Differences in basic psychological needs-related resting-state functional connectivity between individuals with high
Joon Hee Kwon1, Hesun Erin Kim1, Joohan Kim2
1Institute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Neuroscience Letters
|March 6, 2021
Summary
Life satisfaction influences how basic psychological needs connect with brain activity in reward and emotion regulation. High life satisfaction shows distinct neural patterns compared to low life satisfaction.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychology
Background:
- Basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence, relatedness) are linked to life satisfaction.
- Neural mechanisms of reward processing and emotion regulation may differ based on life satisfaction levels.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how basic psychological needs associate with functional connectivity in reward and emotion regulation circuits.
- To compare these associations between individuals with high and low life satisfaction.
Main Methods:
- Resting-state fMRI scans were conducted on 83 young adults, divided into high life satisfaction (HLS) and low life satisfaction (LLS) groups.
- Seed-to-voxel analysis focused on reward and emotion regulation areas (NAcc, mOFC, sgACC, insula, amygdala).
- Analysis of covariance tested group differences in the association between psychological needs and functional connectivity.
Main Results:
- HLS group showed increased NAcc-vmPFC connectivity with higher autonomy, unlike the LLS group.
- sgACC-vmPFC connectivity increased with relatedness in HLS, but decreased in LLS.
- Connectivity patterns between NAcc/sgACC and other brain regions varied significantly between HLS and LLS groups based on competence and relatedness.
Conclusions:
- Perceived life satisfaction modulates the relationship between neural mechanisms for reward/emotion regulation and psychological needs.
- Psychological need satisfaction appears to exert a differential emotional impact via opposing brain mechanisms in individuals with high versus low life satisfaction.
Keywords:
Basic psychological needsEmotion regulationLife satisfactionResting-state functional connectivityReward processingMore Related Videos
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