Functional association of brain and body in emotion regulation : Looking for Spinoza

Abstract

Humans have developed mechanisms of emotion regulation for adaptation for social environments. Here, based on conceptualization by Spinoza, William James, and Antonio Damasio, we recognize emotions as bodily responses to external and internal stimuli and representation of the responses in the brain. Using simultaneous recording technique of neuroimaging and physiological responses, we examined functional association of brain and body accompanying emotion regulation. As results, it was revealed that the lateral and medial parts of prefrontal cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex play important roles for inhibitory control over limbic structures including the amygdala. Furthermore, peripheral physiological responses are projected to the brain, especially in the anterior insula as "somatic marker", and influence subjective experiences of emotions. We propose that biofeedback can provide a unique experimental framework to examine such brain and body interaction accompanying emotional phenomena.