Networks underpinning emotion: A systematic review and synthesis of functional and effective connectivity

TY - JOUR

T1 - Networks underpinning emotion

T2 - A systematic review and synthesis of functional and effective connectivity

AU - Underwood, Raphael

AU - Tolmeijer, Eva

AU - Wibroe, Johannes

AU - Peters, Emmanuelle

AU - Mason, Liam

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London who funded RU and EP and the Medical Research Council who funded LM through a Clinician Scientist Fellowship ( MR/S006613/ 1). Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

PY - 2021/11

Y1 - 2021/11

N2 - Existing models of emotion processing are based almost exclusively on brain activation data, yet make assumptions about network connectivity. There is a need to integrate connectivity findings into these models. We systematically reviewed all studies of functional and effective connectivity employing tasks to investigate negative emotion processing and regulation in healthy participants. Thirty-three studies met inclusion criteria. A quality assessment tool was derived from prominent neuroimaging papers. The evidence supports existing models, with primarily limbic regions for salience and identification, and frontal areas important for emotion regulation. There was mixed support for the assumption that regulatory influences on limbic and sensory areas come predominantly from prefrontal areas. Rather, studies quantifying effective connectivity reveal context-dependent dynamic modulatory relationships between occipital, subcortical, and frontal regions, arguing against purely top-down regulatory theoretical models. Our quality assessment tool found considerable variability in study design and tasks employed. The findings support and extend those of previous syntheses focused on activation studies, and provide evidence for a more nuanced view of connectivity in networks of human emotion processing and regulation.

AB - Existing models of emotion processing are based almost exclusively on brain activation data, yet make assumptions about network connectivity. There is a need to integrate connectivity findings into these models. We systematically reviewed all studies of functional and effective connectivity employing tasks to investigate negative emotion processing and regulation in healthy participants. Thirty-three studies met inclusion criteria. A quality assessment tool was derived from prominent neuroimaging papers. The evidence supports existing models, with primarily limbic regions for salience and identification, and frontal areas important for emotion regulation. There was mixed support for the assumption that regulatory influences on limbic and sensory areas come predominantly from prefrontal areas. Rather, studies quantifying effective connectivity reveal context-dependent dynamic modulatory relationships between occipital, subcortical, and frontal regions, arguing against purely top-down regulatory theoretical models. Our quality assessment tool found considerable variability in study design and tasks employed. The findings support and extend those of previous syntheses focused on activation studies, and provide evidence for a more nuanced view of connectivity in networks of human emotion processing and regulation.

KW - Causal connectivity

KW - Dynamic causal modeling

KW - Effective connectivity

KW - Emotion

KW - Functional connectivity

KW - Healthy

KW - Human

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113291338&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118486

DO - 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118486

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85113291338

SN - 1053-8119

VL - 243

JO - NeuroImage

JF - NeuroImage

M1 - 118486

ER -