title: Neural correlates of disgust- and fear-conditioned responses.
abstract: The understanding of individual differences in responses to disgusting stimuli is important to gain more insight into the development of certain psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate conditioned disgust responses, its potential overlap with conditioned fear responses (CRs) and the influence of disgust sensitivity on blood oxygen level-dependent responses. Yet even though current studies report evidence that disgust sensitivity is a vulnerability factor, the knowledge about the underlying neural mechanisms remains very limited. Two groups were exposed either to a disgust- or a fear-conditioning paradigm. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we identified a conjoint activated network including the cingulate cortex, the nucleus accumbens, the orbitofrontal cortex, and the occipital cortex within the disgust- and the fear-conditioning group. Moreover, we report evidence of increased insula activation in the disgust-conditioning group. In addition, functional connectivity analysis revealed increased interconnections, most pronounced within the insula in the high disgust sensitivity group compared with the low disgust sensitivity group. The conjunction results suggest that the conditioned responses in disgust and fear conditioning recruit the same neural network, implicating that different conditioned responses of aversive learning depend on a common neural network. Increased insula activation within the disgust-conditioning group might be attributable to heightened interoceptive processes, which might be more pronounced in disgust. Finally, the findings regarding disgust sensitivity are discussed with respect to vulnerability factors for certain psychiatric disorders.
authors: Bender Institute of Neuroimaging, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. Tim.Klucken@psychol.uni-giessen.de
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Klucken
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Schweckendiek
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Koppe
authors: C J
authors: CJ
authors: Merz
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Kagerer
authors: B
authors: B
authors: Walter
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Sammer
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Vaitl
authors: R
authors: R
authors: Stark
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D019260:Expressed Emotion / Q000502:physiology*; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen