Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate
The control of physiological arousal can assist in the regulation of emotional state. A subset cortical and subcortical brain regions are implicated in autonomic control of bodily arousal during emotional behaviours. Here, we combined human functional neuroimaging with autonomic monitoring to identi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00300/full |
| _version_ | 1818258049089929216 |
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| author | Catherine Louise Jones Ludovico eMinati Yoko eNagai Nick eMedford Neil Andrew Harrison Marcus eGray Jamie eWard Hugo D Critchley |
| author_facet | Catherine Louise Jones Ludovico eMinati Yoko eNagai Nick eMedford Neil Andrew Harrison Marcus eGray Jamie eWard Hugo D Critchley |
| author_sort | Catherine Louise Jones |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The control of physiological arousal can assist in the regulation of emotional state. A subset cortical and subcortical brain regions are implicated in autonomic control of bodily arousal during emotional behaviours. Here, we combined human functional neuroimaging with autonomic monitoring to identify neural mechanisms that support the volitional regulation of heart rate, a process that may be assisted by visual feedback. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, fifteen healthy adults performed an experimental task in which they were prompted voluntarily to increase or decrease cardiovascular arousal (heart rate) during true, false or absent visual feedback. Participants achieved appropriate changes in heart rate, without significant modulation of respiratory rate, and were overall not influenced by the presence of visual feedback. Increased activity in right amygdala, striatum and brainstem occurred when participants attempted to increase heart rate. In contrast, activation of ventrolateral prefrontal and parietal cortices occurred when attempting to decrease heart rate. Biofeedback enhanced activity within occipito-temporal cortices, but there was no significant interaction with task conditions. Activity in regions including pregenual anterior cingulate and ventral striatum reflected the magnitude of successful task performance, which was negatively related to subclinical anxiety symptoms. Measured changes in respiration correlated with posterior insula activation and heart rate, at a more lenient threshold, change correlated with insula, caudate and midbrain activity. Our findings highlight a set of brain regions, notably ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, supporting volitional control of cardiovascular arousal. These data are relevant to understanding neural substrates supporting interaction between intentional and interoceptive states related to anxiety, with implications for biofeedback interventions, e.g. real-time fMRI, that target emotional regulation |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T17:53:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aed248534e0a42a6a33ea3bd4f1ca80b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T17:53:21Z |
| publishDate | 2015-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-aed248534e0a42a6a33ea3bd4f1ca80b2022-12-22T00:16:46ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782015-03-01610.3389/fpsyg.2015.00300126326Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rateCatherine Louise Jones0Ludovico eMinati1Yoko eNagai2Nick eMedford3Neil Andrew Harrison4Marcus eGray5Jamie eWard6Hugo D Critchley7University of SussexUniversity of TrentoUniversity of SussexUniversity of SussexUniversity of SussexUniversity of QueenslandUniversity of SussexUniversity of SussexThe control of physiological arousal can assist in the regulation of emotional state. A subset cortical and subcortical brain regions are implicated in autonomic control of bodily arousal during emotional behaviours. Here, we combined human functional neuroimaging with autonomic monitoring to identify neural mechanisms that support the volitional regulation of heart rate, a process that may be assisted by visual feedback. During functional magnetic resonance imaging, fifteen healthy adults performed an experimental task in which they were prompted voluntarily to increase or decrease cardiovascular arousal (heart rate) during true, false or absent visual feedback. Participants achieved appropriate changes in heart rate, without significant modulation of respiratory rate, and were overall not influenced by the presence of visual feedback. Increased activity in right amygdala, striatum and brainstem occurred when participants attempted to increase heart rate. In contrast, activation of ventrolateral prefrontal and parietal cortices occurred when attempting to decrease heart rate. Biofeedback enhanced activity within occipito-temporal cortices, but there was no significant interaction with task conditions. Activity in regions including pregenual anterior cingulate and ventral striatum reflected the magnitude of successful task performance, which was negatively related to subclinical anxiety symptoms. Measured changes in respiration correlated with posterior insula activation and heart rate, at a more lenient threshold, change correlated with insula, caudate and midbrain activity. Our findings highlight a set of brain regions, notably ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, supporting volitional control of cardiovascular arousal. These data are relevant to understanding neural substrates supporting interaction between intentional and interoceptive states related to anxiety, with implications for biofeedback interventions, e.g. real-time fMRI, that target emotional regulationhttp://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00300/fullHeart RateemotionAutonomicbrain imagingbiofeedbackinteroception |
| spellingShingle | Catherine Louise Jones Ludovico eMinati Yoko eNagai Nick eMedford Neil Andrew Harrison Marcus eGray Jamie eWard Hugo D Critchley Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate Frontiers in Psychology Heart Rate emotion Autonomic brain imaging biofeedback interoception |
| title | Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate |
| title_full | Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate |
| title_fullStr | Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate |
| title_full_unstemmed | Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate |
| title_short | Neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate |
| title_sort | neuroanatomical substrates for the volitional regulation of heart rate |
| topic | Heart Rate emotion Autonomic brain imaging biofeedback interoception |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00300/full |
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