Hypotheses - Questions

[matt Gailliot]

Our discussion brought some questions to mind: Does emotion control
influence amygdala activation? does this differ based on attempted v
successful regulation? does regulation influence heart dynamics (e.g.,
heart rate)? is this mediated through changes in amygdala activation?
perhaps a trail of activation exists, from the FLs to to the amygdala,
and through the heart? Does emotion control influence other amygdala
factors, such as types of neurotransmitters? Do neurotransmitters vary
much in energy use, and so does different neurotransmission relate to
observed activation?

Is emotionality related to consistency of amygdala activation? For
example, do more emotional people (or during more emotional times)
amygdala activation tend to be more consistent, whereas with less
emotionality it is more sporadic?

[Monica L. Rodriguez]

Hi Matt,

Thank for your questions and hypotheses. These are

 A few things that I know and may be able to answer right now:

-- activation of the amygdala when presenting negative stimuli has been related to autonomic nervous system measures,  such as increase in heart rate (both in adults and adolescents);
   however, I don't know whether that relationship is similar when participants are *regulating* emotion.

-- Oschner and colleagues (and I believe that in the sections on emotional control we will cover this), have found decreased activation of amygdala when down-regulating negative emotions, and this has been found to be accompanied by an increase of activation in the medial prefrontal cortex  

In fact, ventromedial prefrontal cortex activation is thought to cause the reduction in amygdala activation when down regulating negative emotions, which is what you seem to imply with your 4th question.

When subjects are asked to up- or down- regulate emotion, the amygdala activation is modulated up or down according to the regulatory goal. Which particular prefrontal systems (ventromedial or lateral)  modulates the amygdala also seems to depend on the regulatory goal employed.

About neurotransmitters mediating amygdala activity, noradrenaline; dopamine; but I don't know much about mechanisms (anterior cingulate and nucleus accumbens play a role as well).

I was about to email you to send you the articles related to glucose. I am attaching them in this email. It would be great to better understand the relationship between specific activation areas and glucose consumption.

I won't be able to make it this afternoon. Have fun!

Monica

[matt Gailliot]

On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 12:41 PM, <mgai...@albany.edu> wrote:

Does emotion control influence amygdala activation? yes. does this differ based
on attempted v successful regulation? kinda. more successful
regulation = less amygdala activation (but more activation in DLPFC).
does regulation influence heart
dynamics (e.g., heart rate)? yes -- suppression increases HR. not so
much with reappraisal. is this mediated through changes in amygdala
activation? not sure if anybody has tied brain/heart stuff directly.
theories suggest it, but i don't know if the data to support it. Does

emotion control influence other amygdala factors, such as

types of neurotransmitters? don't know. Do neurotransmitters vary much

in energy use,
and so does different neurotransmission relate to observed activation?

don't know.

On Sat, Feb 20, 2010 at 1:44 PM, matt Gailliot
<gailli...@humanscience.org> wrote:

[Monica L. Rodriguez]

Thanks. I am not sure how your info reconciles with what I sent before, but that's fine. Your answers seem to be on the mark.