Localized or diffuse: a volumetric investigation of the relation between prefrontal cortical regions and the habitual engagement of cognitive reappraisal

Emotion;Individual differences;Neuroimaging;Neuroanatomy;Personality

Moore, Matthew Stephen ; Dolcos ; Florin

关键词: Emotion;    Individual differences;    Neuroimaging;    Neuroanatomy;    Personality;   

Others  :  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/88318/MOORE-THESIS-2015.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

美国|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Despite extensive functional brain imaging research pointing to the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in cognitive reappraisal, the structural correlates of habitual engagement of reappraisal are unclear. Functional brain imaging studies of reappraisal have shown broad engagement of bilateral middle frontal cortex (MFC) and left superior frontal cortex (SFC), and specific engagement of the right SFC. However, previous volumetric studies have not identified clear associations between reappraisal and these regions. This discrepancy between functional and structural studies suggests that the broad functional engagement associated with reappraisal might not be detectable at a structural level using highly localized volumetric measures. The present study addressed this issue by assessing the relation between reappraisal and grey matter volume in the MFC and SFC, using methods that allow both broad/diffuse and specific/localized measures. As predicted, results were consistent with diffuse volumetric associations with reappraisal in the right MFC and left SFC, and a localized volumetric association in the right SFC, thus resolving the seeming discrepancy between functional and structural studies of reappraisal. Overall, the present study provides novel evidence supporting the idea that functional engagement related to transient manipulations of reappraisal can be linked to structural associations related to the habitual engagement of similar operations, within the same brain regions.