Kungl Melanie T, Leyh Rainer, Spangler Gottfried
Institute of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Erlangen, Germany.
Front Hum Neurosci. 2016 Dec 26;10:644. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00644. eCollection 2016.
Frontal and parietal asymmetries have repeatedly been shown to be related to specific functional mechanisms involved in emotion regulation. From a developmental perspective, attachment representations based on experiences with the caregiver are theorized to serve regulatory functions and influence how individuals deal with emotionally challenging situations throughout the life span. This study aimed to investigate neural substrates of emotion regulation by assessing state- and trait dependent EEG asymmetries in secure, insecure-dismissing and insecure-preoccupied subjects. The sample consisted of 40 late adolescents. The Adult Attachment Interview was administered and they were asked to report upon personally highly salient emotional memories related to anger, happiness and sadness. EEG was recorded at rest and during the retrieval of each of these emotional memories, and frontal and parietal hemispheric asymmetry were analyzed. We found attachment representations to differentially affect both the frontal and parietal organization of hemispheric asymmetry at rest and (for parietal region only) during the retrieval of emotional memories. During rest, insecure-dismissing subjects showed an elevated right-frontal brain activity and a reduced right-parietal brain activity. We interpret this finding in light of a disposition to use withdrawal strategies and low trait arousal in insecure-dismissing subjects. Emotional memory retrieval did not affect frontal asymmetry. However, both insecure groups showed an increase in right-sided parietal activity indicating increased arousal during the emotional task as compared to the resting state suggesting that their emotion regulation capability was especially challenged by the retrieval of emotional memories while securely attached subjects maintained a state of moderate arousal. The specific neurophysiological pattern of insecure-dismissing subjects is discussed with regard to a vulnerability to affective disorders.
额叶和顶叶的不对称性已反复被证明与情绪调节中涉及的特定功能机制有关。从发展的角度来看，基于与照顾者经历的依恋表征被认为具有调节功能，并影响个体在整个生命周期中应对情绪挑战情况的方式。本研究旨在通过评估安全型、不安全-回避型和不安全-焦虑型受试者的状态和特质依赖性脑电图不对称性来研究情绪调节的神经基础。样本包括40名青少年晚期个体。进行了成人依恋访谈，并要求他们报告与愤怒、快乐和悲伤相关的个人高度突出的情绪记忆。在休息时以及在检索这些情绪记忆中的每一个时记录脑电图，并分析额叶和顶叶的半球不对称性。我们发现依恋表征对休息时以及（仅针对顶叶区域）情绪记忆检索期间半球不对称性的额叶和顶叶组织有不同影响。在休息时，不安全-回避型受试者表现出右额叶脑活动增强和右顶叶脑活动减弱。我们根据不安全-回避型受试者使用退缩策略的倾向和低特质唤醒水平来解释这一发现。情绪记忆检索并未影响额叶不对称性。然而，与休息状态相比，两个不安全组在情绪任务期间均表现出右侧顶叶活动增加，表明唤醒增加，这表明他们的情绪调节能力在检索情绪记忆时尤其受到挑战，而安全依恋的受试者则保持适度唤醒状态。针对情感障碍的易感性讨论了不安全-回避型受试者的特定神经生理模式。
