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

该奖项是美国国家科学基金会社会、行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金（SPRF）计划的一部分。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事业准备有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。SPRF奖励包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行为期两年的培训，并鼓励博士后进行独立研究。美国国家科学基金会寻求促进科学界各阶层的科学家，包括那些未被充分代表的群体的科学家，参与其研究项目和活动；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的一个重要的专业发展阶段。每个博士后必须解决各自学科领域的重要科学问题。在耶鲁大学迪伦·吉（Dylan Gee）博士的赞助下，这个博士后奖学金奖支持一位早期职业科学家研究支持差异化情绪体验的神经过程。尽管情感和临床科学家已经证明，具体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，但有两个关键的未解问题阻碍了对这一现象的基本理解。首先，什么样的神经机制支持不同的情绪体验，其次，什么样的心理生物学机制解释为什么情绪分化与更好的幸福感相关？目前的项目旨在利用尖端的神经成像和生态瞬间评估（EMA）方法来解决这两个问题。总的来说，本研究旨在阐明支持差异化情绪体验的神经过程，并将这种神经测量与有效的情绪调节联系起来。因此，它旨在促进对人类情感和支持心理健康的多层次机制的基本理解。目前的项目使用联合功能磁共振成像-生态瞬间评估（fMRI-EMA）设计来研究情绪分化的神经基础。成年参与者完成了一项功能磁共振成像任务，在14天的EMA测量之前，他们观看并调节自己对中性、引起悲伤和引起恐惧的图像的反应。参与者每天四次报告他们短暂的负面情绪体验，他们用来调节情绪的策略，以及这些调节尝试减少负面影响的成功程度。情绪分化分数是根据他们的情绪体验的EMA报告计算出来的，神经情绪分化的一种新的测量方法是使用表征相似性分析从fMRI数据中计算出来的。目的1测试当参与者看到悲伤和恐惧刺激时，情绪分化的EMA测量是否跟踪神经差异。目的2检验情绪表征中更大的神经差异是否解释了情绪分化的EMA测量与情绪调节效能之间的关系。总之，这些目标解决了关于(i)大脑如何支持不同的情绪体验和（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的开放性问题。总之，本研究旨在发展情绪分化的研究方法和基本见解，以便在未来的研究中转化为改善心理健康。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值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.