Abstract

Self-affirmation can buffer stress responses across different contexts, yet the neural mechanisms for these effects are unknown. Self-affirmation has been shown to increase activity in reward-related neural regions, including the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Given that reward-related prefrontal cortical regions such as the VMPFC are involved in reducing neurobiological and behavioral responses to stress, we hypothesized that self-affirmation would activate VMPFC and also reduce neural responses to stress in key neural threat system regions such as the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI). We explored this hypothesis using self-affirmation and evaluative stress tasks following a within-subjects design in the fMRI scanner. Consistent with prior work, self-affirmation blocks led to lower self-reported stress and improved performance. With respect to neural activity, compared to control blocks, self-affirmation blocks led to greater VMPFC activity, and subsequently less left AI (but not dACC) activity during stress task blocks. Functional connectivity analyses revealed greater connectivity between the VMPFC and left and right AI during self-affirmation compared to control. These findings begin to articulate the neural circuits involved in self-affirmation’s effects during exposure to stressors, and more broadly specify neural reward-based responses to stressful situations.

中文翻译：

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自我肯定的应力缓冲作用的神经机制

摘要

自我肯定可以缓冲不同情境下的压力反应，但这些作用的神经机制尚不清楚。研究表明，自我肯定可以增加与奖赏相关的神经区域的活动，包括腹侧纹状体和腹侧前额叶皮层（VMPFC）。鉴于与奖励相关的前额叶皮层区域（如VMPFC）参与减少了对压力的神经生物学和行为反应，我们假设自我肯定会激活VMPFC，并且还减少了关键神经威胁系统区域（如背侧前路）对压力的神经反应。扣带回皮层（dACC）和前岛（AI）。我们在功能磁共振成像扫描仪的受试者内部设计之后，通过自我确认和评估压力任务探索了这一假设。与以前的工作一致，自我肯定的障碍降低了自我报告的压力并改善了性能。关于神经活动，与控制模块相比，自我肯定模块导致更大的VMPFC活动，从而在压力任务模块中导致较少的左AI（但不是dACC）活动。功能连通性分析显示，与控制相比，在自我确认期间VMPFC与左右AI之间的连通性更高。这些发现开始阐明在暴露于压力源期间参与自我肯定效应的神经回路，并且更广泛地规定了基于神经奖励的对压力情况的反应。然后在压力任务块中较少的左AI（但不是dACC）活动。功能连通性分析显示，与控制相比，在自我确认期间VMPFC与左右AI之间的连通性更高。这些发现开始阐明在暴露于压力源期间参与自我肯定效应的神经回路，并且更广泛地规定了基于神经奖励的对压力情况的反应。并且随后在压力任务块中更少的左AI（但不是dACC）活动。功能连通性分析显示，与控制相比，在自我确认期间VMPFC与左右AI之间的连通性更高。这些发现开始阐明在暴露于压力源期间参与自我肯定效应的神经回路，并更广泛地说明了基于神经奖励的对压力情况的反应。