Title
Rivalry of homeostatic and sensory-evoked emotions: Dehydration attenuates olfactory disgust and its neural correlates.
Abstract
Neural correlates have been described for emotions evoked by states of homeostatic imbalance (e.g. thirst, hunger, and breathlessness) and for emotions induced by external sensory stimulation (such as fear and disgust). However, the neurobiological mechanisms of their interaction, when they are experienced simultaneously, are still unknown. We investigated the interaction on the neurobiological and the perceptional level using subjective ratings, serum parameters, and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a situation of emotional rivalry, when both a homeostatic and a sensory-evoked emotion were experienced at the same time. Twenty highly dehydrated male subjects rated a disgusting odor as significantly less repulsive when they were thirsty. On the neurobiological level, we found that this reduction in subjective disgust during thirst was accompanied by a significantly reduced neural activity in the insular cortex, a brain area known to be considerably involved in processing of disgust. Furthermore, during the experience of disgust in the satiated condition, we observed a significant functional connectivity between brain areas responding to the disgusting odor, which was absent during the stimulation in the thirsty condition. These results suggest interference of conflicting emotions: an acute homeostatic imbalance can attenuate the experience of another emotion evoked by the sensory perception of a potentially harmful external agent. This finding offers novel insights with regard to the behavioral relevance of biologically different types of emotions, indicating that some types of emotions are more imperative for behavior than others. As a general principle, this modulatory effect during the conflict of homeostatic and sensory-evoked emotions may function to safeguard survival.
Year
DOI
Venue
2015
10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.03.048
NeuroImage
Keywords
Field
DocType
Disgust,Functional MRI,Insular cortex,Olfaction,Thirst
Developmental psychology,Neural correlates of consciousness,Olfaction,Functional magnetic resonance imaging,Disgust,Psychology,Cognitive psychology,Insular cortex,Sensory system,Perception,Sensory stimulation therapy
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
114
1053-8119
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
8
9
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Lea Meier100.34
Hergen Friedrich200.34
Andrea Federspiel300.34
Kay Jann4899.10
Yosuke Morishima531.19
Basile Nicolas Landis600.34
Roland Wiest700.34
W STRIK8153.07
Thomas Dierks9507.16