title: Activity in the action observation network enhances emotion regulation during observation of risk-taking: an fMRI study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The results of neuroimaging studies have indicated that viewing emotional stimuli can lead to activity increases in brain regions associated with processing actions. We hypothesized that observation of actions involving the potential for harm (i.e., risk-taking actions)  would activate emotion- and pain-related processing.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the changes in neural activity during the observation of safe and risk-taking actions in 34 healthy participants (14 females, 20 males; mean age: 23·4±3·7  years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Observation of risk-taking actions elicited significantly stronger neural activation in the inferior frontal gyrus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus/frontal pole, inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, lingual  gyrus, cuneus (including the calcarine sulcus), insula, and amygdala, than observation of safe actions. Interestingly, we observed significant activation of affect-related brain areas (ventromedial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and insula), thought to be implicated in various aspects of emotion  regulation during the observation of risk-taking actions. No brain regions exhibited greater activation during observation of safe actions than during observation of risk-taking actions associated with risk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results reveal that the risk-related content of the observed  actions in the video clips elicited activation of a network of visual input and processing regions, including the action observation network, that appears to encode the meanings of observed actions as well as the reflective or retrospective monitoring of their outcomes. These findings suggest  that risk-taking situations may increase cognitive load on the entire action perception system, and may command more attention.
authors: Faculty of Human Arts and Sciences, University of Human Arts and Sciences, Saitama, Japan. m-tamura@human.ac.jp
authors: Miyuki
authors: M
authors: Tamura
authors: Yoshiya
authors: Y
authors: Moriguchi
authors: Shigekazu
authors: S
authors: Higuchi
authors: Akiko
authors: A
authors: Hida
authors: Minori
authors: M
authors: Enomoto
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Umezawa
authors: Kazuo
authors: K
authors: Mishima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology; D019370:Observation; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011930:Reaction Time; D012309:Risk-Taking; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen