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Published on: September 28, 2018
If it bleeds, it leads: separating threat from mere negativity.
Kestutis Kveraga1, Jasmine Boshyan2, Reginald B Adams3
1Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA, Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115 USA, Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham MA 02453-2728, USA, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802-3103 USA, Department of Psychology, 3210 Tolman Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720 CA, USA, Department of Psychology, 125 Nightingale Hall, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115 USA, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, 02129 USA, and Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Building 901, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002 Israel Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA, Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115 USA, Department of Psychology, Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham MA 02453-2728, USA, Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802-3103 USA, Department of Psychology, 3210 Tolman Hall, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720 CA, USA, Department of Psychology, 125 Nightingale Hall, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, 02115 USA, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, 02129 USA, and Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center, Building 901, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 5290002 Israel kestas@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu.
Negative stimuli can either repel or attract attention. Brain activity patterns in areas like the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex differentiate responses to direct threats versus merely negative images.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Emotion Research
Background:
- Traditional emotion theories often categorize negative stimuli as universally threatening and aversive.
- However, everyday experiences show varied responses, with some negative stimuli attracting curiosity (e.g., car wrecks) and others eliciting aversion (e.g., weapons).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the differential processing of negative visual stimuli based on their perceived threat potential.
- To explore the neural mechanisms underlying attraction versus aversion to negative stimuli.
Main Methods:
- Utilized four categories of visual images: Direct Threat, Indirect Threat, Merely Negative, and Neutral.
- Employed behavioral experiments and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record participant responses and brain activity.
- Analyzed blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes in specific brain regions.
Main Results:
- Participants responded fastest to Direct Threat stimuli and slowest to Merely Negative images.
- Threat images triggered earlier and greater BOLD activation in the amygdala and periaqueductal gray, associated with motivational salience.
- Merely Negative images elicited stronger BOLD signals in the parahippocampal, retrosplenial, and medial prefrontal cortices, linked to contextual association.
Conclusions:
- Negative visual stimuli's impact (repulsion or attraction) depends on their assessed threat potential.
- Dynamic shifts in large-scale brain network activity underlie the evaluation of threat potential in negative stimuli.
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