TY - JOUR
T1 - Linking amygdala persistence to real-world emotional experience and psychological well-being
AU - Puccetti, Nikki A.
AU - Schaefer, Stacey M.
AU - van Reekum, Carien M.
AU - Ong, Anthony D.
AU - Almeida, David M.
AU - Ryff, Carol D.
AU - Davidson, Richard J.
AU - Heller, Aaron S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Received June 29, 2020; revised Feb. 3, 2021; accepted Feb. 24, 2021. Author contributions: S.M.S., C.M.v.R., A.D.O., D.M.A., C.D.R., and R.J.D. designed research; S.M.S., C.M.v.R., A.D.O., D.M.A., C.D.R., and R.J.D. performed research; N.A.P. and A.S.H. analyzed data; N.A.P. and A.S.H. wrote the paper. Publicly available data from the MIDUS study were used for this research. Since 1995, the MIDUS study has been funded by the following: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Research Network and National Institute on Aging Grants P01-AG020166 and U19-AG051426. R.J.D. serves on the board of directors for the non-profit organization Healthy Minds Innovations. All other authors declare no competing financial interests. Correspondence should be addressed to Aaron S. Heller at aheller@miami.edu. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1637-20.2021 Copyright © 2021 the authors
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Society for Neuroscience. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/4/21
Y1 - 2021/4/21
N2 - Neural dynamics in response to affective stimuli are linked to momentary emotional experiences. The amygdala, in particular, is involved in subjective emotional experience and assigning value to neutral stimuli. Because amygdala activity persistence following aversive events varies across individuals, some may evaluate subsequent neutral stimuli more negatively than others. This may lead to more frequent and long-lasting momentary emotional experiences, which may also be linked to selfevaluative measures of psychological well-being (PWB). Despite extant links between daily affect and PWB, few studies have directly explored the links between amygdala persistence, daily affective experience, and PWB. To that end, we examined data from 52 human adults (67% female) in the Midlife in the United States study who completed measures of PWB, daily affect, and functional MRI (fMRI). During fMRI, participants viewed affective images followed by a neutral facial expression, permitting quantification of individual differences in the similarity of amygdala representations of affective stimuli and neutral facial expressions that follow. Using representational similarity analysis, neural persistence following aversive stimuli was operationalized as similarity between the amygdala activation patterns while encoding negative images and the neutral facial expressions shown afterward. Individuals demonstrating less persistent activation patterns in the left amygdala to aversive stimuli reported more positive and less negative affect in daily life. Further, daily positive affect served as an indirect link between left amygdala persistence and PWB. These results clarify important connections between individual differences in brain function, daily experiences of affect, and well-being.
AB - Neural dynamics in response to affective stimuli are linked to momentary emotional experiences. The amygdala, in particular, is involved in subjective emotional experience and assigning value to neutral stimuli. Because amygdala activity persistence following aversive events varies across individuals, some may evaluate subsequent neutral stimuli more negatively than others. This may lead to more frequent and long-lasting momentary emotional experiences, which may also be linked to selfevaluative measures of psychological well-being (PWB). Despite extant links between daily affect and PWB, few studies have directly explored the links between amygdala persistence, daily affective experience, and PWB. To that end, we examined data from 52 human adults (67% female) in the Midlife in the United States study who completed measures of PWB, daily affect, and functional MRI (fMRI). During fMRI, participants viewed affective images followed by a neutral facial expression, permitting quantification of individual differences in the similarity of amygdala representations of affective stimuli and neutral facial expressions that follow. Using representational similarity analysis, neural persistence following aversive stimuli was operationalized as similarity between the amygdala activation patterns while encoding negative images and the neutral facial expressions shown afterward. Individuals demonstrating less persistent activation patterns in the left amygdala to aversive stimuli reported more positive and less negative affect in daily life. Further, daily positive affect served as an indirect link between left amygdala persistence and PWB. These results clarify important connections between individual differences in brain function, daily experiences of affect, and well-being.
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U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1637-20.2021
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1637-20.2021
M3 - Article
C2 - 33753544
AN - SCOPUS:85105038729
VL - 41
SP - 3721
EP - 3730
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
SN - 0270-6474
IS - 16
ER -