A new study may reveal how people function amidst
distracting emotions.
Published in the Sept. 21 issue of Neuron,
the findings suggest the human brain is able to
prevent emotions from interfering with mental
functioning.
Researchers from Columbia University Medical
Center in New York City asked volunteer participants
to indicate by pressing a button whether a face
image was happy or fearful, while ignoring "fear"
and "happy" labels written across each
face.
The labels were either "congruent"
(e.g., happy face, "happy" label) or
"incongruent" (e.g., happy face, "fear"
label). The incongruent labels were designed to
represent a conflict between emotional and cognitive
stimuli.
During the tests, the researchers used functional
magnetic resonance imaging to determine what parts
of the brain were active.
They found that when the participants were exposed
to the incongruent labels, activity of the amygdala
-- the brain's center for processing emotional
events -- was inhibited by the anterior cingulated
cortex -- the brain's center for neural processing.
The researchers speculated that their findings
may help explain why people who suffer from post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) or depression may be unable
to control emotional intrusion into their thoughts.
They pointed out that the brains of people with
PTSD and depression may be less able to inhibit
the amygdala during emotional processing.
