Authors:
Yoko Mano, Koki Nakaya, Hidetsugu Komeda, Asako Toyama, Haruaki Fukuda, Yuri Miyamoto, Shinobu Kitayama, and Shinsuke Suzuki

Title:
Neural mechanisms underlying decisions to express or suppress emotions

Journal（書誌情報）:
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

doi:
10.1093/scan/nsag068

論文URL:
https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsag068
Abstract:
Emotional expressions play a central role in social communication. The dominant view assumes that emotional expression is a spontaneous consequence of affect. In everyday social life, however, individuals often suppress internally generated emotions. Here, we investigated the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying decisions about emotional expression, based on the view that emotional expression constitutes a form of decision-making involving evaluation of social context, anticipation of interpersonal consequences, and consideration of social norms. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we scanned 40 Japanese young adults (22 males, 18 females) while they decided whether to express or suppress their emotions in response to emotionally evocative scenarios. We found that decisions to express emotion were positively modulated by perceived valence and arousal. Valence was associated with activity in the inferior frontal cortex and middle temporal gyrus, whereas arousal was associated with activity in the fusiform and parahippocampal gyri. Moreover, decisions to withhold emotional expression were associated with increased activity in regions implicated in mentalizing and cognitive control, including the right temporoparietal junction and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Together, these findings suggest that emotional expression reflects a decision-making process integrating affective and contextual information within neural systems supporting social cognition and cognitive control.

著者Contact先の email:
yoko.mano[at]r.hit-u.ac.jp（[at]を@に変更してください。）
日本語によるコメント：
日常生活の中で、 私たちは 感じた感情をそのまま表すこともあれば、あえて表さないこともあります。本研究では、感情を「表出する／抑制する」という行為を、単なる情動調節ではなく、社会的文脈を踏まえた意思決定として捉え、行動データの統計的モデリングとfMRIを組み合わせて検討しました。その結果、表出する決定には意味や感情情報の処理に関わる下前頭皮質や中側頭回などが、抑制する決定には他者の視点や心的状態の推測に関わる右側頭頭頂接合部や、認知的制御に関わる背外側前頭前野が関与することが示されました。感情表出を社会的意思決定として理解するための神経科学的基盤を提示する研究です。

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