为学生和研究员提供独特的培训机会，学习涉及心理生理学，iEEG和DCS的多模式方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

Emotions color our interpretations of the world and the people in it. For instance, when someone smiles at us or when we learn new information about someone, how does our perception of that person change? Given the everyday relevance of reacting to people, we need a clear understanding of how our brains generate emotional reactions towards others and how these emotions change our perceptions of others. In the past, knowledge of emotional processing in the human brain has largely been derived from behavioral, neuroimaging, and other methods. Though these tools have taught us much, we still do not have precise information about how quickly specific neuronal populations in the brain are activated and coordinated in response to emotion. Indeed, we do not yet fully understand how the human brain responds to emotional versus neutral stimuli. The researchers, Drs. Parvizi and Gross, will use behavioral, psychophysiological, intracranial EEG (iEEG), and direct cortical stimulation (DCS) in conscious human subjects to test the effects of emotion on brain activity, especially in areas of the brain that selectively respond to emotion and to faces. Along with brain activity, they will also collect cardiac and pupillary activity, and then use DCS of the amygdala to reversibly alter this emotion-generative process. This research is expected to advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying emotion generation, and the effects of these affective processes on the human visual perceptual system. Knowledge gained will set the stage for future research to investigate how clinical disorders and circuit-level abnormalities influence emotional processing in the human brain. This collaborative research will also offer unique training opportunities for students and fellows to learn multimodal approaches involving psychophysiology, iEEG, and DCS.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.