Common and distinct neural representations of interoceptive attention and emotion regulation

741 

Abstract Submission 

Xiaoqin Wang¹, Huang Wang¹, Li He²

¹Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang, ²Beijing Normal University, Beijing, Beijing, Beijing

Xiaoqin Wang  
Zhejiang Normal University
Jinhua, Zhejiang

Huang Wang  
Zhejiang Normal University
Jinhua, Zhejiang

Li He  
Beijing Normal University, Beijing
Beijing, Beijing

Interoceptive attention denotes an individual's observation of visceral signals, such as respiration, cardiac activity, and hunger. A fundamental prerequisite for the effective emotion regulation (ER) is the awareness of emotional states, which intricately linked with the interoceptive attention. Previous studies suggested that reappraisal, an established ER strategy involving the reevaluation and reframing of the meaning attributed to situation or experience was facilitated by interoception. A recent meta-analysis study using univariate activation has suggested that the neural substrates of interoceptive attention and cognitive reappraisal involve common and distinct brain regions. However, to our knowledge, there is no neuroimaging evidence based on intra-individual fMRI data to indicate whether interoceptive attention and cognitive reappraisal share neural representation patterns. Additionally, cardiac and respiratory system as typical interoceptive attention, exhibit complex characteristics and hierarchically integrate within discrete regions of the central nervous system. Therefore, it is important to test whether interoceptive attention of cardiac and respiratory system involve dissociable global neural representation patterns, and independently links to the cognitive reappraisal.

Participants (N = 160, 109 females; mean age = 20.3 years; SD = 2.63) completed both the cognitive reappraisal task (CRT) and the interoceptive attention task (IAT) while inside the MRI scanner. To explore the activated brain regions during the interoceptive attention and reappraisal, we conducted univariate activation analyses. For CRT, we defined a contrast (DecreaseNeg > WatchNeg) to examine the brain activation during reappraisal. For IAT, we set up contrasts for respiratory interoception (respiration > sound), cardiac interoception (heartbeat > sound), and an integrated state of interoceptive attention ([respiration + heartbeat] > sound). Subsequently, we performed a conjunction analysis to identify overlapping regions for the cognitive reappraisal and the integrated interoceptive attention condition. To investigate voxel-wise similarities in the representational patterns of cognitive reappraisal and interoceptive attention, the representational similarity analyses (RSA) were conducted within each overlapped ROIs. In addition, we conducted searchlight analyses across the whole brain to confirm and extend the results from the ROI analysis.

The results revealed that commonly activated regions for reappraisal and interoceptive attention were including the bilateral MFG, the bilateral dorsal agranular insula/ IFG, the right IPL/Angular cortex and MTG, and Medial Frontal Gyrus/ SMA/ ACC (see Figure 1). Using these overlapping regions as ROIs, RSA results indicated that all ROIs excluding left insula were shared similar representational patterns between cognitive reappraisal and interoceptive attention. Importantly, both searchlight and RSA results consistently indicated that the Medial Frontal Gyrus robustly represented similar neural activity patterns during integrated interoceptive attention and reappraisal, as well as during the cardiac interoceptive and reappraisal. However, the neural representational similarities for the respiratory interoception and reappraisal were uniquely located in the Angular Cortex (see Figure 2).

Across univariate and multivariate analyses, we revealed that interoceptive attention and cognitive reappraisal shared neural representation patterns. Distinct neural representation patterns were observed between reappraisal and two interoceptive systems (respiratory and cardiac attention). These overlapping regions, including the right anterior insula, medial frontal gyrus, and Angular Cortex, suggested that the processing of the integration of visceral signals and emotional awareness, plays a crucial role in the intricate relationships between interoceptive attention and reappraisal.

Emotional Perception ¹

BOLD fMRI

Perception: Multisensory and Crossmodal ²

Perception and Attention Other

Emotions

FUNCTIONAL MRI

Limbic Systems

Other - Interoceptive attention