TY - JOUR
T1 - Resting state functional connectivity correlates of emotional awareness
AU - Smith, Ryan
AU - Alkozei, Anna
AU - Bao, Jennifer
AU - Smith, Courtney
AU - Lane, Richard D
AU - Killgore, William
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2017/10/1
Y1 - 2017/10/1
N2 - Multiple neuroimaging studies have now linked emotional awareness (EA), as measured by the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), with activation in regions of neural networks associated with both conceptualization (i.e., default mode network [DMN] regions) and interoception (i.e., salience network [SN] regions) – consistent with the definition of EA as one's ability to appropriately recognize, conceptualize, and articulate the emotions of self and other in fine-grained, differentiated ways. However, no study has yet tested the hypothesis that greater LEAS scores are associated with greater resting state functional connectivity (FC) within these networks. Twenty-six adults (13 female) underwent resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging, and also completed the LEAS. Using pre-defined functional ROIs from the DMN and SN, we observed that LEAS scores were significantly positively correlated with FC between several regions of both of these networks, even when controlling for differences in general intelligence (IQ). These results suggest that higher EA may be associated with more efficient information exchange between brain regions involved in both interoception- and conceptualization-based processing, which could plausibly contribute to more differentiated bodily feelings and more fine-grained conceptualization of those feelings.
AB - Multiple neuroimaging studies have now linked emotional awareness (EA), as measured by the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS), with activation in regions of neural networks associated with both conceptualization (i.e., default mode network [DMN] regions) and interoception (i.e., salience network [SN] regions) – consistent with the definition of EA as one's ability to appropriately recognize, conceptualize, and articulate the emotions of self and other in fine-grained, differentiated ways. However, no study has yet tested the hypothesis that greater LEAS scores are associated with greater resting state functional connectivity (FC) within these networks. Twenty-six adults (13 female) underwent resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging, and also completed the LEAS. Using pre-defined functional ROIs from the DMN and SN, we observed that LEAS scores were significantly positively correlated with FC between several regions of both of these networks, even when controlling for differences in general intelligence (IQ). These results suggest that higher EA may be associated with more efficient information exchange between brain regions involved in both interoception- and conceptualization-based processing, which could plausibly contribute to more differentiated bodily feelings and more fine-grained conceptualization of those feelings.
KW - Conceptualization
KW - Default mode network
KW - Emotional awareness
KW - Interoception
KW - Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS)
KW - Salience network
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U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.07.044
DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.07.044
M3 - Article
C2 - 28736312
AN - SCOPUS:85025646991
SN - 1053-8119
VL - 159
SP - 99
EP - 106
JO - NeuroImage
JF - NeuroImage
ER -