Adolescents’ exposure to community violence is a significant public health issue in urban setting... more Adolescents’ exposure to community violence is a significant public health issue in urban settings
and has been associated with poorer cognitive performance and increased risk for psychiatric illnesses,
including PTSD. However, no study to date has investigated the neural correlates of
community violence exposure in adolescents. Sixty-five healthy adolescents (age514–18 years;
36 females, 29 males) from moderate- to high-crime neighborhoods in Los Angeles reported their
violence exposure, parents’ education level, and free/reduced school lunch status (socio-economic
status, SES), and underwent structural neuroimaging and intelligence testing. Violence exposure
negatively correlated with measures of SES, IQ, and gray matter volume. Above and beyond the
effect of SES, violence exposure negatively correlated with IQ and with gray matter volume in the
left inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex, regions involved in high-level cognitive
functions and autonomic modulation, and previously shown to be reduced in PTSD and combatexposed
military populations. The current results provide first evidence that frontal brain regions
involved in cognition and affect appear to be selectively affected by exposure to community violence,
even in healthy nondelinquent adolescents who are not the direct victims or perpetrators of
violence.
KEYWORDS
adolescent development, brain, post-traumatic stress disorder, stress, voxel-based morphometry
Witnessing exemplary actions triggers admiration, a positive emotion that can pertain to concrete... more Witnessing exemplary actions triggers admiration, a positive emotion that can pertain to concrete skills, or move the onlooker beyond physical characteristics to appreciate the abstract, moral implications. Participants reacted to narratives depicting skilled or virtuous protagonists first during a videotaped interview then during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We analyzed participants' gaze aversion (an indicator of disengaging from the immediate environment) and cognitive construals (mentions of concrete characteristics vs abstract beliefs and values) during the interview, and relations to individuals' subsequent neural activations. When participants averted their gaze, they were more likely to mention abstract construals, and both behaviors were more likely when reacting to virtue. Gaze aversion to virtue narratives predicted greater subsequent activation for those narratives in dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (dPCC), involved in visual attention control. The inferior-posterior posteromedial cortices (ipPMC), a default mode network hub involved in abstract thought, activated only to virtue, and activity level reflected individuals' tendency to abstract construals. Critically, dPCC and ipPMC activity sequentially mediated the relationship between individuals' gaze and abstract construal tendencies. No such relationships existed for reactions to skill, despite participants reporting equivalently strong positive emotion. In appreciating virtue, dPCC may support individuals in transcending the viewable context, facilitating ipPMC activity and moral construals.
Social neuroscience has documented cultural differences in
emotional brain functioning. Most rece... more Social neuroscience has documented cultural differences in emotional brain functioning. Most recently, these differences have been extended to include cultural effects on the real-time neural correlates of social–emotional feelings. Here we review these findings and use them to illustrate a biopsychosocial framework for studying acculturated social-affective functioning and development. We argue that understanding cultural differences in emotion neurobiology requires probing their social origins and connection with individuals’ subjective, lived experiences. We suggest that an interdisciplinary, developmental perspective would advance scientific understanding by enabling the invention of protocols aligning neurobiological measures with techniques for documenting cultural contexts, social relationships and subjective experiences. Such work would also facilitate insights in applied fields struggling to accommodate cultural variation, such as psychiatry and education.
Expressiveness (behavioral expression of emotion) is shaped by culture and by biological predispo... more Expressiveness (behavioral expression of emotion) is shaped by culture and by biological predispositions, such as cardiac vagal tone (CVT). However, it is unclear whether these factors interact or contribute additively, as no studies have simultaneously investigated the effects of both. Here we conducted a secondary analysis of data on emotional expressiveness to video clips depicting accidental painful injuries. Data were from a cross-cultural study of Chinese and American participants, including a bicultural group of East-Asian Americans (AA). We had previously reported that expressiveness was higher for the American than for the Chinese group (Immordino-Yang, Yang and Damasio, 2016). The current analyses included a subset of participants for whom we collected baseline electrocardiograms to establish CVT. Groups did not differ in CVT, and the effect of CVT on expressiveness did not differ across groups. Controlling for CVT, the previously reported cultural effect on expressiveness held. Controlling for group differences in expressiveness, participants with higher CVT were less expressive (calmer). These effects held controlling for participants' reported feeling strength to the videos, suggesting that they reflect expressiveness rather than differences in strength of emotional experience. In a follow-up analysis of the bicultural AA group, higher CVT was associated with reports of stronger East-Asian ethnic identity. Our results suggest that cultural group and CVT contribute additively to emotional expres-siveness, and that CVT, which is associated with emotion regulation capacity, may
The anterior insula (AI) maps visceral states and is active during emotional experiences, a funct... more The anterior insula (AI) maps visceral states and is active during emotional experiences, a functional confluence that is central to neurobiological accounts of feelings. Yet, it is unclear how AI activity correlates with feelings during social emotions, and whether this correlation may be influenced by culture, as studies correlating real-time AI activity with visceral states and feelings have focused on Western subjects feeling physical pain or basic disgust. Given psychological evidence that social-emotional feelings are cognitively constructed within cultural frames, we asked Chinese and American participants to report their feeling strength to admiration and compassion-inducing narratives during fMRI with simultaneous electrocardiogram recording. Trial-by-trial, cardiac arousal and feeling strength correlated with ventral and dorsal AI activity bilaterally but predicted different variance, suggesting that interoception and social-emotional feeling construction are concurrent but dissociable AI functions. Further, although the variance that correlated with cardiac arousal did not show cultural effects, the variance that correlated with feelings did. Feeling strength was especially associated with ventral AI activity (the autonomic modulatory sector) in the Chinese group but with dorsal AI activity (the visceral-somatosensory/cognitive sector) in an American group not of Asian descent. This cultural group difference held after controlling for posterior insula (PI) activity and was replicated. A bi-cultural East-Asian American group showed intermediate results. The findings help elucidate how the AI supports feelings and suggest that previous reports that dorsal AI activation reflects feeling strength are culture related. More broadly, the results suggest that the brain's ability to construct conscious experiences of social emotion is less closely tied to visceral processes than neurobiological models predict and at least partly open to cultural influence and learning.
Adolescents’ exposure to community violence is a significant public health issue in urban setting... more Adolescents’ exposure to community violence is a significant public health issue in urban settings
and has been associated with poorer cognitive performance and increased risk for psychiatric illnesses,
including PTSD. However, no study to date has investigated the neural correlates of
community violence exposure in adolescents. Sixty-five healthy adolescents (age514–18 years;
36 females, 29 males) from moderate- to high-crime neighborhoods in Los Angeles reported their
violence exposure, parents’ education level, and free/reduced school lunch status (socio-economic
status, SES), and underwent structural neuroimaging and intelligence testing. Violence exposure
negatively correlated with measures of SES, IQ, and gray matter volume. Above and beyond the
effect of SES, violence exposure negatively correlated with IQ and with gray matter volume in the
left inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex, regions involved in high-level cognitive
functions and autonomic modulation, and previously shown to be reduced in PTSD and combatexposed
military populations. The current results provide first evidence that frontal brain regions
involved in cognition and affect appear to be selectively affected by exposure to community violence,
even in healthy nondelinquent adolescents who are not the direct victims or perpetrators of
violence.
KEYWORDS
adolescent development, brain, post-traumatic stress disorder, stress, voxel-based morphometry
Witnessing exemplary actions triggers admiration, a positive emotion that can pertain to concrete... more Witnessing exemplary actions triggers admiration, a positive emotion that can pertain to concrete skills, or move the onlooker beyond physical characteristics to appreciate the abstract, moral implications. Participants reacted to narratives depicting skilled or virtuous protagonists first during a videotaped interview then during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We analyzed participants' gaze aversion (an indicator of disengaging from the immediate environment) and cognitive construals (mentions of concrete characteristics vs abstract beliefs and values) during the interview, and relations to individuals' subsequent neural activations. When participants averted their gaze, they were more likely to mention abstract construals, and both behaviors were more likely when reacting to virtue. Gaze aversion to virtue narratives predicted greater subsequent activation for those narratives in dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (dPCC), involved in visual attention control. The inferior-posterior posteromedial cortices (ipPMC), a default mode network hub involved in abstract thought, activated only to virtue, and activity level reflected individuals' tendency to abstract construals. Critically, dPCC and ipPMC activity sequentially mediated the relationship between individuals' gaze and abstract construal tendencies. No such relationships existed for reactions to skill, despite participants reporting equivalently strong positive emotion. In appreciating virtue, dPCC may support individuals in transcending the viewable context, facilitating ipPMC activity and moral construals.
Social neuroscience has documented cultural differences in
emotional brain functioning. Most rece... more Social neuroscience has documented cultural differences in emotional brain functioning. Most recently, these differences have been extended to include cultural effects on the real-time neural correlates of social–emotional feelings. Here we review these findings and use them to illustrate a biopsychosocial framework for studying acculturated social-affective functioning and development. We argue that understanding cultural differences in emotion neurobiology requires probing their social origins and connection with individuals’ subjective, lived experiences. We suggest that an interdisciplinary, developmental perspective would advance scientific understanding by enabling the invention of protocols aligning neurobiological measures with techniques for documenting cultural contexts, social relationships and subjective experiences. Such work would also facilitate insights in applied fields struggling to accommodate cultural variation, such as psychiatry and education.
Expressiveness (behavioral expression of emotion) is shaped by culture and by biological predispo... more Expressiveness (behavioral expression of emotion) is shaped by culture and by biological predispositions, such as cardiac vagal tone (CVT). However, it is unclear whether these factors interact or contribute additively, as no studies have simultaneously investigated the effects of both. Here we conducted a secondary analysis of data on emotional expressiveness to video clips depicting accidental painful injuries. Data were from a cross-cultural study of Chinese and American participants, including a bicultural group of East-Asian Americans (AA). We had previously reported that expressiveness was higher for the American than for the Chinese group (Immordino-Yang, Yang and Damasio, 2016). The current analyses included a subset of participants for whom we collected baseline electrocardiograms to establish CVT. Groups did not differ in CVT, and the effect of CVT on expressiveness did not differ across groups. Controlling for CVT, the previously reported cultural effect on expressiveness held. Controlling for group differences in expressiveness, participants with higher CVT were less expressive (calmer). These effects held controlling for participants' reported feeling strength to the videos, suggesting that they reflect expressiveness rather than differences in strength of emotional experience. In a follow-up analysis of the bicultural AA group, higher CVT was associated with reports of stronger East-Asian ethnic identity. Our results suggest that cultural group and CVT contribute additively to emotional expres-siveness, and that CVT, which is associated with emotion regulation capacity, may
The anterior insula (AI) maps visceral states and is active during emotional experiences, a funct... more The anterior insula (AI) maps visceral states and is active during emotional experiences, a functional confluence that is central to neurobiological accounts of feelings. Yet, it is unclear how AI activity correlates with feelings during social emotions, and whether this correlation may be influenced by culture, as studies correlating real-time AI activity with visceral states and feelings have focused on Western subjects feeling physical pain or basic disgust. Given psychological evidence that social-emotional feelings are cognitively constructed within cultural frames, we asked Chinese and American participants to report their feeling strength to admiration and compassion-inducing narratives during fMRI with simultaneous electrocardiogram recording. Trial-by-trial, cardiac arousal and feeling strength correlated with ventral and dorsal AI activity bilaterally but predicted different variance, suggesting that interoception and social-emotional feeling construction are concurrent but dissociable AI functions. Further, although the variance that correlated with cardiac arousal did not show cultural effects, the variance that correlated with feelings did. Feeling strength was especially associated with ventral AI activity (the autonomic modulatory sector) in the Chinese group but with dorsal AI activity (the visceral-somatosensory/cognitive sector) in an American group not of Asian descent. This cultural group difference held after controlling for posterior insula (PI) activity and was replicated. A bi-cultural East-Asian American group showed intermediate results. The findings help elucidate how the AI supports feelings and suggest that previous reports that dorsal AI activation reflects feeling strength are culture related. More broadly, the results suggest that the brain's ability to construct conscious experiences of social emotion is less closely tied to visceral processes than neurobiological models predict and at least partly open to cultural influence and learning.
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Papers by Xiao-Fei Yang
and has been associated with poorer cognitive performance and increased risk for psychiatric illnesses,
including PTSD. However, no study to date has investigated the neural correlates of
community violence exposure in adolescents. Sixty-five healthy adolescents (age514–18 years;
36 females, 29 males) from moderate- to high-crime neighborhoods in Los Angeles reported their
violence exposure, parents’ education level, and free/reduced school lunch status (socio-economic
status, SES), and underwent structural neuroimaging and intelligence testing. Violence exposure
negatively correlated with measures of SES, IQ, and gray matter volume. Above and beyond the
effect of SES, violence exposure negatively correlated with IQ and with gray matter volume in the
left inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex, regions involved in high-level cognitive
functions and autonomic modulation, and previously shown to be reduced in PTSD and combatexposed
military populations. The current results provide first evidence that frontal brain regions
involved in cognition and affect appear to be selectively affected by exposure to community violence,
even in healthy nondelinquent adolescents who are not the direct victims or perpetrators of
violence.
KEYWORDS
adolescent development, brain, post-traumatic stress disorder, stress, voxel-based morphometry
emotional brain functioning. Most recently, these differences
have been extended to include cultural effects on the real-time
neural correlates of social–emotional feelings. Here we review
these findings and use them to illustrate a biopsychosocial
framework for studying acculturated social-affective
functioning and development. We argue that understanding
cultural differences in emotion neurobiology requires probing
their social origins and connection with individuals’ subjective,
lived experiences. We suggest that an interdisciplinary,
developmental perspective would advance scientific
understanding by enabling the invention of protocols aligning
neurobiological measures with techniques for documenting
cultural contexts, social relationships and subjective
experiences. Such work would also facilitate insights in applied
fields struggling to accommodate cultural variation, such as
psychiatry and education.
and has been associated with poorer cognitive performance and increased risk for psychiatric illnesses,
including PTSD. However, no study to date has investigated the neural correlates of
community violence exposure in adolescents. Sixty-five healthy adolescents (age514–18 years;
36 females, 29 males) from moderate- to high-crime neighborhoods in Los Angeles reported their
violence exposure, parents’ education level, and free/reduced school lunch status (socio-economic
status, SES), and underwent structural neuroimaging and intelligence testing. Violence exposure
negatively correlated with measures of SES, IQ, and gray matter volume. Above and beyond the
effect of SES, violence exposure negatively correlated with IQ and with gray matter volume in the
left inferior frontal gyrus and anterior cingulate cortex, regions involved in high-level cognitive
functions and autonomic modulation, and previously shown to be reduced in PTSD and combatexposed
military populations. The current results provide first evidence that frontal brain regions
involved in cognition and affect appear to be selectively affected by exposure to community violence,
even in healthy nondelinquent adolescents who are not the direct victims or perpetrators of
violence.
KEYWORDS
adolescent development, brain, post-traumatic stress disorder, stress, voxel-based morphometry
emotional brain functioning. Most recently, these differences
have been extended to include cultural effects on the real-time
neural correlates of social–emotional feelings. Here we review
these findings and use them to illustrate a biopsychosocial
framework for studying acculturated social-affective
functioning and development. We argue that understanding
cultural differences in emotion neurobiology requires probing
their social origins and connection with individuals’ subjective,
lived experiences. We suggest that an interdisciplinary,
developmental perspective would advance scientific
understanding by enabling the invention of protocols aligning
neurobiological measures with techniques for documenting
cultural contexts, social relationships and subjective
experiences. Such work would also facilitate insights in applied
fields struggling to accommodate cultural variation, such as
psychiatry and education.