Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Nobels Väg 9, 171 65 Stockholm, Sweden.
Centre for Neuroscience, Central European Institute of Technology, Masaryk University, Kamenice 753/5, 625 00 Brno, Czech Republic.
Behav Brain Res. 2020 Feb 17;380:112433. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112433. Epub 2019 Dec 13.
Mental imagery related to the recent death of a loved one is associated with intense sadness and distress. Social relations, such as with one's significant other, can regulate negative emotions and provide comfort, but the neural correlates of social comfort are largely unknown. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we examined brain responses to sad mental imagery and how these are modulated by holding hands with one's romantic partner. We found that mental imagery of a recently deceased loved one was associated with increased reactivity in the dorsal striatum, medial prefrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, thalamus and cerebellum. Holding hands with one's partner as compared to being alone or holding hands with a stranger provided subjective comfort and reduced neural reactivity in the dorsal striatum without affecting the vividness of the imagery. Our findings indicate an important role for the dorsal striatum in sad mental imagery and social comfort and suggest that tactile social support by one's romantic partner regulates subjective distress through other processes than mere distraction from the mental imagery.
与最近去世的亲人有关的心理意象与强烈的悲伤和痛苦有关。社会关系，如与伴侣的关系，可以调节负面情绪并提供安慰，但社会安慰的神经相关性在很大程度上尚不清楚。在这项功能磁共振成像研究中，我们研究了悲伤心理意象的大脑反应，以及这些反应如何受到与浪漫伴侣牵手的调节。我们发现，对最近去世的亲人的心理意象与背侧纹状体、内侧前额叶皮层、前后扣带皮层、丘脑和小脑的反应性增加有关。与伴侣牵手相比，独处或与陌生人牵手会带来主观上的舒适感，并减少背侧纹状体的神经反应性，而不会影响意象的生动度。我们的发现表明，背侧纹状体在悲伤的心理意象和社会安慰中起着重要作用，并表明伴侣的触觉社会支持通过除了分散注意力之外的其他方式调节主观痛苦，而不是仅仅通过分散注意力来调节主观痛苦。
