Neuroanatomical correlates of emotion reactivity and regulation
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Morphometric studies reveal that the volumes of many brain structures differ between clinical and non-clinical populations. Specifically, populations characterized by affective disturbances related to heightened emotional reactivity and diminished emotion regulation have been found to possess smaller volumes of brain structures involved in emotion reactivity and regulation. I sought to determine whether similar associations would be found between brain structure and trait emotion reactivity and regulation in healthy individuals. Specifically, I predicted that emotion reactivity, as measured by negative affect, would be negatively related to the volume of the ventral anterior cingulate cortex, insula, orbitofrontal cortex, and amygdala, and that emotion regulation, as measured by usage of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal, would be positively related to the volume of the dorsal and ventral anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, cerebellar vermis, and anterior insula. I tested these predictions using two complementary methods, region of interest (ROI) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM). In Study 1, which used a sample of healthy adult women, trait usage of expressive suppression was correlated positively with the volume of the middle frontal gyrus and anterior insula, and negatively with ventral anterior cingulate volume. Trait usage of cognitive reappraisal was correlated positively with the volume of the bilateral dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. All of these correlations were found using both ROI and VBM methods. In Study 2, which used a more diverse sample of healthy males and females ranging in age from 10 to 22, self-reported levels of trait negative affect was correlated negatively with posterior insula volume, although this finding was not confirmed using VBM. Both ROI and VBM revealed that trait suppression usage frequency was correlated positively with right ventral anterior cingulate and anterior insula volume. The strength of the relationship between suppression and anterior insula volume increased as subject age increased. Although no ROIs were found to correlate with trait reappraisal usage frequency, VBM found that reappraisal positively correlated with gray matter clusters in the prefrontal cortex. The findings from this dissertation demonstrate that the structural alterations seen in individuals suffering from mood and anxiety disorders may not result from psychopathology per se, but may instead be on the lower end of the continuum of emotion reactivity, emotion regulation, and associated brain structure.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2011 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Giuliani, Nicole Roven | |
|---|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Psychology | |
| Primary advisor | Gross, James J | |
| Thesis advisor | Gross, James J | |
| Thesis advisor | Knutson, Brian | |
| Thesis advisor | McClure, Samuel M | |
| Advisor | Knutson, Brian | |
| Advisor | McClure, Samuel M |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Nicole Roven Giuliani. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Psychology. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2011. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by Nicole Roven Giuliani
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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