title: Using executive control training to suppress amygdala reactivity to aversive information.
abstract: The ability to regulate emotions is essential for adaptive behavior. This ability is suggested to be mediated by the connectivity between prefrontal brain regions and the amygdala. Yet, it is still unknown whether the ability to regulate emotions can be trained by using a non-emotional procedure, such as the recruitment of executive control (EC). Participants who were trained using a high-frequent executive control (EC) task (80% incongruent trials) showed reduced amygdala reactivity and behavioral interference of aversive pictures. These effects were observed only following multiple-session training and not following one training session. In addition, they were not observed for participants exposed to low-frequent EC training (20% incongruent trials). Resting-state functional connectivity analysis revealed a marginally significant interaction between training group and change in the connectivity between the amygdala and the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Amygdala-IFG connectivity was significantly increased following the training only in the high-frequent EC training group. These findings are the first to show that non-emotional training can induce changes in amygdala reactivity to aversive information and alter amygdala-prefrontal connectivity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel. Electronic address: noga.cohen@weizmann.ac.il.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Research Group for Neuroanatomy & Connectivity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Margulies
authors.affiliation: School of Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91905 Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ashkenazi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Clinical Imaging Research Centre & Singapore Institute for Neurotechnology, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schaefer
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taubert
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 84105 Beer Sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Henik
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villringer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, 3498838 Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okon-Singer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D056344:Executive Function / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Amygdala; Connectivity; Emotional interference; Executive control; Inferior frontal gyrus; Training; fMRI