The Relationship between Brain Activation When Anticipating Emotional Stimulus in Uncertain Situations and Harm Avoidance: An fMRI Study
不確実な感情惹起イベント予期時における脳活動と損害回避得点の関連性――fMRIを用いた検討――

Kai MAKITA, Noriaki KANAYAMA, Takuto UYAMA, Maro MACHIZAWA, Takafumi SASAOKA, Shigeto YAMAWAKI
2016 Japanese Journal of Physiological Psychology and Psychophysiology  
Psychological and neuroimaging studies have revealed a close relation between adaptive behaviors and psychiatric disorders as well as functional responses to exposed emotional events. Nevertheless, relation between a trait of harm avoidance and neural reactions to uncertain events is not well studied. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine whether the trait of harm avoidance, as measured by Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), relates to functional
more » ... s in anticipation of uncertain emotional events compared to when upcoming emotional event was certain. Healthy young adult participants (N 17) were exposed to emotional, valence-inducing images preceded by certain or uncertain auditory cues. Compared with emotional certain conditions, harm avoidance score was positively correlated with brain activation in the bilateral insula and the mid-cingulate cortex while no correlations were found for decreased activation. Individuals with high harm avoidance showed excessive activations in these regions. Our results may provide an additional evidence for the possible relations among adaptive behavior, excessive neural responses to uncertain events (taken as negative), and vulnerability to depression and/or anxiety.
doi:10.5674/jjppp.1605ci fatcat:qo33x6butnbuloosbqnqtwrqvm