The authors of this study should turn the PET images into postcards.
What better way to drop a line to an ex-love ("Thinking of you")?
:)
--David Epstein
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lisa M. Shin, Darin D. Dougherty, Scott P. Orr, Roger K. Pitman, Mark Lasko,
Michael L. Macklin, Nathaniel M. Alpert, Alan J. Fischman, and Scott
L. Rauch.
Activation of anterior paralimbic structures during guilt-related
script-driven imagery.
Biological Psychiatry 48(10): 43-50, 1 July 2000.
Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical
School, Boston, Massachusetts USA.
Abstract
Background: Several recent neuroimaging studies have examined the
neuroanatomical correlates of normal emotional states, such as
happiness, sadness, fear, anger, anxiety, and disgust; however, no
previous study has examined the emotional state of guilt.
Methods: In the current study, we used positron emission tomography
and the script-driven imagery paradigm to study regional cerebral
blood flow (rCBF) during the transient emotional experience of guilt
in eight healthy male participants. In the Guilt condition,
participants recalled and imagined participating in a personal event
involving the most guilt they had ever experienced. In the Neutral
condition, participants recalled and imagined participating in an
emotionally neutral personal event.
Results: In the Guilt versus Neutral comparison, rCBF increases
occurred in anterior paralimbic regions of the brain: bilateral
anterior temporal poles, anterior cingulate gyrus, and left anterior
insular cortex/inferior frontal gyrus.
Conclusions: These results, along with those of previous studies, are
consistent with the notion that anterior paralimbic regions of the
brain mediate negative emotional states in healthy individuals.
-------- excerpts from the Method section of the article----------------
Participants
Participants were eight healthy, right-handed men with a mean age of
25.0 years (SD = 4.4) and mean education of 15.9 years (SD =
3.6). Participants had no history of psychiatric disorders (as
determined by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IIIR; Spitzer
et al 1990), neurological disorders, head injury, or other major
medical conditions. In addition, no participant was taking
psychotropic or cardiovascular medication. The study was approved by
the Subcommittee on Human Studies of the Massachusetts General
Hospital, Boston, MA, and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center,
Manchester, NH. Written informed consent was obtained from each
participant.
Scripts
Prior to the PET scanning session, participants provided written
descriptions of personal events: one involving the most guilt the
participant had ever experienced, and two additional events involving
no prominent emotion. These descriptions were then modified according
to established procedures (Lang; Pitman; Pitman; Rauch and Shin) and
were written in the second person, present tense. Scripts were read
and tape-recorded in a neutral male voice for playback in the PET
scanner. All scripts were between 30 and 40 sec in duration.
State induction/imagery procedure
Participants underwent PET scanning in two conditions: Guilt (one
scan) and Neutral (two scans, with two different scripts).
(Participants also underwent scanning in three other conditions
[anger, competitive arousal, and sexual arousal] as part of a larger
study; however, those other conditions are not relevant to the current
results and are presented elsewhere; see Dougherty and Rauch.) During
each scan, participants recalled and imagined the contents of a single
script. The neutral scans always occurred first and last; the order of
the remaining scans (one Guilt and three other scans not reported
here) were completely counterbalanced in a Latin Square design.
Immediately before each scan, participants were instructed to close
their eyes, listen carefully to the audiotaped script, and imagine the
described event as vividly as possible, as if they were actually
participating in the event again. The script started playing and the
PET camera was turned on when there were 30 sec left in the script. At
the end of the script, 15O-CO2 administration began. During the next
60 sec, participants continued to recall and imagine the event while
PET and peripheral psychophysiologic data were acquired. Then 15O-CO2
administration and PET data acquisition were terminated, and
participants were instructed to stop imagining the event and to
relax. Thirty sec later, participants gave ratings of their emotional
experiences during the preceding scan. PET scans were separated by at
least 10 min in order to allow for radiation decay and a return to a
baseline emotional state.
