Disgust dissects emotion: an fMRI study of euthymic bipolar patients using facial disgust stimuli

Jim Lagopoulos; Gin S Malhi; Belinda Ivanovski; Catherine Cahill

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Disgust dissects emotion: an fMRI study of euthymic bipolar patients using facial disgust stimuli

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Disgust dissects emotion: an fMRI study of euthymic bipolar patients using facial disgust stimuli

Jim Lagopoulos, Gin S Malhi, Belinda Ivanovski and Catherine Cahill

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Vol.39(Supplement 2), p.A55

Joint CINP/ASPR Scientific Meeting, 2005 (Brisbane, Australia, 07-Dec-2005–09-Dec-2005)

2005

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Abstract

Medical and Health Sciences

Psychology and Cognitive Sciences

biological psychiatry

neuropsychiatry

Background: Facial expression stimuli are used extensively in cognitive neuroscience to study the processing of emotion in the brain. It is well established that specific expressions that signal behavioural cues, draw upon distinct neural circuits that are specialised for their evaluation. Disgust putatively constitutes a basic emotion and is believed to evoke innate, automatic behaviour. The expression of disgust, which is a form of threat, related to physical contamination, activates circumscribed neural circuits, which overlap with networks involved in the generation and modulation of mood. Hence, elucidating disgust processing may provide insight into the modulation of mood in bipolar disorder, and ultimately into its pathophysiology. Methods: We conducted an fMRI study in eleven euthymic bipolar patients and 11 healthy controls matched for age and sex using a 3T Philips Intera scanner. Blood Oxygenated Level Dependant fMRI was employed to detect areas of the brain activated in response to facial emotions. Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) was simultaneously acquired and was used to partition neural epochs associated with neurophysiological arousal. Results: Sub-averaging neural epochs on the basis of whether or not a GSR was elicited produced a differential pattern of activation for both the patients and controls. In both sub-averages controls subjects exhibited significant activations in several key frontal regions (superior and inferior frontal gyri). In contrast, the patients with bipolar disorder displayed a differential pattern of activation in response to disgust - recruiting subcortical structures (parahippocampal gyrus and caudate nucleus) to a greater extent with a notable absence of frontal activation. Conclusion: The results from this study suggest that euthymic patients with bipolar disorder have impaired prefrontal function in relation to the processing of emotional content, in particular that related to disgust.

Details

Title: Disgust dissects emotion: an fMRI study of euthymic bipolar patients using facial disgust stimuli
Authors: Jim Lagopoulos (Author) - University of New South Wales
Gin S Malhi (Author) - University of New South Wales
Belinda Ivanovski (Author) - University of New South Wales
Catherine Cahill (Author) - University of New South Wales
Publication details: Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, Vol.39(Supplement 2), p.A55
Conference details: Joint CINP/ASPR Scientific Meeting, 2005 (Brisbane, Australia, 07-Dec-2005–09-Dec-2005)
Publisher: Sage Publications Ltd.
Date published: 2005
ISSN: 0004-8674
Organisation Unit: University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Thompson Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450911002621
Output Type: Abstract

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