Differential Activation Patterns in the Same Brain Region Led to Opposite Emotional States

In human studies, how averaged activation in a brain region relates to human behavior has been extensively investigated. This approach has led to the finding that positive and negative facial preferences are represented by different brain regions. However, using a functional magnetic resonance imagi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS biology 2016-09, Vol.14 (9), p.e1002546-e1002546
Main Authors: Shibata, Kazuhisa, Watanabe, Takeo, Kawato, Mitsuo, Sasaki, Yuka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Biology and Life Sciences
Brain - physiology
Brain research
Cognitive ability
Emotions - physiology
Engineering and Technology
Female
Humans
Information communication
Laboratories
Linguistics
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medicine and Health Sciences
Methods
Neural circuitry
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Physical Sciences
Physiological aspects
Preferences
R&D
Research & development
Research and Analysis Methods
Science
Social Sciences
Studies
Young Adult
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Summary:In human studies, how averaged activation in a brain region relates to human behavior has been extensively investigated. This approach has led to the finding that positive and negative facial preferences are represented by different brain regions. However, using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) decoded neurofeedback (DecNef) method, we found that different patterns of neural activations within the cingulate cortex (CC) play roles in representing opposite directions of facial preference. In the present study, while neutrally preferred faces were presented, multi-voxel activation patterns in the CC that corresponded to higher (or lower) preference were repeatedly induced by fMRI DecNef. As a result, previously neutrally preferred faces became more (or less) preferred. We conclude that a different activation pattern in the CC, rather than averaged activation in a different area, represents and suffices to determine positive or negative facial preference. This new approach may reveal the importance of an activation pattern within a brain region in many cognitive functions.
ISSN:1545-7885
1544-9173
1545-7885
DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.1002546