Individual differences in Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS) primary emotional traits and depressive tendencies.

BACKGROUND: The present study investigated individual differences in the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales (ANPS), representing measures of primary emotional systems, and depressive tendencies in two independent samples. METHODS: In order to be able to find support for a continuum model with respect to the relation of strength in the cross-species "affective neuroscience" taxonomy of primary emotional systems, we investigated ANPS measured personality traits in a psychologically mostly healthy population (n=614 participants) as well as a sample of clinically depressed people (n=55 depressed patients). RESULTS: In both normal and depressed samples robust associations appeared between higher FEAR and SADNESS scores and depressive tendencies. A similar - albeit weaker - association was observed with lower SEEKING system scores and higher depressive tendencies, an effect again seen in both samples. LIMITATIONS: The study is of cross-sectional nature and therefore only associations between primary emotional systems and depressive tendencies were evaluated. CONCLUSIONS: These results show that similar associations between ANPS monitored primary emotional systems and tendencies toward depression can be observed in both healthy and depressed participants. This lends support for a continuum of affective changes accompanying depression, potentially reflecting differences in specific brain emotional system activities in both affectively normal as well as clinically depressed individuals.

Music chills: The eye pupil as a mirror to music's soul.

This study evaluated whether music-induced aesthetic "chill" responses, which typically correspond to peak emotional experiences, can be objectively monitored by degree of pupillary dilation. Participants listened to self-chosen songs versus control songs chosen by other participants. The experiment included an active condition where participants made key presses to indicate when experiencing chills and a passive condition (without key presses). Chills were reported more frequently for self-selected songs than control songs. Pupil diameter was concurrently measured by an eye-tracker while participants listened to each of the songs. Pupil size was larger within specific time-windows around the chill events, as monitored by key responses, than in comparison to pupil size observed during 'passive' song listening. In addition, there was a clear relationship between pupil diameter within the chills-related time-windows during both active and passive conditions, thus ruling out the possibility that chills-related pupil dilations were an artifact of making a manual response. These findings strongly suggest that music chills can be visible in the moment-to-moment changes in the size of pupillary responses and that a neuromodulatory role of the central norepinephrine system is thereby implicated in this phenomenon.

Brain Emotion Systems, Personality, Hopelessness, Self/Other Perception, and Gambling Cognition: A Structural Equation Model.

The aim of this study was to explore the relations between gambling, brain emotion systems, personality, self/other perception, and hopelessness in an Italian community. Dimensions of gambling, positive and negative emotions, self/other perception, personality and hopelessness were assessed in a community sample of 235 adults aged 19-59 years. Two structural models were tested. We found a significant correlation between problem gambling and impulsivity, which in association with aggressivity and negative personality dimensions may help explain the psychopathology factor, i.e. a latent variable involving neurotic personality, hopelessness, high sensation seeking, low metacognitive responsiveness, and disorganized patterns of interpersonal relationships. These results contribute to develop a theoretical framework of gambling in relation with personality factors and provide a new approach for clinical intervention of problem gambling that relies on a solid multidimensional perspective.

Resting-state functional connectivity of antero-medial prefrontal cortex sub-regions in major depression and relationship to emotional intelligence.

BACKGROUND: Major depressive disorder has been associated with abnormal resting-state functional connectivity (FC), especially in cognitive processing and emotional regulation networks. Although studies have found abnormal FC in regions of the default mode network (DMN), no study has investigated the FC of specific regions within the anterior DMN based on cytoarchitectonic subdivisions of the antero-medial pre-frontal cortex (PFC). Studies from different areas in the field have shown regions within the anterior DMN to be involved in emotional intelligence. Although abnormalities in this region have been observed in depression, the relationship between the ventromedial PFC (vmPFC) function and emotional intelligence has yet to be investigated in depressed individuals. METHODS: Twenty-one medication-free, non-treatment resistant, depressed patients and 21 healthy controls underwent a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging session. The participants also completed an ability-based measure of emotional intelligence: the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. FC maps of Brodmann areas (BA) 25, 10 m, 10r, and 10p were created and compared between the two groups. RESULTS: Mixed-effects analyses showed that the more anterior seeds encompassed larger areas of the DMN. Compared to healthy controls, depressed patients had significantly lower connectivity between BA10p and the right insula and between BA25 and the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex. Exploratory analyses showed an association between vmPFC connectivity and emotional intelligence. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that individuals with depression have reduced FC between antero-medial PFC regions and regions involved in emotional regulation compared to control subjects. Moreover, vmPFC functional connectivity appears linked to emotional intelligence.

Top-down versus bottom-up perspectives on clinically significant memory reconsolidation.

Lane et al. are right: Troublesome memories can be therapeutically recontextualized. Reconsolidation of negative/traumatic memories within the context of positive/prosocial affects can facilitate diverse psychotherapies. Although neural mechanisms remain poorly understood, we discuss how nonlinear dynamics of various positive affects, heavily controlled by primal subcortical networks, may be critical for optimal benefits.

Preclinical modeling of primal emotional affects (Seeking, Panic and Play): gateways to the development of new treatments for depression.

Mammalian brains contain at least 7 primal emotional systems--Seeking, Rage, Fear, Lust, Care, Panic and Play (capitalization reflects a proposed primary-process terminology, to minimize semantic confusions and mereological fallacies). These systems help organisms feel affectively balanced (e.g. euthymic) and unbalanced (e.g. depressive, irritable, manic), providing novel insights for understanding human psychopathologies. Three systems are especially important for understanding depression: The separation distress (Panic) system mediates the psychic pain of separation distress (i.e. excessive sadness and grief), which can be counteracted by minimizing Panic arousals (as with low-dose opioids). Depressive dysphoria also arises from reduced brain reward-seeking and related play urges (namely diminished enthusiasm (Seeking) and joyful exuberance (Play) which promote sustained amotivational states). We describe how an understanding of these fundamental emotional circuits can promote the development of novel antidepressive therapeutics--(i) low-dose buprenorphine to counteract depression and suicidal ideation emanating from too much psychic pain (Panic overarousal), (ii) direct stimulation of the Seeking system to counteract amotivational dysphoria, and (iii) the discovery and initial clinical testing of social-joy-promoting molecules derived from the analysis of the Play system.

Neuromodulation of safety and surprise in the early stages of infant development: affective homeostatic regulation in bodily and mental functions.

Developing a sense of internal safety and security depends mainly on others: numerous neuromodulators play a significant role in the homeostatic process, regulating the importance of proximity to a caregiver and experiencing feelings that enable us to regulate our interdependence with our conspecifics since birth. This array of neurofunctional structures have been called the SEPARATION DISTRESS system (now more commonly known as the PANIC/ GRIEF system). This emotional system is mainly involved in the production of depressive symptoms. The disruption of this essential emotional balance leads to the onset of feelings of panic followed by depression. We will focus on the neuropeptides that play a crucial role in social approach behavior in mammals, which enhance prosocial behavior and facilitate the consolidation of social bonds. We propose that most prosocial behaviors are regulated through the specific neuromodulators acting on salient intersubjective stimuli, reflecting an increased sense of inner confidence (safety) in social relationships. This review considers the neurofunctional link between the feelings that may ultimately be at the base of a sense of inner safety and the central neuromodulatory systems. This link may shed light on the clinical implications for the development of early mother-infant bonding and the depressive clinical consequences when this bond is disrupted, such as in post-partum depression, depressive feelings connected to, addiction, neurofunctional disorders, and psychological trauma.

Acute effects of steroid hormones and neuropeptides on human social-emotional behavior: a review of single administration studies.

Steroids and peptides mediate a diverse array of animal social behaviors. Human research is restricted by technical-ethical limitations, and models of the neuroendocrine regulation of social-emotional behavior are therefore mainly limited to non-human species, often under the assumption that human social-emotional behavior is emancipated from hormonal control. Development of acute hormone administration procedures in human research, together with the advent of novel non-invasive neuroimaging techniques, have opened up opportunities to systematically study the neuroendocrinology of human social-emotional behavior. Here, we review all placebo-controlled single hormone administration studies addressing human social-emotional behavior, involving the steroids testosterone and estradiol, and the peptides oxytocin and vasopressin. These studies demonstrate substantial hormonal control over human social-emotional behavior and give insights into the underlying neural mechanisms. Finally, we propose a theoretical model that synthesizes detailed knowledge of the neuroendocrinology of social-emotional behavior in animals with the recently gained data from humans described in our review.

Imaging the structure of the human anxious brain: a review of findings from neuroscientific personality psychology.

The emotion of anxiety represents one of the most studied topics in the neurosciences, in part due to its relevance for understanding the evolutionary development of the human brain and its role in the pathogenesis of psychopathological conditions. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) has enabled mapping of the anxious human brain and has contributed substantially to the understanding of anxiety. Alongside the fields of clinical psychology/psychiatry, personality psychology aims to support the research endeavor of mapping the anxious brain and has found that individual differences in anxiety-related personality dimensions such as Neuroticism or Harm Avoidance (measured by self-report) are correlated with gray and white matter volumes in different areas of the human brain. This review reveals that structures including parts of the frontal cortex (e.g., the orbitofrontal cortex) and the temporal lobe (e.g., the hippocampus) are often associated with trait anxiety, and it points out the inconsistencies that exist in the personality-sMRI literature on human anxiety. Consequently, we suggest new research strategies to overcome the inconsistencies. This review outlines how results from animal research can guide scientists in developing testable hypotheses in search of the anxious brain. Moreover, genetic imaging is presented as an interesting approach to mapping the anxious brain.

Sleep as a fundamental property of neuronal assemblies.

Sleep is vital to cognitive performance, productivity, health and well-being. Earlier theories of sleep presumed that it occurred at the level of the whole organism and that it was governed by central control mechanisms. However, evidence now indicates that sleep might be regulated at a more local level in the brain: it seems to be a fundamental property of neuronal networks and is dependent on prior activity in each network. Such local-network sleep might be initiated by metabolically driven changes in the production of sleep-regulatory substances. We discuss a mathematical model which illustrates that the sleep-like states of individual cortical columns can be synchronized through humoral and electrical connections, and that whole-organism sleep occurs as an emergent property of local-network interactions.

Differential ultrasonic indices of separation distress in the presence and absence of maternal cues in infant rats bred for high and low positive social affect.

OBJECTIVE: Preclinical models of human mood disorders commonly focus on the study of negative affectivity, without comparably stressing the role of positive affects and their ability to promote resilient coping styles. We evaluated the role of background constitutional affect of rats by studying the separation and reunion responses of infants from low and high positive affect genetic lines (i.e., differentially selected for High and Low 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalisations (USVs). METHODS: Infants from Low and High 50 kHz USV breeding lines were isolated from mothers and exposed to either social (familiar or unfamiliar bedding) or neutral (clean bedding) odour cues between two short isolation periods, and tested in homeothermic and hypothermic ambient temperatures. Negative affect was estimated by monitoring separation distress calls (35-45 kHz USVs). RESULTS: Low Line pups called at higher rates than High Line, and their rates were stable regardless of odour cue. In contrast, High Line pups increased vocalisations during the second compared with the first isolation periods and during exposure to both familiar and unfamiliar odour cues, but not to neutral odour. Furthermore, the greatest increase in USV emission was seen in the second isolation period following exposure to the unfamiliar odour. However, both lines showed comparable elevated distress USVs to the thermal stressor. CONCLUSION: High Line animals, selected for a positive affective phenotype (50 kHz USVs), exhibited reduced separation anxiety responses in infancy, making this a promising animal model for the role of constitutional affective states in emotional responsivity and potential resilience against emotional disorders.

Human medial forebrain bundle (MFB) and anterior thalamic radiation (ATR): imaging of two major subcortical pathways and the dynamic balance of opposite affects in understanding depression.

The medial forebrain bundle (MFB), a key structure of reward-seeking circuitry, remains inadequately characterized in humans despite its vast importance for emotional processing and development of addictions and depression. Using Diffusion Tensor Imaging Fiber Tracking (DTI FT) the authors describe potential converging ascending and descending MFB and anterior thalamic radiation (ATR) that may mediate major brain reward-seeking and punishment functions. Authors highlight novel connectivity, such as supero-lateral-branch MFB and ATR convergence, caudally as well as rostrally, in the anterior limb of the internal capsule and medial prefrontal cortex. These anatomical convergences may sustain a dynamic equilibrium between positive and negative affective states in human mood-regulation and its various disorders, especially evident in addictions and depression.

Exposure to cocaine dynamically regulates the intrinsic membrane excitability of nucleus accumbens neurons.

Drug-induced malfunction of nucleus accumbens (NAc) neurons underlies a key pathophysiology of drug addiction. Drug-induced changes in intrinsic membrane excitability of NAc neurons are thought to be critical for producing behavioral alterations. Previous studies demonstrate that, after short-term (2 d) or long-term (21 d) withdrawal from noncontingent cocaine injection, the intrinsic membrane excitability of NAc shell (NAcSh) neurons is decreased, and decreased membrane excitability of NAcSh neurons increases the acute locomotor response to cocaine. However, animals exhibit distinct cellular and behavioral alterations at different stages of cocaine exposure, suggesting that the decreased membrane excitability of NAc neurons may not be a persistent change. Here, we demonstrate that the membrane excitability of NAcSh neurons is differentially regulated depending on whether cocaine is administered contingently or noncontingently. Specifically, the membrane excitability of NAcSh medium spiny neurons (MSNs) was decreased at 2 d after withdrawal from either 5 d intraperitoneal injections (15 mg/kg) or cocaine self-administration (SA). At 21 d of withdrawal, the membrane excitability of NAcSh MSNs, which remained low in intraperitoneally pretreated rats, returned to a normal level in SA-pretreated rats. Furthermore, after a reexposure to cocaine after long-term withdrawal, the membrane excitability of NAcSh MSNs instantly returned to a normal level in intraperitoneally pretreated rats. Conversely, in SA-pretreated rats, the reexposure elevated the membrane excitability of NAcSh MSMs beyond the normal level. These results suggest that the dynamic alterations in membrane excitability of NAcSh MSNs, together with the dynamic changes in synaptic input, contribute differentially to the behavioral consequences of contingent and noncontingent cocaine administration.

Toward a cross-species neuroscientific understanding of the affective mind: do animals have emotional feelings?

Do we need to consider mental processes in our analysis of brain functions in other animals? Obviously we do, if such BrainMind functions exist in the animals we wish to understand. If so, how do we proceed, while still retaining materialistic-mechanistic perspectives? This essay outlines the historical forces that led to emotional feelings in animals being marginalized in behavioristic scientific discussions of why animals behave the way they do, and why mental constructs are generally disregarded in modern neuroscientific analyses. The roots of this problem go back to Cartesian dualism and the attempt of 19th century physician-scientists to ground a new type of medical curriculum on a completely materialistic approach to body functions. Thereby all vitalistic principles were discarded from the lexicon of science, and subjective experience in animals was put in that category and discarded as an invalid approach to animal behavior. This led to forms of rigid operationalism during the era of behaviorism and subsequently ruthless reductionism in brain research, leaving little room for mentalistic concepts such as emotional feelings in animal research. However, modern studies of the brain clearly indicate that artificially induced arousals of emotional networks, as with localized electrical and chemical brain stimulation, can serve as "rewards" and "punishments" in various learning tasks. This strongly indicates that animal brains elaborate various experienced states, with those having affective contents being easiest to study rigorously. However, in approaching emotional feelings empirically we must pay special attention to the difficulties and vagaries of human language and evolutionary levels of control in the brain. We need distinct nomenclatures from primary (unconditioned phenomenal experiences) to tertiary (reflective) levels of mind. The scientific pursuit of affective brain processes in other mammals can now reveal general BrainMind principles that also apply to human feelings, as with neurochemical predictions from preclinical animal models to self-reports of corresponding human experiences. In short, brain research has now repeatedly verified the existence of affective experience-various reward and punishment functions-during artificial arousal of emotional networks in our fellow animals. The implications for new conceptual schema for understanding human/primate affective feelings and how such knowledge can impact scientific advances in biological psychiatry are also addressed.

Analysis of the disruption of maternal social bonds in Octodon degus: separation distress in restricted reunion tests.

Octodon degus is a social caviomorph species that exhibits strong social bonds and robust distress responses to maternal separation. To understand the impact of early social isolation on social motivation, we investigated how social isolation during infancy, associated with repeated restricted interactions with mother and siblings, altered social motivation in young degus. In Experiment 1, three treatments were compared: complete isolation (ISOLATED group), nearly complete isolation, with daily half hour partition-restricted reunions with the mother and siblings (RESTRICTED group), and social-housing with the mother and siblings (FAMILY group). After 10 days of treatment, all subjects underwent a 5-day choice test between mothers and unfamiliar females. During the treatment period, the RESTRICTED animals emitted more isolation calls and spent more time close to the partition that separated them from mothers than ISOLATED animals. During the first social-choice day, FAMILY reared animals showed a preference for the mother for a few minutes, while the RESTRICTED animals preferred the mother for the whole session. Totally ISOLATED pups exhibited no social preferences. Since during successive testing periods the isolation calls decreased over the days, in Experiment 2 we investigated whether this decline was related to age or habituation to testing procedures. Animals were observed during a single exposure to isolation (ISOLATED) or restricted-reunion (RESTRICTED) at PND 21 and 31. The decrease of vocalizations was due to an age-effect. The findings clarify the nature of social bonds in degus.

Brief periods of positive peer interactions mitigate the effects of total social isolation in young Octodon degus.

We investigated whether positive daily peer-interactions counteract the effects of isolation in Octodon degus. Twenty-five-day-old degus were either isolated (ISO), socially housed (SOCIAL), or isolated and allowed 1-hr daily peer interaction (PARTIAL-ISO). The animals were observed over 4 weeks. Just prior to isolation and after 2 weeks of individual housing, the subjects were assessed for response to pleasant stimuli via a sucrose preference test and to fearful situations in open field and startle tests. Two weeks after the previous tests, the subjects were retested as above and observed in novelty and sociability tests. Only the ISO group showed significant alterations in sensitivity to reward and increased risk-taking behavior in fearful situations. The ISO group consumed more sucrose, spent less time freezing in the startle test and exhibited increased exploration in open field and novelty tests compared to PARTIAL-ISO and SOCIAL groups. In the sociability test, the SOCIAL group vocalized more than the other two groups during encounters with an unfamiliar degus. Our findings suggest that (i) chronic isolation induces alteration of hedonic, emotional and social profiles, with a maturational delay in fear-related responses; (ii) friendly interaction attenuates most behavioral changes induced by total social isolation. However, the positive effects of daily social interactions did not fully counteract deficits in social vocalizations. Our study represents one of the few available studies focused not only on the consequences of negative life events in this species, but also the protective role of relatively short periods of positive social activity on subsequent emotional development. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 53:280-290, 2011.

Spanish validation of the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales.

The Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales have been designed to provide a personality assessment tool based on six distinct affective systems. The six neural systems involved were labeled PLAY, SEEK, CARE, FEAR, ANGER and SADNESS. Spirituality has been integrated into the questionnaire as a seventh dimension because, in opinion of Panksepp and his colleagues is one of the most interesting human emotion. The aim of the present paper was introduce the validation of the Spanish version of Affective Neuroscience Personality Scales and their first psychometric results in a sample of 411 college students. Participants completed the Spanish version of ANPS, just as a personality scale of five factors (NEO-FFI-R), and the Scales of Positive and Negative Affect (PANAS). The factor structure obtained and psychometric properties of the scales indicate that the Spanish version of the scales provides an effective tool to measure the seven dimensions of personality proposal in the original questionnaire.

A proposal for a coordinated effort for the determination of brainwide neuroanatomical connectivity in model organisms at a mesoscopic scale.

In this era of complete genomes, our knowledge of neuroanatomical circuitry remains surprisingly sparse. Such knowledge is critical, however, for both basic and clinical research into brain function. Here we advocate for a concerted effort to fill this gap, through systematic, experimental mapping of neural circuits at a mesoscopic scale of resolution suitable for comprehensive, brainwide coverage, using injections of tracers or viral vectors. We detail the scientific and medical rationale and briefly review existing knowledge and experimental techniques. We define a set of desiderata, including brainwide coverage; validated and extensible experimental techniques suitable for standardization and automation; centralized, open-access data repository; compatibility with existing resources; and tractability with current informatics technology. We discuss a hypothetical but tractable plan for mouse, additional efforts for the macaque, and technique development for human. We estimate that the mouse connectivity project could be completed within five years with a comparatively modest budget.

Affective neuroscience of the emotional BrainMind: evolutionary perspectives and implications for understanding depression.

Cross-species affective neuroscience studies confirm that primary-process emotional feelings are organized within primitive subcortical regions of the brain that are anatomically, neurochemically, and functionally homologous in all mammals that have been studied. Emotional feelings (affects) are intrinsic values that inform animals how they are faring in the quest to survive. The various positive affects indicate that animals are returning to "comfort zones" that support survival, and negative affects reflect "discomfort zones" that indicate that animals are in situations that may impair survival. They are ancestral tools for living--evolutionary memories of such importance that they were coded into the genome in rough form (as primary brain processes), which are refined by basic learning mechanisms (secondary processes) as well as by higher-order cognitions/thoughts (tertiary processes). To understand why depression feels horrible, we must fathom the affective infrastructure of the mammalian brain. Advances in our understanding of the nature of primary-process emotional affects can promote the development of better preclinical models of psychiatric disorders and thereby also allow clinicians new and useful ways to understand the foundational aspects of their clients' problems. These networks are of clear importance for understanding psychiatric disorders and advancing psychiatric practice.

Differential parametric modulation of self-relatedness and emotions in different brain regions.

Our sense of self is strongly colored by emotions although at the same time we are well able to distinguish affect and self. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we here tested for the differential effects of self-relatedness and emotion dimensions (valence, intensity) on parametric modulation of neural activity during perception of emotional stimuli. We observed opposite parametric modulation of self-relatedness and emotion dimensions in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the ventral striatum/nucleus accumbens, whereas neural activity in subcortical regions (tectum, right amygdala, hypothalamus) was modulated by self-relatedness and emotion dimensions in the same direction. In sum, our results demonstrate that self-relatedness is closely linked to emotion dimensions of valence and intensity in many lower subcortical brain regions involved in basic emotional systems and, at the same time, distinct from them in higher cortical regions that mediate cognitive processes necessary for becoming aware of one's self, for example self-consciousness. Hum