Steinfurth Elisa C K, Alius Manuela G, Wendt Julia, Hamm Alfons O
Department of Psychology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
Psychophysiology. 2017 Feb;54(2):161-171. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12767. Epub 2016 Oct 21.
The current experiments tested neural and physiological correlates of worry and rumination in comparison to thinking about neutral events. According to the avoidance model-stating that worry is a strategy to reduce intense emotions-physiological and neurobiological activity during worried thinking should not differ from activation during neutral thinking. According to the contrast avoidance model-stating that worry is a strategy to reduce abrupt shifts of emotions-activity should be increased. To test these competing models, we induced worry and neutral thinking in healthy participants using personal topics. A rumination condition was added to investigate the specificity of changes induced by the mental process. Two experiments were conducted assessing the effects on different response levels: (1) neural activation using fMRI, and (2) physiological response mobilization using startle and autonomic measures. During worry, participants showed a potentiated startle response and BOLD activity indicative of emotional network activation. These data partly support the contrast avoidance model of worry. Both mental processes showed elevated activity in a common network referred to as default network indicating self-referential activity.
当前的实验测试了与思考中性事件相比，担忧和沉思的神经及生理关联。根据回避模型（该模型认为担忧是一种减轻强烈情绪的策略），担忧思考过程中的生理和神经生物学活动应与中性思考时的激活情况无异。根据对比回避模型（该模型认为担忧是一种减少情绪突然变化的策略），活动应该增强。为了检验这些相互竞争的模型，我们使用个人话题在健康参与者中诱发担忧和中性思考。增加了一个沉思条件来研究心理过程所引发变化的特异性。进行了两项实验，评估对不同反应水平的影响：（1）使用功能磁共振成像（fMRI）测量神经激活，以及（2）使用惊吓反射和自主神经测量方法测量生理反应调动。在担忧期间，参与者表现出惊吓反射增强以及血氧水平依赖（BOLD）活动，这表明情绪网络被激活。这些数据部分支持了担忧的对比回避模型。两种心理过程在一个被称为默认网络的共同网络中均表现出活动增强，这表明存在自我参照活动。
