Matsunaga Masahiro, Kawamichi Hiroaki, Koike Takahiko, Yoshihara Kazufumi, Yoshida Yumiko, Takahashi Haruka K, Nakagawa Eri, Sadato Norihiro
Department of Health and Psychosocial Medicine, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1195, Japan.
Division of Cerebral Integration, Department of Cerebral Research, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Okazaki, Aichi 444-8585, Japan.
Neuroimage. 2016 Jul 1;134:132-141. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.04.020. Epub 2016 Apr 13.
Happiness is one of the most fundamental human goals, which has led researchers to examine the source of individual happiness. Happiness has usually been discussed regarding two aspects (a temporary positive emotion and a trait-like long-term sense of being happy) that are interrelated; for example, individuals with a high level of trait-like subjective happiness tend to rate events as more pleasant. In this study, we hypothesized that the interaction between the two aspects of happiness could be explained by the interaction between structure and function in certain brain regions. Thus, we first assessed the association between gray matter density (GMD) of healthy participants and trait-like subjective happiness using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Further, to assess the association between the GMD and brain function, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using the task of positive emotion induction (imagination of several emotional life events). VBM indicated that the subjective happiness was positively correlated with the GMD of the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC). Functional MRI demonstrated that experimentally induced temporal happy feelings were positively correlated with subjective happiness level and rACC activity. The rACC response to positive events was also positively correlated with its GMD. These results provide convergent structural and functional evidence that the rACC is related to happiness and suggest that the interaction between structure and function in the rACC may explain the trait-state interaction in happiness.
幸福是人类最基本的目标之一，这促使研究人员探究个体幸福的来源。幸福通常从两个相互关联的方面进行讨论（一种短暂的积极情绪和一种类似特质的长期幸福感）；例如，具有较高特质性主观幸福感的个体往往会将事件评价为更令人愉悦。在本研究中，我们假设幸福的这两个方面之间的相互作用可以由某些脑区的结构与功能之间的相互作用来解释。因此，我们首先使用基于体素的形态测量法（VBM）评估了健康参与者的灰质密度（GMD）与特质性主观幸福感之间的关联。此外，为了评估GMD与脑功能之间的关联，我们使用积极情绪诱导任务（想象几个情感生活事件）进行了功能磁共振成像（MRI）。VBM表明，主观幸福感与喙前扣带回皮质（rACC）的GMD呈正相关。功能MRI显示，实验诱导的短暂快乐感与主观幸福感水平和rACC活动呈正相关。rACC对积极事件的反应也与其GMD呈正相关。这些结果提供了一致的结构和功能证据，表明rACC与幸福有关，并表明rACC中结构与功能之间的相互作用可能解释幸福中的特质-状态相互作用。
