Ruofan Ma, Taylor N West, Yuritza Y Escalante, Gretchen E Wulfekuhle, Arianna D Cascone, Natalie G Frye, Joseph Leshin, Maleah J Carter, Barbara L Fredrickson, Kristen A Lindquist, Jessica R Cohen
{"title":"Intrinsic network static and dynamic functional connectivity associated with induced affect.","authors":"Ruofan Ma, Taylor N West, Yuritza Y Escalante, Gretchen E Wulfekuhle, Arianna D Cascone, Natalie G Frye, Joseph Leshin, Maleah J Carter, Barbara L Fredrickson, Kristen A Lindquist, Jessica R Cohen","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag008","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag008","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The examination of the neural mechanisms of affect has shifted from a functional localization approach towards a distributed network neuroscience approach. The present study examined the topology of brain networks relevant to affective processing [i.e. the salience (SN), default mode (DMN), ventral attention (VAN), dorsal attention (DAN), and frontoparietal (FPN) networks] during a novel fMRI-based affect-induction task in which participants (N = 73) mentally visualized neutral, positive, and negative self-nominated acquaintances. We used graph-theory metrics to compute the static (i.e. mean) and dynamic (i.e. time-varying) functional integration of networks with the rest of the brain (using participation coefficient) and within-network coherence (using within-module degree). Static DAN within-module degree differentiated the negative from the neutral condition, whereas dynamic VAN participation coefficient differentiated the negative from the positive condition. These results are consistent with the constructionist account that emotions emerge from flexible network configurations and contribute to growing network-based understandings of affective processing.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13188979/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146260232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Approach motivation sharpens shared neural processing: dissociable beta and alpha synchrony.","authors":"Yael Caspi, Barak Atia, Abraham Goldstein","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag058","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag058","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emotional narratives invite listeners into shared cognitive-emotional spaces, yet whether and how a listener's motivational state shapes this convergence remains unknown. Understanding this question is central to accounts of emotional communication, which assume shared processing but rarely examine the individual and contextual factors that modulate it. We recorded magnetoencephalogram (MEG) from 61 participants who listened to anger and fear narratives after an approach or avoidance motivation induction. Source-level intersubject correlation (ISC) of oscillatory envelopes was computed across seven frequency bands in 72 cortical regions, providing spectral specificity unavailable to hemodynamic ISC. Approach motivation enhanced beta-band ISC in left-lateralized temporal networks, and theta ISC bilaterally, consistent with sharpened top-down predictive engagement. Fear narratives produced higher alpha-band ISC than anger narratives in the right-lateralized temporal-parietal regions and the left orbitofrontal cortex, indicating a dissociable sensory-attentional mechanism. Trait behavioral inhibition predicted reduced beta synchrony with the group, particularly when emotional content conflicted with the listener's motivational orientation. Motivational conflict also uniquely sustained shared processing across the narrative, favoring an engagement account over a fluency account. These findings reveal that shared neural processing during emotional narrative comprehension is simultaneously shaped by motivational state, narrative emotion, and dispositional threat sensitivity through parallel oscillatory channels.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13445982/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148537743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
François Thiffault, Benoit Brisson, Isabelle Blanchette
{"title":"Tuning out emotional distractors by tuning in theta rhythm: improving visual working memory using transcranial magnetic stimulation.","authors":"François Thiffault, Benoit Brisson, Isabelle Blanchette","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag063","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag063","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The relation between attentional control and visual working memory (vWM) has previously been studied with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). For example, it has been shown that rhythmic TMS (rhTMS) can enhance attentional control and, consequently, vWM performance, by boosting prefrontal theta rhythm power. However, it remains unclear if the rhTMS protocol used to improve attentional control for neutral valence distractors can do the same for emotional distractors. Moreover, attentional control can be applied in different ways, either by amplifying relevant stimulus representation or by inhibiting distractor processing. In this study, we used rhTMS to increase theta power over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in 19 healthy participants during a visual change-detection task. Auditory distractors with neutral and angry prosodies were heard during the task. Electroencephalography was used to measure theta power, contralateral delay activity, which indexes visual item maintenance, and the auditory P2, which indexes distractor processing. rhTMS boosted theta power and improved vWM accuracy compared to the sham condition. Theta boost was associated with lower emotional distractor processing, but not better maintenance. Our results indicate that the mechanism for attentional control of emotional auditory distractors in the vWM context is based on inhibition rather than amplification of relevant items.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13455082/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148671843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yoko Mano, Koki Nakaya, Hidetsugu Komeda, Asako Toyama, Haruaki Fukuda, Yuri Miyamoto, Shinobu Kitayama, Shinsuke Suzuki
{"title":"Neural mechanisms underlying decisions to express or suppress emotions.","authors":"Yoko Mano, Koki Nakaya, Hidetsugu Komeda, Asako Toyama, Haruaki Fukuda, Yuri Miyamoto, Shinobu Kitayama, Shinsuke Suzuki","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag068","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag068","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emotional expressions play a central role in social communication. The dominant view assumes that emotional expression is a spontaneous consequence of affect. In everyday social life, however, individuals often suppress internally generated emotions. Here, we investigated the behavioral and neural mechanisms underlying decisions about emotional expression, based on the view that emotional expression constitutes a form of decision-making involving evaluation of social context, anticipation of interpersonal consequences, and consideration of social norms. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we scanned 40 Japanese young adults (22 males, 18 females) while they decided whether to express or suppress their emotions in response to emotionally evocative scenarios. We found that decisions to express emotion were positively modulated by perceived valence and arousal. Valence was associated with activity in the inferior frontal cortex and middle temporal gyrus, whereas arousal was associated with activity in the fusiform and parahippocampal gyri. Moreover, decisions to withhold emotional expression were associated with increased activity in regions implicated in mentalizing and cognitive control, including the right temporoparietal junction and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Together, these findings suggest that emotional expression reflects a decision-making process integrating affective and contextual information within neural systems supporting social cognition and cognitive control.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13568820/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148687385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Patricia Christian, Jakob Kaiser, Georgia Eleni Kapetaniou, Simone Schütz-Bosbach, Alexander Soutschek
{"title":"Ventromedial prefrontal cortex attenuates the link between physiological heart rate reactions to unfairness and value computations in normative decision making.","authors":"Patricia Christian, Jakob Kaiser, Georgia Eleni Kapetaniou, Simone Schütz-Bosbach, Alexander Soutschek","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag075","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag075","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Emotional reactions to norm violations influence how people trade-off selfish interests against social norms, but it remains unknown which brain regions contribute to integrating physiological (e.g. heart rate) responses to norm violations into the decision process. Here, we provide evidence that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) attenuates the link between value computations in normative choice and physiological heart rate responses to norm violations. Excitatory brain stimulation over the vmPFC reduced aversion to disadvantageous inequality in an Ultimatum game and increased post-decision confidence after acceptance of unfair monetary splits. Physiological heart rate responses were increased in response to splits perceived as unfair. Enhancing vmPFC excitability reduced the sensitivity to unfairness not by directly reducing heart rate reactions to unfairness but by de-correlating them from the decision process. This suggests that vmPFC moderates the association between physiological heart rate responses to norm violations and trade-offs between self-interests versus norm considerations, highlighting its key role for integrating emotional and cognitive processes in decision making.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13614710/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148893326","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Peter A Kirk, Purnima Qamar, Jacob Lentz, André Zugman, Rany Abend, Katharina Kircanski, Daniel S Pine
{"title":"Linking subjective experience of anxiety to brain function using natural language processing.","authors":"Peter A Kirk, Purnima Qamar, Jacob Lentz, André Zugman, Rany Abend, Katharina Kircanski, Daniel S Pine","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsaf099","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsaf099","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Research on anxiety focuses on clinically relevant behaviours and neurophysiological responses, particularly emphasizing recruitment of amygdala, insula, and cingulate cortex. Whether these same circuits instantiate subjective experience of anxiety remains unclear, a vital hurdle for clinical neuroscience. We used a semi-naturalistic, anxiogenic stimulus (animated movie) to evoke anxiety during fMRI in a pediatric sample with and without anxiety disorders (N = 84, before exclusion). After, participants provided verbal responses to interview questions about the stimulus. We quantified semantic content and valence of responses via natural language processing algorithms. Preregistered analyses found that wide-spread brain activity during the movie-including in the anterior insula cortex-related to participants' descriptions of the movie's narrative. Secondary analyses indicated anxiety symptoms were associated with insula responses, participants' descriptions of the movie's narrative, and appraisals. This study provides preliminary evidence that anxiety symptoms may shape patterns of insula activity during movie-watching, influencing the type of notable details later recalled. These findings underscore the utility of movie viewing paradigms in clinical neuroscience research on subjective emotional experiences in anxiety.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12823007/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145152574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrew L Lyons, Xinrui Jiang, Thomas Rawliuk, Lauryn Burleigh, Scarlett Horner, Laurent Grégoire, Steven G Greening
{"title":"Ventromedial prefrontal cortex activity during extinction recall suggests successful extinction learning via mental imagery.","authors":"Andrew L Lyons, Xinrui Jiang, Thomas Rawliuk, Lauryn Burleigh, Scarlett Horner, Laurent Grégoire, Steven G Greening","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag031","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag031","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mental imagery is an important element of psychological therapies for fear-related disorders. The present study evaluated the efficacy of imagery extinction using a within-subject design allowing for the comparison of a conditioned stimulus extinguished via mental imagery (CS+Ei) to an unextinguished conditioned stimulus (CS+U) during extinction recall. Twenty-eight human participants underwent differential fear conditioning during functional magnetic resonance imagining. Successful acquisition of differential fear conditioning was confirmed by self-reported fear, skin conductance response (SCR), and activation the anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Next, participants imagined the CS+Ei without mild shock and the CS- during the imagery extinction learning phase, in which fear transfer was confirmed with self-reported fear and SCR. Lastly, all stimuli were again visually presented in the visual extinction recall phase. Significantly greater ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activity was observed for the CS+Ei compared to the CS+U, suggestive of successful extinction recall following imagery extinction. Moreover, a vmPFC seed-based psychophysiological interaction analysis indicated that unlike the CS+Ei, the CS+U was positively connected with bilateral amygdala during extinction recall. The present study highlights dissociable vmPFC involvement during extinction recall when viewing the CS+Ei following fear extinction using mental imagery as compared to the unextinguished CS+.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13215085/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147848286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of tRNS on perception of static and dynamic displays of social-emotional communication.","authors":"Carmen Dang, Frank A Russo","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag011","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag011","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Accurately decoding emotions from facial and vocal cues is essential to successful social interaction. The human mirror neuron system (hMNS) is thought to support this through sensorimotor simulation of observed emotional expressions. While prior studies linked hMNS activity-indexed by mu rhythm desynchronization (mu-ERD)-to emotional action perception, causal evidence with dynamic, multimodal social stimuli remains limited. We investigated whether transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) to the inferior frontal cortex (IFC), a key node of the hMNS, enhances perception of static and dynamic emotional displays. Fifty-two participants received active or sham tRNS over the IFC. Consistent with pre-registered predictions, active tRNS led to better performance on static emotion perception tasks compared to sham, with no group difference on a static identity-matching control task-validating stimulation specificity. Extending prior work, active tRNS led to faster response times and greater mu-ERD measured by EEG during dynamic audio-visual emotion perception tasks, consistent with predictions relating to enhanced sensorimotor simulation. These findings suggest that tRNS to the IFC can augment rapid, embodied emotion perception-particularly when stimuli more closely approximate real-world social communication-and contribute to the causal mapping of the hMNS, opening new avenues for studying social-emotional function in neurotypical and clinical populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":"21 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13000340/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147483204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ilkay Ari, Mateusz Woźniak, Davide De Tommaso, Agnieszka Wykowska
{"title":"Causing a robot to display happy but not sad facial expression leads to sensory attenuation.","authors":"Ilkay Ari, Mateusz Woźniak, Davide De Tommaso, Agnieszka Wykowska","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag067","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag067","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Sensory events resulting from our own actions typically evoke weaker neural responses than externally generated events, a phenomenon known as sensory attenuation. Whether this attenuation also occurs in social contexts-when the outcome of one's action is a reaction of an interaction partner, such as an emotional expression, remains unclear. This EEG study investigated whether causing a humanoid robot (iCub) to display emotional facial expressions leads to sensory attenuation in early visual processing, and whether emotional valence modulates this effect. Participants either chose an object to show to iCub, after which the robot displayed a happy or sad expression, or observed the same expressions triggered by the computer. We found reduced P1 amplitudes for self-generated happy expressions, reflecting sensory attenuation, whereas P1 responses to self-generated sad expressions did not differ from computer-generated sad expressions. Furthermore, higher empathy ratings toward the robot were associated with reduced P1 attenuation for sad expressions. Later components were also influenced by emotional valence (N170, P2, P3) and by whether the expressions were self- or computer-generated (N170, P3), without interaction. Our findings suggest that sensory attenuation can be modulated by the affective relevance of one's actions in social interactions, including interactions with artificial agents.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13520941/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148698755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Alyssa J Parker, Munira B Hasan, Leslie S Jordan, Lea R Dougherty, Jillian Lee Wiggins
{"title":"Inhibition-related connectivity predicts irritability risk and resilience across early adolescence.","authors":"Alyssa J Parker, Munira B Hasan, Leslie S Jordan, Lea R Dougherty, Jillian Lee Wiggins","doi":"10.1093/scan/nsag056","DOIUrl":"10.1093/scan/nsag056","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Elevated irritability may in part arise from altered top-down networks, such as those implicated in inhibitory control, that may help modulate temper outbursts. Studies have linked higher youth irritability with aberrant neural patterns during inhibitory control; however, how these networks may relate to trajectories of irritability across key transitions, such as that from childhood to adolescence, remains unknown. Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 5373), four previously identified irritability symptoms trajectories from baseline to 4-year follow-up (low-stable, high-decreasing, low-increasing, and high-chronic) were used to predict neural patterns during the baseline Stop Signal Task. Analyses examined associations between trajectories and whole brain activation and functional connectivity. Amygdala connectivity with insula during successful inhibition was lower in the high-decreasing compared to low-stable and low-increasing trajectories. During failed inhibition, amygdala and strital-prefrontal connectivity was lower in the low-increasing compared to the low-stable and high-chronic irritability trajectories. Results remained after controlling for baseline irritability. Findings indicate that changes in inhibitory control networks in preadolescents may contribute to high-decreasing and low-increasing irritability trajectories across early adolescence. Unexpectedly, differences between the high-chronic and low-stable trajectories were nonsignificant, suggesting inhibitory control may affect changes in irritability symptoms rather than their levels.</p>","PeriodicalId":94208,"journal":{"name":"Social cognitive and affective neuroscience","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13440668/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148431834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}