The role of the cerebellum in unconsciuos and conscious processing of emotions: a review

Studies from the past three decades have demonstrated that there is cerebellar involvement in the emotional domain. Emotional processing in humans requires both unconscious and conscious mechanisms. A significant amount of evidence indicates that the cerebellum is one of the cerebral structures that subserve emotional processing, although conflicting data have been reported on its function in unconscious and conscious mechanisms. This review discusses the available clinical, neuroimaging and neurophysiological data on this issue. We also propose a model in which the cerebellum acts as a mediator between the internal state and external environment for the unconscious and conscious levels of emotional processing

An asymmetric inhibition model of hemispheric differences in emotional processing

Two relatively independent lines of research have addressed the role of the prefrontal cortex in emotional processing. The first examines hemispheric asymmetries in frontal function; the second focuses on prefrontal interactions between cognition and emotion. We briefly review each perspective and highlight inconsistencies between them. We go on to describe an alternative model that integrates approaches by focusing on hemispheric asymmetry in inhibitory executive control processes. The Asymmetric Inhibition Model proposes that right lateralized executive control inhibits processing of positive or approach-related distractors, and left-lateralized control inhibits negative or withdrawal-related distractors. These complementary processes allow us to maintain and achieve current goals in the face of emotional distraction. We conclude with a research agenda that uses the model to generate novel experiments that will advance our understanding of both hemispheric asymmetries and cognition-emotion interactions

Are there cross-cultural differences in emotional processing and social problem-solving?

Emotional processing and social problem-solving are important for mental well-being. For example, impaired emotional processing is linked with depression and psychosomatic problems. However, little is known about cross-cultural differences in emotional processing and social problem-solving and whether these constructs are linked. This study examines whether emotional processing and social problem-solving differs between Western (British) and Eastern European (Polish) cultures. Participants (N = 172) completed questionnaires assessing both constructs. Emotional processing did not differ according to culture, but Polish participants reported more effective social problem-solving abilities than British participants. Poorer emotional processing was also found to relate to poorer social problem-solving. Possible societal reasons for the findings and the implications of the findings for culture and clinical practice are discussed

Cerebral differences in explicit and implicit emotional processing - An fMRI study

The processing of emotional facial expression is a major part of social communication and understanding. In addition to explicit processing, facial expressions are also processed rapidly and automatically in the absence of explicit awareness. We investigated 12 healthy subjects by presenting them with an implicit and explicit emotional paradigm. The subjects reacted significantly faster in implicit than in explicit trials but did not differ in their error ratio. For the implicit condition increased signals were observed in particular in the thalami, the hippocampi, the frontal inferior gyri and the right middle temporal region. The analysis of the explicit condition showed increased blood-oxygen-level-dependent signals especially in the caudate nucleus, the cingulum and the right prefrontal cortex. The direct comparison of these 2 different processes revealed increased activity for explicit trials in the inferior, superior and middle frontal gyri, the middle cingulum and left parietal regions. Additional signal increases were detected in occipital regions, the cerebellum, and the right angular and lingual gyrus. Our data partially confirm the hypothesis of different neural substrates for the processing of implicit and explicit emotional stimuli. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel

Telomere length as a predictor of emotional processing in the brain

Shorter telomere length (TL) has been associated with the development of mood disorders as well as abnormalities in brain morphology. However, so far, no studies have considered the role TL may have on brain function during tasks relevant to mood disorders. In this study, we examine the relationship between TL and functional brain activation and connectivity, while participants (n = 112) perform a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) facial affect recognition task. Additionally, because variation in TL has a substantial genetic component we calculated polygenic risk scores for TL to test if they predict face-related functional brain activation. First, our results showed that TL was positively associated with increased activation in the amygdala and cuneus, as well as increased connectivity from posterior regions of the face network to the ventral prefrontal cortex. Second, polygenic risk scores for TL show a positive association with medial prefrontal cortex activation. The data support the view that TL and genetic loading for shorter telomeres, influence the function of brain regions known to be involved in emotional processing

Neuroimaging in Functional Movement Disorders.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Functional movement disorders are common and disabling causes of abnormal movement control. Here, we review the current state of the evidence on the use of neuroimaging in Functional movement disorders, particularly its role in helping to unravel the pathophysiology of this enigmatic condition. RECENT FINDINGS: In recent years, there has been a shift in thinking about functional movement disorder, away from a focus on high-level psychological precipitants as in Freudian conversion theories, or even an implicit belief they are 'put-on' for secondary gain. New research has emphasised novel neurobiological models incorporating emotional processing, self-representation and agency. Neuroimaging has provided new insights into functional movement disorders, supporting emerging neurobiological theories implicating dysfunctional emotional processing, self-image and sense of agency. Recent studies have also found subtle structural brain changes in patients with functional disorders, arguing against a strict functional/structural dichotomy

Psychopathy and emotional processing

In deze studie is onderzocht of een verstoorde emotieverwerking een discriminerende factor is tussen psychopathie, gemeten met Hare’s (Hare, 1991) Psychopathy Checklist, en een antisociale persoonlijkheidsstoornis (ASPS), geclassificeerd volgens de Diagnostical and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994)

Emotional processing in eating disorders

Research into emotional processing in eating disorders (ED) is still very much in its infancy. Milligan and Waller (2000), Waller et al (2003) and others have shown that there is difficulty with the emotion of anger, especially in its expression. Whilst others (e.g. Troop et al, 2000) have demonstrated an increased sensitivity for disgust with an ED population. In recent years, there has been significant development in CBT models of eating disorders; in particular, bulimia nervosa and these models have started to suggest that eating disorder symptomatology acts as an emotional regulator (e.g. Cooper et al, 2004; Waller et al, 2007). Although these models are a useful start in understanding emotions in eating, there is a lack of a theoretical understanding of why people with eating disorders have particular difficulties with certain emotions. This thesis presented a detailed consideration of the literature that has attempted to understand the relationship between emotions and eating disorder symptomatology by proposing a new model of eating disorders that is based upon the recent theoretical developments in emotional processing (i.e. SPAARS model, Power and Dalgleish, 1997, 1999). This SPAARS-ED model was used as the theoretical backdrop for the thesis, and the data from the four studies were designed to test some of the key hypotheses stemming from the model. The first study was a grounded theory study that investigated perceptions of the basic emotions and the developmental histories of emotions within a group of 11 people with severe anorexia nervosa. The results highlighted themes of anger and sadness being suppressed, and were often regarded as being 'toxic'. Furthermore, themes were also explored that focused on metaemotional skills and participants recollections of how their parents, peers and caregivers used to respond to their emotions. The second study directly tested the theoretical idea of 'coupled emotions', and this study found data that demonstrated increased levels of disgust following an anger induction for people with bulimic symptoms, in comparison to control participants. The third study was a survey based study that quantitatively looked at both the predictive power of each of the basic emotions for disordered eating patterns, and also how certain emotion response styles from carers (e.g. punitive, dismissive, etc towards an emotion) were related to disorder eating. The results showed that anger and sadness predicted eating disorder symptoms, and the effect was large. However, there were no significant associations between emotion response styles and disordered eating.The final study was a hybrid study that was based on the two quantitative studies in this thesis. In a cross sectional study, a group of participants with anorexia nervosa were compared to control participants. This study had two parts, with the first part focusing on emotion regulation styles and core beliefs, whilst the second part repeated and developed the experimental methodology from study 2. The results showed that people with anorexia nervosa had significantly more internal dysfunctional emotion regulation style, and significantly more negative beliefs about the self and others when compared to controls. Interestingly these core beliefs patterns were significantly correlated with state emotions, with negative other beliefs being correlated to state anger, whilst negative internal beliefs were significantly correlated to state emotions of disgust and sadness. The second part of this study showed that, following an induced anger emotion, people with anorexia nervosa showed significantly higher levels of disgust, and estimation of body size. This was taken as further evidence of a potential coupled emotion effect, between anger and disgust within eating disorders. These findings were then discussed, in relation to both the SPAARS-ED model, and the general literature

Master of Science

thesisThe objective of this study was to examine how emotional processing (i.e., understanding, acknowledging, and accepting emotions) moderated self-control (i.e., regulation of thoughts, emotion, and behavior) in explaining diabetes-specific self-regulation and metabolic control in adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Strong emotional processing was expected to confer regulatory benefit and promote adaptive outcomes, especially so for adolescents with poor self-control. General self-control capacity, and particularly self-control combined with emotional processing, may also underlie the relation of diabetes-specific management self-competence, negative affect, and adherence, and metabolic control. Self-report measures of self-control, emotional processing, diabetes management self-competence, diabetes-specific negative affect, adherence, and measured HbA1c were obtained from 137 adolescents with type 1 diabetes (M age = 13.48 years). Emotional processing significantly moderated the relation of self-control and metabolic control. Adolescents with high emotional processing were buffered from the effects of poor self-control. Adolescents with low self-control and low emotional processing had the poorest metabolic control. This interaction predicted metabolic control better than diabetes-specific self-regulatory constructs, and mediated the relations between those constructs and metabolic control. These findings suggest the importance of considering strength of emotional processing and self-control in the study of diabetes-specific self-regulation and health outcomes in adolescents with type 1 diabetes