Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Social Neuroscience, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Department of Social Neuroscience, Stephanstraße 1A, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; University of York, Department of Psychology, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
Neuroimage. 2014 Aug 15;97:107-16. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.03.076. Epub 2014 Apr 3.
Many powerful human emotional thoughts are generated in the absence of a precipitating event in the environment. Here, we tested whether we can decode the valence of internally driven, self-generated thoughts during task-free rest based on neural similarities with task-related affective mental states. We acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data while participants generated positive and negative thoughts as part of an attribution task (Session A) and while they reported the occurrence of comparable mental states during task-free rest periods (Session B). With the use of multivariate pattern analyses (MVPA), we identified response patterns in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) that encode the affective content of thoughts that are generated in response to an external experimental cue. Importantly, these task driven response patterns reliably predicted the occurrence of affective thoughts generated during unconstrained rest periods recorded one week apart. This demonstrates that at least certain elements of task-cued and task-free affective experiences rely on a common neural code. Furthermore, our findings reveal the role that the mOFC plays in determining the affective tone of unconstrained thoughts. More generally, our results suggest that MVPA is an important methodological tool for attempts to understand unguided subject driven mental states such as mind-wandering and daydreaming based on neural similarities with task-based experiences.
许多强烈的人类情感思维是在环境中没有引发事件的情况下产生的。在这里，我们测试了是否可以根据与任务相关的情感心理状态的神经相似性，在无任务休息期间解码内部驱动、自我产生的思维的情绪。我们在参与者进行归因任务时（A 会话）获取功能磁共振成像（fMRI）数据，同时他们在无任务休息期间报告发生类似的心理状态（B 会话）。使用多元模式分析（MVPA），我们在眶额内侧皮层（mOFC）中识别出编码对外部实验线索产生的思维的情感内容的反应模式。重要的是，这些任务驱动的反应模式可靠地预测了在一周后记录的无约束休息期间产生的情感思维的发生。这表明，至少某些任务提示和无约束的情感体验的元素依赖于共同的神经编码。此外，我们的研究结果揭示了 mOFC 在确定无约束思维的情感基调方面所起的作用。更一般地说，我们的研究结果表明，MVPA 是一种重要的方法学工具，用于尝试基于与基于任务的经验的神经相似性来理解无引导的自主心理状态，例如漫游和白日梦。
