title: Neural circuitry underlying voluntary suppression of sadness.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The ability to voluntarily self-regulate negative emotion is essential to a healthy psyche. Indeed, a chronic incapacity to suppress negative emotion might be a key factor in the genesis of depression and anxiety. Regarding the neural underpinnings of emotional self-regulation, a recent functional neuroimaging study carried out by our group has revealed that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex are involved in voluntary suppression of sexual arousal. As few things are known, still, with respect to the neural substrate underlying volitional self-regulation of basic emotions, here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify the neural circuitry associated with the voluntary suppression of sadness.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty healthy female subjects were scanned during a Sad condition and a Suppression condition. In the Sad condition, subjects were instructed to react normally to sad film excerpts whereas, in the Suppression condition, they were asked to voluntarily suppress any emotional reaction in response to comparable stimuli.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Transient sadness was associated with significant loci of activation in the anterior temporal pole and the midbrain, bilaterally, as well as in the left amygdala, left insula, and right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) (Brodmann area [BA] 47). Correlational analyses carried out between self-report ratings of sadness and regional blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal changes revealed the existence of positive correlations in the right VLPFC (BA 47), bilaterally, as well as in the left insula and the affective division of the left anterior cingulate gyrus (BA 24/32). In the Suppression condition, significant loci of activation were noted in the right DLPFC (BA 9) and the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) (BA 11), and positive correlations were found between the self-report ratings of sadness and BOLD signal changes in the right OFC (BA 11) and right DLPFC (BA 9).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results confirm the key role played by the DLPFC in emotional self-regulation. They also indicate that the right DLPFC and right OFC are components of a neural circuit implicated in voluntary suppression of sadness.
authors.affiliation: Centre de Recherche, Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: Johanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lévesque
authors.forename: Fanny
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Eugène
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Joanette
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Paquette
authors.forename: Boualem
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mensour
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Beaudoin
authors.forename: Jean-Maxime
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Leroux
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bourgouin
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beauregard
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000098:blood supply; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation; D001330:Electronic Data Processing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000098:blood supply*; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D012927:Social Control, Informal
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen