Emotion-body connection dispositions modify the insulae-midcingulate effective connectivity during anger processing.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• The connection between anger and physiological responses is well-established.
• Neuroimaging highlights the insula and midcingulate cortex (MCC) as key brain regions for processing emotions and bodily states.
• Individual differences in how people experience emotions in their bodies remain unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how individual differences in emotion-body connection (inward vs. outward prone) affect brain connectivity during anger processing.
• To explore the neural mechanisms underlying subjective emotional experiences.

Main Methods:

• Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to scan participants while they viewed angry and joyful facial expressions.
• Participants were divided into 'inward prone' and 'outward prone' groups based on their emotion-body connection disposition.
• Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) was employed to analyze information flow between brain regions.

Main Results:

• The inward-prone group showed selective activation in the bilateral insula and right MCC during anger.
• The outward-prone group exhibited greater activation in the precuneus during joy.
• DCM revealed excitatory modulation of insula-MCC connectivity by anger in the inward group, and inhibitory modulation in the outward group.

Conclusions:

• Individual differences in body-centered emotional experience significantly modulate brain network connectivity during anger.
• The findings contribute to understanding neurovisceral integration and how the insula and MCC integrate affective and bodily information.