title: Cerebral bases of emotion regulation toward odours: A first approach.
abstract: Emotion regulation is defined as an important mechanism for human adaptation. fMRI studies have recently highlighted its neural bases but most research uses visual stimulation to induce emotion, none of them using odorant stimulations. Nevertheless, olfaction is intimately linked to emotional processes, sharing some same neural bases and thus constitutes a valuable emotion-inducer in experimental conditions. The present study aims to determine the cerebral areas which might be involved in down-regulation, using pleasant and unpleasant odours as emotion-inducers. Eighteen subjects were scanned during 2 sequences of 12 stimulations, each with either a pleasant or an unpleasant odour. For one sequence, subjects were instructed to naturally experience their emotion induced by odour inhalation and for the other one, to decrease the intensity of their emotion. Consistent with previous work using emotion-inducers, emotion regulation resulted in higher activations of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the anterior insula, but in lower activation of the amygdala. However, some areas (the posterior cerebellum and the orbitofrontal cortex) are less activated during regulation compared to maintain and thus appear to be specific to odorant stimulations. Finally the hedonic valence of the odour determines activations in different brain areas such as the supplementary motor area and the posterior cingulum. Thus, this study suggests abilities to regulate emotion in response to odours, involving brain areas usually described in the literature for other emotional stimuli, but also specific areas depending partly of the hedonic valence of the odour.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Intégratives et Cliniques, EA481, Université de Franche-Comté, 2 place du Maréchal Leclerc, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France. Electronic address: pierre.billot@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pierre-Edouard
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Billot
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Intégratives et Cliniques, EA481, Université de Franche-Comté, 2 place du Maréchal Leclerc, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Andrieu
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Intégratives et Cliniques, EA481, Université de Franche-Comté, 2 place du Maréchal Leclerc, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France; Neuro-Radiologie et Thérapie Endovasculaire, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire J. Minjoz, 3 Bvd Fleming, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Biondi
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Cognition Humaines et Artificielles, EA4004, Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre, 200 av. de la République, 92001 Nanterre Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Sandrine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vieillard
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Intégratives et Cliniques, EA481, Université de Franche-Comté, 2 place du Maréchal Leclerc, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France; Département de Neuroimagerie Fonctionnelle, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire J. Minjoz, 3 Bvd Fleming, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moulin
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Neurosciences Intégratives et Cliniques, EA481, Université de Franche-Comté, 2 place du Maréchal Leclerc, 25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Louis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Millot
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen
keywords: Distraction; Emotion regulation; Neuroimaging; Smell; fMRI