A fronto-insular network underlies individual variations in anger expression and control.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Psychology
• Brain Imaging

Background:

• Anger is characterized by outward expression (anger-out) and management capacity (anger control).
• Individual differences in anger expression and control are crucial for interpersonal interactions.
• Previous research suggests neural underpinnings for anger regulation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the hypothesis that anger expression and control are negatively correlated.
• To investigate if shared patterns of grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) features in the fronto-temporal brain network predict both anger expression and control.
• To identify specific brain regions involved in anger regulation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized transposed Independent Vector Analysis (tIVA), a data fusion unsupervised machine learning technique.
• Decomposed brain grey and white matter into covarying networks.
• Employed backward regression to predict anger expression and control from brain morphometric features in 212 healthy subjects.

Main Results:

• Confirmed a negative correlation between anger control and anger expression.
• Demonstrated that individual differences in both anger expression and control can be predicted by the same GM-WM network.
• Identified the fronto-temporal network, including frontal regions, insula, temporal regions, and precuneus, as key to anger regulation.
• Found higher GM-WM concentration in this network correlated with increased anger externalization and decreased anger control.

Conclusions:

• Anger control and expression are inversely related.
• Specific morphometric features within a fronto-temporal brain network are associated with individual differences in anger expression and control.
• These findings enhance understanding of the neural basis of anger regulation and its modulation.