This research was supported by a Young Investigator Award from the US National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression and a CPRF Award from the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation (to FD). ED was supported by a Wyeth-CIHR Post-Doctoral Fellowship. The authors wish to thank Peter Seres for assistance with fMRI data collection and Kristina Suen for assistance with data analysis.

1. Collection and Selection of Memories, Imaged Task, and Experimental Protocol
Collection of the Emotional AMs
<ol>
 <li>Personal memories are elicited from each participant during an interview performed prior to the fMRI session, similar to the procedure employed for non-emotional AMs (e.g., 11, 12). Unlike most previous techniques, our AMQ is specifically constructed to target the assessment of emotional personal episodes and their recollective properties. A commonly used method in behavioural research and adapted for use in neuroimaging studies involves the Crovitz and Schiffman technique 13-15, where subjects remember specific, personally experienced events in response to cue words. A photo-paradigm has been also used to investigate AMs in more controlled settings in fMRI studies 16, 17. However, these techniques do not typically target examination of the emotional component of AMs, that are matched in terms of recollective qualities.</li>
 <li>Our AMQ comprises a list of 115 verbal cues for distinct life events (e.g., the birth of a family member, the death of a relative), which is a combination and extension of lists used by others 18, 19. For each cue, participants are asked to remember a unique episode from their life, that occurred in a specific place and time (e.g., one instance when s/he played in a specific basketball game), rather than remembering general or repeated events (e.g., playing high school basketball). Importantly, the memories must be accompanied by the recollection of being personally involved, rather than hearing about them from others.</li>
 <li>Upon recollection, participants are asked to provide a brief description of the memory (see Figure 1), which will then be used as a personalized memory cue during fMRI scanning (participants are na&iuml;ve to the specific purpose of the pre-scanning interview).</li>
 <li>Each memory is also dated and rated on six Likert scales 20, 21, to assess its phenomenological properties (see Figure 1). Our scales included emotional valence (using a 7-point scale: -3 = very negative, 0 = neutral, +3 = very positive), emotional intensity, personal significance, the amount of contextual details, the amount of visuo-perceptual details (i.e., vividness), and the frequency of retrieval (all of the latter using a 7-point scale: 1 = not at all, 7 = extremely).</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 1" src="/files/ftp_upload/2396/2396fig1.jpg" /> 
Figure 1. Illustration of AMQ Administration. For each cue, participants remember and briefly describe a specific event, and then date and rate it on 6 scales.
Selection of Highly Emotional AMs
<ol start="5">
 <li>Next, the 40 most emotional memories (20 positive and 20 negative) are selected for each participant, based on the ratings provided on the AMQ (i.e., rated 2 or 3 and -2 or -3, respectively). The positive and negative AMs are then matched in terms of age and phenomenological properties, to ensure that any differences in brain activity during recollection are not confounded by differences in these basic properties.</li>
 <li>If necessary, the descriptions of the selected memory cues are slightly adapted to be matched as closely as possible for length and grammatical complexity; it is also recommended to select a few additional memories for practice purposes.</li>
</ol>
The fMRI Task
<ol start="7">
 <li>The fMRI task is designed to allow comparison of the AM task with a semantic memory (SM) control task; the AM and SM retrieval trials have a similar general structure (see Figure 2A). We used CIGAL (<a href="http://www.nitrc.org/projects/cigal/">http://www.nitrc.org/projects/cigal/</a>) for stimulus presentation in the MR scanner, but other stimulus presentation software may also be used.</li>
 <li>The AM task is based on the personalised cues collected prior to scanning. Each trial begins with a cue that triggers AM recollection, which is indicated by the participant with a button press. Then, participants continue remembering details of the event until cued again to rate the recollected memory (Figure 2B).</li>
 <li>The SM task involves generation of exemplars from different semantic categories (e.g., musical instruments, sports), which like AM retrieval involves search in memory and extended retrieval time 22 (Figure 2B). After a semantic category is cued, participants press a button as soon as they start recalling exemplars from that category and then continue recalling until cued again for memory ratings.</li>
</ol>
<img alt="Figure 2" src="/files/ftp_upload/2396/2396fig2a.jpg" /> 
<img alt="Figure 2" src="/files/ftp_upload/2396/2396fig2b.jpg" /> 
Figure 2. Structure of the fMRI Trials. A. General Structure of the trials. B. Specific structure of the AM and SM trials.
<ol start="10">
 <li>In addition to the basic comparison of AM and SM trials, other manipulations can also be involved. For instance, the focus of the AM retrieval can be manipulated by directing the participants to pay attention to emotional or non-emotional aspects of the remembered events (Figure 2B). This manipulation allows investigation of how retrieval focus may influence the experiencing of AMs and any associated changes in the associated neural correlates.</li>
 <li>Each AM or SM trial is followed by rating screens presented in a counterbalanced order, using 5-point Likert scales (see Figure 2B).</li>
 <li>The experiment is split into runs/blocks of trials both to allow participants time to rest and to avoid data loss in case of equipment malfunction. Run order is counterbalanced between participants. Each run begins with six seconds of fixation, to allow stabilization of the MR signal. The AM and SM conditions are presented in a random order separated by an inter-trial interval of variable duration (5-9 sec, average = 7sec.).</li>
</ol>
2. Preparing the Subject for the Scan
All participants provide written informed consent prior to running the experimental protocol, which is approved by an Ethics Board. Typically, to avoid confounds in the lateralization of brain activations, scanned participants are right-handed.
Prior to Entering the Scanning Room
<ol>
 <li>On the day of scanning, participants' current affective state is assessed 23, to control for the effect of mood on recollection of emotional AMs. In conjunction with post-scanning assessments, these initial evaluations can also be used to screen for changes in mood as a result of the study participation, and as covariates in the fMRI analyses to investigate brain activations influenced by current states. Similarly, assessments of personality traits can also be made (e.g., neuroticism), to investigate their possible biases on the AM task 24 and the associated neural correlates.</li>
 <li>Prior to the scan, participants are informed in detail of the scan procedures, and are given specific instructions for the behavioral task. Participants also complete a short practice session, to familiarize themselves with the task.</li>
</ol>
Entering the Scanning Room
<ol start="3">
 <li>Participants are instructed to lie supine on the scanning bed, and are provided with additional head cushioning, to ensure comfort during the scan and to minimize movement. To further minimize head movement, the non-adhesive side of a length of tape may be wrapped lightly around the subjects' forehead. Subjects are given ear protection as well as isolation headphones to communicate with the experimenter during the MRI scan.</li>
 <li>Subject's right hand is positioned comfortably on the response box, thus allowing the left hand to be used for support or for other measurements (e.g., skin conductance responses). An emergency stop button is placed nearby so that the subject may indicate any urgent need to stop the scanner.</li>
 <li>Before starting data collection, it is critical to make sure that subjects can see the screen projection clearly for stimulus presentation and that the response buttons work properly.</li>
</ol>
3. Data Recording and Processing
Scanning Parameters
We collected MRI data using a 1.5 Tesla Siemens Sonata scanner for MRI recordings. Anatomical images were 3D MPRAGE anatomical series (repetition time (TR) = 1600 ms, echo time (TE) = 3.82 ms; number of slices = 112; voxel size = 1x1x1 mm), and functional images were series of 28 functional slices, acquired axially using an echoplanar sequence (TR = 2000 ms; TE = 40 ms; field of view FOV = 256x256 mm; voxel size = 4x4x4 mm), thus allowing for full-brain coverage.
Data Analysis
We used Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM: <a href="http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm">http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm</a>) in combination with in-house Matlab-based tools. Pre-processing involved typical steps: quality assurance, TR alignment, motion correction, co-registration, normalization, and smoothing (8 mm3 Kernel). Individual and group-level statistical analyses may involve comparisons of brain activity according to memory type (AM vs. SM), emotional valence (positive vs. negative), and retrieval focus (emotional vs. non-emotional content).
4. Representative Results
<img alt="Figure 3" src="/files/ftp_upload/2396/2396fig3.jpg" /> 
Figure 3. Neural Correlates of AM Retrieval. Validating the present protocol, retrieval of AMs yielded increased activity in the AM retrieval network 4, 25, including hippocampal areas (a), involved in general memory retrieval, the medial prefrontal cortex (b), associated with personal engagement, the cuneus/precuneus regions and parieto-occipital junction (c, e, respectively), associated with processing visuo-spatial representation, and the frontal-temporal junction (d), involved in affective AM retrieval; similar effects to the latter were also found in the amygdala (not shown). The "activation maps" are superimposed on high resolution brain images displayed in coronal (left panel) and saggital (middle and right panels) views; the color bars indicate the gradient of t values of the activation maps (p &lt; 0.005, 10 contiguous voxels 26), reflecting brain activity time-locked to the onsets of the memory cues. The line graphs illustrate the time courses of the fMRI signal (% signal change), for each trial type and TR (1 TR = 2 seconds). L = Left; R = Right.

<ol>
	<li>Markowitsch, H. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Autobiographical+memory:+a+biocultural+relais+between+subject+and+environment.">Autobiographical memory: a biocultural relais between subject and environment.</a> Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 258, 98-103 (2008).</li><li>D'Argembeau, A., Van der Linden, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Remembering+pride+and+shame:+self-enhancement+and+the+phenomenology+of+autobiographical+memory.">Remembering pride and shame: self-enhancement and the phenomenology of autobiographical memory.</a> Memory. 16, 538-547 (2008).</li><li>Rubin, D. C., Berntsen, D., Bohni, M. K. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+memory-based+model+of+posttraumatic+stress+disorder:+evaluating+basic+assumptions+underlying+the+PTSD+diagnosis.">A memory-based model of posttraumatic stress disorder: evaluating basic assumptions underlying the PTSD diagnosis.</a> Psychol Rev. 115, 985-1011 (2008).</li><li>Jacques, P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Functional+neuroimaging+of+autobiographical+memory.">Functional neuroimaging of autobiographical memory.</a> Trends Cogn Sci. 11, 219-227 (2007).</li><li>Moscovitch, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Functional+neuroanatomy+of+remote+episodic,+semantic+and+spatial+memory:+a+unified+account+based+on+multiple+trace+theory.">Functional neuroanatomy of remote episodic, semantic and spatial memory: a unified account based on multiple trace theory.</a> J Anat. 207, 35-66 (2005).</li><li>Dolcos, F., LaBar, K. S., Cabeza, R., Uttl, B., Ohta, N., Siegenthaler, A. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> Memory and emotion: Interdisciplinary perspectives. , 107-134 (2006).</li><li>Dolcos, F., Denkova, E. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Neural+Correlates+of+Encoding+Emotional+Memories:+A+Review+of+Functional+Neuroimaging+Evidence.">Neural Correlates of Encoding Emotional Memories: A Review of Functional Neuroimaging Evidence.</a> Cell Science Reviews. 5, 78-122 (2008).</li><li>Dolcos, F. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> The Impact of Emotion on Memory: Evidence from Brain Imaging Studies. , (2010).</li><li>Dolcos, F., Iordan, A. D., Dolcos, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Neural+Correlates+of+Emotion-Cognition+Interactions:+A+Review+of+Evidence+from+Brain+Imaging+Investigations.">Neural Correlates of Emotion-Cognition Interactions: A Review of Evidence from Brain Imaging Investigations.</a> Journal of Cognitive Psychology. , (2011).</li><li>Markowitsch, H. J., Vandekerckhove, M. M., Lanfermann, H., Russ, M. O. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Engagement+of+lateral+and+medial+prefrontal+areas+in+the+ecphory+of+sad+and+happy+autobiographical+memories.">Engagement of lateral and medial prefrontal areas in the ecphory of sad and happy autobiographical memories.</a> Cortex. 39, 643-665 (2003).</li><li>Denkova, E., Botzung, A., Manning, L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Neural+correlates+of+remembering/knowing+famous+people:+an+event-related+fMRI+study.">Neural correlates of remembering/knowing famous people: an event-related fMRI study.</a> Neuropsychologia. 44, 2783-2791 (2006).</li><li>Botzung, A., Denkova, E., Ciuciu, P., Scheiber, C., Manning, L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+neural+bases+of+the+constructive+nature+of+autobiographical+memories+studied+with+a+self-paced+fMRI+design.">The neural bases of the constructive nature of autobiographical memories studied with a self-paced fMRI design.</a> Memory. 16, 351-363 (2008).</li><li>Crovitz, H. F. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=.">.</a> Galton's walk: Methods for the analysis of thinking, intelligence, and creativity. , (1970).</li><li>Crovitz, H. F., Schiffman, H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Frequency+of+episodic+memories+as+a+function+of+their+age.">Frequency of episodic memories as a function of their age.</a> Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society. 4, 517-518 (1974).</li><li>Galton, F. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Psychometric+experiments.">Psychometric experiments.</a> Brain. 2, 149-162 (1879).</li><li>Cabeza, R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Brain+activity+during+episodic+retrieval+of+autobiographical+and+laboratory+events:+an+fMRI+study+using+a+novel+photo+paradigm.">Brain activity during episodic retrieval of autobiographical and laboratory events: an fMRI study using a novel photo paradigm.</a> J Cogn Neurosci. 16, 1583-1594 (2004).</li><li>Gilboa, A., Winocur, G., Grady, C. L., Hevenor, S. J., Moscovitch, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Remembering+our+past:+functional+neuroanatomy+of+recollection+of+recent+and+very+remote+personal+events.">Remembering our past: functional neuroanatomy of recollection of recent and very remote personal events.</a> Cereb Cortex. 14, 1214-1225 (2004).</li><li>Levine, B., Svoboda, E., Hay, J. F., Winocur, G., Moscovitch, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Aging+and+autobiographical+memory:+dissociating+episodic+from+semantic+retrieval.">Aging and autobiographical memory: dissociating episodic from semantic retrieval.</a> Psychol Aging. 17, 677-689 (2002).</li><li>Sharot, T., Riccardi, A. M., Raio, C. M., Phelps, E. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Neural+mechanisms+mediating+optimism+bias.">Neural mechanisms mediating optimism bias.</a> Nature. 450, 102-105 (2007).</li><li>Addis, D. R., Moscovitch, M., Crawley, A. P., McAndrews, M. P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Recollective+qualities+modulate+hippocampal+activation+during+autobiographical+memory+retrieval.">Recollective qualities modulate hippocampal activation during autobiographical memory retrieval.</a> Hippocampus. 14, 752-762 (2004).</li><li>Rubin, D. C., Schrauf, R. W., Greenberg, D. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Belief+and+recollection+of+autobiographical+memories.">Belief and recollection of autobiographical memories.</a> Mem Cognit. 31, 887-901 (2003).</li><li>Greenberg, D. L. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Co-activation+of+the+amygdala,+hippocampus+and+inferior+frontal+gyrus+during+autobiographical+memory+retrieval.">Co-activation of the amygdala, hippocampus and inferior frontal gyrus during autobiographical memory retrieval.</a> Neuropsychologia. 43, 659-674 (2005).</li><li>Watson, D., Clark, L. A., Tellegen, A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Development+and+validation+of+brief+measures+of+positive+and+negative+affect:+the+PANAS+scales.">Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales.</a> J Pers Soc Psychol. 54, 1063-1070 (1988).</li><li>Denkova, E., Dolcos, S., Dolcos, F. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Reliving+Emotional+Personal+Memories:+Affective+Biases+Linked+to+Personality+and+Sex-Related+Differences.">Reliving Emotional Personal Memories: Affective Biases Linked to Personality and Sex-Related Differences.</a> , (2011).</li><li>Svoboda, E., McKinnon, M. C., Levine, B. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+functional+neuroanatomy+of+autobiographical+memory:+a+meta-analysis.">The functional neuroanatomy of autobiographical memory: a meta-analysis.</a> Neuropsychologia. 44, 2189-2208 (2006).</li><li>Lieberman, M. D., Cunningham, W. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Type+I+and+Type+II+error+concerns+in+fMRI+research:+re-balancing+the+scale.">Type I and Type II error concerns in fMRI research: re-balancing the scale.</a> Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 4, 423-428 (2009).</li></ol>

No conflicts of interest declared.

The experimental design introduced here allows investigation of the neural correlates of remembering emotional autobiographical memories. This design has the potential to advance our knowledge of how the brain generates affective biases (positive or negative) in remembering personal memories, and how those biases may be modulated by the retrieval focus (on emotional or non-emotional aspects). This protocol has additional benefits in that it can also be used with clinical populations (e.g., in patients with depression and...

brain imaging investigation of the neural correlates of emotional autobiographical recollection

Recollection of emotional autobiographical memories (AMs) is important to healthy cognitive and affective functioning 1 - remembering positive AMs is associated with increased personal well-being and self-esteem 2, whereas remembering and ruminating on negative AMs may lead to affective disorders 3. Although significant progress has been made in understanding the brain mechanisms underlying AM retrieval in general (reviewed in 4, 5), less is known about the effect of emotion on the subjective re-experience of AMs and the associated neural correlates. This is in part due to the fact that, unlike the investigations of the emotion effect on memory for laboratory-based microevents (reviewed in 6, 7-9), often times AM studies do not have a clear focus on the emotional aspects of remembering personal events (but see 10). Here, we present a protocol that allows investigation of the neural correlates of recollecting emotional AMs using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Cues for these memories are collected prior to scanning by means of an autobiographical memory questionnaire (AMQ), therefore allowing for proper selection of emotional AMs based on their phenomenological properties (i.e., intensity, vividness, personal significance). This protocol can be used in healthy and clinical populations alike.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection at JoVE.com

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection

We present a protocol that allows investigation of the neural correlates of recollecting emotional autobiographical memories, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This protocol can be used with both healthy and clinical participants.

Recollection of emotional autobiographical memories (AMs) is important to healthy cognitive and affective functioning 1 - remembering positive AMs is ...

brain-imaging-investigation-neural-correlates-emotional

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

9.7K Views.  University of Alberta, Edmonton. We present a protocol that allows investigation of the neural correlates of recollecting emotional autobiographical memories, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This protocol can be used with both healthy and clinical participants.

Video: Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotional Autobiographical Recollection

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Observing Virtual Social Interactions

The ability to gauge social interactions is crucial in the assessment of others&#x2019; intentions. Factors such as facial expressions and body language affect our decisions in personal and professional life alike 1. These "friend or foe" judgements are often based on first impressions, which in turn may affect our decisions to "approach or avoid". Previous studies investigating the neural correlates of social cognition tended to use static facial stimuli 2. Here, we illustrate an experimental design in which whole-body animated characters were used in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) recordings. Fifteen participants were presented with short movie-clips of guest-host interactions in a business setting, while fMRI data were recorded; at the end of each movie, participants also provided ratings of the host behaviour. This design mimics more closely real-life situations, and hence may contribute to better understanding of the neural mechanisms of social interactions in healthy behaviour, and to gaining insight into possible causes of deficits in social behaviour in such clinical conditions as social anxiety and autism 3.

This article demonstrates an experimental design in which whole-body animated characters are used in conjunction with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural correlates of observing virtual social interactions.

The ability to gauge social interactions is crucial in the assessment of others&#x2019; intentions. Factors such as facial expressions and body language ...

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

The ability to control/regulate emotions is an important coping mechanism in the face of emotionally stressful situations. Although significant progress has been made in understanding conscious/deliberate emotion regulation (ER), less is known about non-conscious/automatic ER and the associated neural correlates. This is in part due to the problems inherent in the unitary concepts of automatic and conscious processing1. Here, we present a protocol that allows investigation of the neural correlates of both deliberate and automatic ER using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This protocol allows new avenues of inquiry into various aspects of ER. For instance, the experimental design allows manipulation of the goal to regulate emotion (conscious vs. non-conscious), as well as the intensity of the emotional challenge (high vs. low). Moreover, it allows investigation of both immediate (emotion perception) and long-term effects (emotional memory) of ER strategies on emotion processing. Therefore, this protocol may contribute to better understanding of the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation in healthy behaviour, and to gaining insight into possible causes of deficits in depression and anxiety disorders in which emotion dysregulation is often among the core debilitating features.

We present a protocol that allows investigation of the neural correlates of deliberate and automatic emotion regulation, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This protocol can be used in healthy participants, both young and older, as well as in clinical patients.

The ability to control/regulate emotions is an important coping mechanism in the face of emotionally stressful situations. Although significant progress ...

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Memory-Enhancing Effect of Emotion

Emotional events tend to be better remembered than non-emotional events1,2. One goal of cognitive and affective neuroscientists is 
to understand the neural mechanisms underlying this enhancing effect of emotion on memory. A method that has proven particularly influential in the 
investigation of the memory-enhancing effect of emotion is the so-called subsequent memory paradigm (SMP). This method was originally used to investigate the 
neural correlates of non-emotional memories3, and more recently we and others also applied it successfully to studies of emotional memory (reviewed in4, 5-7). 
Here, we describe a protocol that allows investigation of the neural correlates of the memory-enhancing effect of emotion using the SMP in conjunction with 
event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). An important feature of the SMP is that it allows separation of brain activity specifically 
associated with memory from more general activity associated with perception. Moreover, in the context of investigating the impact of emotional stimuli, 
SMP allows identification of brain regions whose activity is susceptible to emotional modulation of both general/perceptual and memory-specific processing. 
This protocol can be used in healthy subjects8-15, as well as in clinical patients where there are alterations in the neural correlates of emotion perception 
and biases in remembering emotional events, such as those suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)16, 17.

We present a protocol that uses functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural correlates of the memory-enhancing effect of emotion. This protocol allows identification of brain activity specifically linked to memory-related processing, contrary to more general perceptual processing, and can be used with healthy and clinical populations.

Emotional events tend to be better remembered than non-emotional events1,2. One goal of cognitive and affective neuroscientists is 
to understand the ...

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Emotions can impact cognition by exerting both enhancing (e.g., better memory for emotional events) and impairing (e.g., increased emotional distractibility) effects (reviewed in 1). Complementing our recent protocol 2 describing a method that allows investigation of the neural correlates of the memory-enhancing effect of emotion (see also 1, 3-5), here we present a protocol that allows investigation of the neural correlates of the detrimental impact of emotion on cognition. The main feature of this method is that it allows identification of reciprocal modulations between activity in a ventral neural system, involved in 'hot' emotion processing (HotEmo system), and a dorsal system, involved in higher-level 'cold' cognitive/executive processing (ColdEx system), which are linked to cognitive performance and to individual variations in behavior (reviewed in 1). Since its initial introduction 6, this design has proven particularly versatile and influential in the elucidation of various aspects concerning the neural correlates of the detrimental impact of emotional distraction on cognition, with a focus on working memory (WM), and of coping with such distraction 7,11, in both healthy 8-11 and clinical participants 12-14.

We present a protocol that allows investigation of the neural mechanisms mediating the detrimental impact of emotion on cognition, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This protocol can be used with both healthy and clinical participants.

Emotions can impact cognition by exerting both enhancing (e.g., better memory for emotional events) and impairing (e.g., increased emotional ...

Exploring the Use of Isolated Expressions and Film Clips to Evaluate Emotion Recognition by People with Traumatic Brain Injury

The current study presented 60 people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 60 controls with isolated facial emotion expressions, isolated vocal emotion expressions, and multimodal (i.e., film clips) stimuli that included contextual cues. All stimuli were presented via computer. Participants were required to indicate how the person in each stimulus was feeling using a forced-choice format. Additionally, for the film clips, participants had to indicate how they felt in response to the stimulus, and the level of intensity with which they experienced that emotion.

This paper describes how to implement a battery of behavioral tasks to examine emotion recognition of isolated facial and vocal emotion expressions, and a novel task using commercial television and film clips to assess multimodal emotion recognition that includes contextual cues.

The current study presented 60 people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and 60 controls with isolated facial emotion expressions, isolated vocal emotion ...

Behavior

Investigating the Neural Mechanisms of Aware and Unaware Fear Memory with fMRI

Pavlovian fear conditioning is often used in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans to investigate the neural substrates of associative learning 1-5. In these studies, it is important to provide behavioral evidence of conditioning to verify that differences in brain activity are learning-related and correlated with human behavior. 
Fear conditioning studies often monitor autonomic responses (e.g. skin conductance response; SCR) as an index of learning and memory 6-8. In addition, other behavioral measures can provide valuable information about the learning process and/or other cognitive functions that influence conditioning. For example, the impact unconditioned stimulus (UCS) expectancies have on the expression of the conditioned response (CR) and unconditioned response (UCR) has been a topic of interest in several recent studies 9-14. SCR and UCS expectancy measures have recently been used in conjunction with fMRI to investigate the neural substrates of aware and unaware fear learning and memory processes 15. Although these cognitive processes can be evaluated to some degree following the conditioning session, post-conditioning assessments cannot measure expectations on a trial-to-trial basis and are susceptible to interference and forgetting, as well as other factors that may distort results 16,17 .
Monitoring autonomic and behavioral responses simultaneously with fMRI provides a mechanism by which the neural substrates that mediate complex relationships between cognitive processes and behavioral/autonomic responses can be assessed. However, monitoring autonomic and behavioral responses in the MRI environment poses a number of practical problems. Specifically, 1) standard behavioral and physiological monitoring equipment is constructed of ferrous material that cannot be safely used near the MRI scanner, 2) when this equipment is placed outside of the MRI scanning chamber, the cables projecting to the subject can carry RF noise that produces artifacts in brain images, 3) artifacts can be produced within the skin conductance signal by switching gradients during scanning, 4) the fMRI signal produced by the motor demands of behavioral responses may need to be distinguished from activity related to the cognitive processes of interest. Each of these issues can be resolved with modifications to the setup of physiological monitoring equipment and additional data analysis procedures. Here we present a methodology to simultaneously monitor autonomic and behavioral responses during fMRI, and demonstrate the use of these methods to investigate aware and unaware memory processes during fear conditioning.

A methodology to investigate the neural mechanisms that support aware and unaware memory processes during fear conditioning is described. This method monitors blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging, skin conductance response, and unconditioned stimulus expectancy during Pavlovian fear conditioning to assess the neural correlates of distinct memory processes.

Pavlovian fear conditioning is often used in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans to investigate the neural substrates ...

Investigating the Function of Deep Cortical and Subcortical Structures Using Stereotactic Electroencephalography: Lessons from the Anterior Cingulate Cortex

Stereotactic Electroencephalography (SEEG) is a technique used to localize seizure foci in patients with medically intractable epilepsy. This procedure involves the chronic placement of multiple depth electrodes into regions of the brain typically inaccessible via subdural grid electrode placement. SEEG thus provides a unique opportunity to investigate brain function. In this paper we demonstrate how SEEG can be used to investigate the role of the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) in cognitive control. We include a description of the SEEG procedure, demonstrating the surgical placement of the electrodes. We describe the components and process required to record local field potential (LFP) data from consenting subjects while they are engaged in a behavioral task. In the example provided, subjects play a cognitive interference task, and we demonstrate how signals are recorded and analyzed from electrodes in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, an area intimately involved in decision-making. We conclude with further suggestions of ways in which this method can be used for investigating human cognitive processes.

Stereotactic Electroencephalography (SEEG) is an operative technique used in epilepsy surgery to help localize seizure foci. It also affords a unique opportunity to investigate brain function. Here we describe how SEEG can be used to investigate cognitive processes in human subjects.

Stereotactic Electroencephalography (SEEG) is a technique used to localize seizure foci in patients with medically intractable epilepsy. This procedure ...

Exploring the Neural Correlates of Cognitive Reappraisal in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using Task-based Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show heightened brain activity in limbic and orbitofrontal regions when confronted with negative emotions, which could be associated with impairments in emotion regulation skills. The ability to regulate emotions is a necessary coping mechanism when facing emotionally distressing situations, and deliberate emotion regulation strategies such as cognitive reappraisal have been extensively studied in the general population. Despite this, little is known about potential deliberate emotion regulation deficits in OCD patients and the associated neural correlates. Here, we describe a protocol to investigate the neural correlates of deliberate emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in OCD patients in comparison to a matched control sample. This protocol follows current gold standards for neuroimaging studies and includes both task activation and connectivity analysis (as well as behavioral data) to allow a more complete investigation. Therefore, we expect it will contribute to expanding the knowledge of the neural correlates of emotion (dys)regulation in OCD, and it could also be applied to explore emotion regulation deficits in other psychiatric disorders.

We introduce a protocol for exploring the neural correlates of a cognitive emotion regulation task, namely cognitive reappraisal, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This protocol was used in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and healthy controls but can also be used in other clinical samples.

Patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) show heightened brain activity in limbic and orbitofrontal regions when confronted with negative ...

Using fMRI to Dissect Moral Judgment

Source: William Brady &#38; Jay Van Bavel&#8212;New York University
In examining the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgments, psychologists and philosophers alike point to the trolley dilemma and the footbridge dilemma. With the trolley dilemma, most people say that it is appropriate to pull a switch to stop a train from hitting five people by diverting it to kill one person. However, with the footbridge dilemma, most people say it is inappropriate to push a large man off of a bridge in order to hit a train (killing him) and stop it from running into five people. Reason would dictate that in both of the foregoing dilemmas, one life should be sacrificed to save five lives. But to many people, pushing the large man just &#8220;feels wrong&#8221; because it triggers more negative emotions than pulling a switch. In this case, emotion seems to trump reason. &#160;
In recent years, psychology and neuroscience have entered the debate over the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgment. Researchers can scan brain activity as individuals make making moral judgments. Research shows that different brain areas associated are active during contemplation of the footbridge dilemma versus the trolley dilemma.
Inspired by Greene, Sommerville, Nystrom, Darley and Cohen, this video demonstrates how to design moral dilemma tasks and integrate them into experiments using using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology.1

Source: William Brady &#38; Jay Van Bavel&#8212;New York University
In examining the roles of reason and emotion in moral judgments, psychologists and ...

Education

JoVE Science Education

Psychology

Social Psychology

Physiological Correlates of Emotion Recognition

Source: Laboratories of Jonas T. Kaplan and Sarah I. Gimbel&#8212;University of Southern California
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls the activity of the body's internal organs and regulates changes in their activity depending on the current environment. The vagus nerve, which innervates many of the internal organs, is an important part of the system. When our brain senses danger, vagal tone is inhibited, leading to a set of changes in the body designed to make us more prepared to fight or flee; for example, our heart rate increases, our pupils dilate, and we breath more quickly. Conversely, when the vagal system is activated, these physiological responses are inhibited, leading to a calmer state. The vagus nerve, then, acts as a kind of "brake" on our arousal. One interesting consequence of this calmer state is that it tends to promote social interaction-when we are not tensed and afraid of our immediate environment we are instead receptive to interacting with others. Poor functioning of this regulatory mechanism, therefore, may be associated with difficulties in social behavior.
One index of autonomic regulation is heart rate variability (HRV). HRV is a measure of how much the gap between one beat and the next varies over time. High HRV means there are continual fluctuations in the heart rate over time, a reflection of successful autonomic regulation. Low HRV means there is consistency of the heart rate over time, a condition associated with poor autonomic regulation. 
In this study we will test the hypothesis that increased HRV is associated with more accurate categorization of emotional stimuli.1,2 Following a study by Park et al., we will measure HRV and test its association on a task that measures skill at perceiving facial emotions.3

Correlating Heart Rate Variability with Emotion Recognition

Source: Laboratories of Jonas T. Kaplan and Sarah I. Gimbel&#8212;University of Southern California
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls the ...