Automatic emotion processing as a function of trait emotional awareness: an fMRI study

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology

Background:

• The relationship between reflective emotional awareness and implicit affective reactions remains unclear.
• Previous research has not investigated automatic brain reactivity to emotional stimuli based on trait emotional awareness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate automatic brain reactivity to emotional stimuli in relation to trait emotional awareness.
• To determine if emotional awareness influences implicit affective shifts.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) to assess emotional awareness.
• Presented masked happy, angry, fearful, and neutral facial expressions to 46 healthy participants.
• Assessed implicit affectivity shifts using a word-rating task during fMRI scanning.

Main Results:

• Higher trait emotional awareness correlated with increased brain activation in areas including the amygdala, somatosensory cortex, and anterior cingulate gyrus in response to happy faces.
• LEAS scores positively correlated with implicit affect shifts triggered by happy faces.
• Individuals with high emotional awareness showed greater activation in emotion processing and simulation brain regions.

Conclusions:

• High emotional awareness is linked to stronger affective reactivity and neural activation during the perception of positive emotional expressions.
• Trait emotional awareness may involve enhanced automatic positive affective resonance with others.