An Investigation of the Effects of Emotional Experience Induction on Mirror Neurons System Activity with Regard to Spectrum of Depressive Symptoms
The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of emotional experience induction in the mirror neurons systems (MNS) activity with regard to the spectrum of depressive symptoms. For this purpose, at first stage, 449 students of Kharazmi University of Tehran were selected randomly and completed the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Then, 36 students with standard Z-score equal or above +1.5 and equal or equal or below -1.5 were selected to construct two groups of high and low spectrum of depressive symptoms. In the next stage, the basic activity of MNS was recorded (mu wave) before presenting the positive and negative emotional video clips by Electroencephalography (EEG) technique. The findings related to emotion induction (neutral, negative and positive emotion) demonstrated that the activity of recorded mirror neuron areas had a significant difference between the depressive and non-depressive groups. These findings suggest that probably processing of negative emotions in depressive individuals is due to the idea that the mirror neurons in motor cortex matched up the activity of cognitive regions with the person’s schema. Considering the results of the present study, it could be said that the MNS provides a substrate where emotional disorders can be studied and evaluated.
[1] Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2001). Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanding and imitation of action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2(9), 661-670.
[2] Pineda, J. A. 2009. Mirror neuron systems. The Role of Mirroring Processes in Social Cognition.
[3] Decety, J., & Sommerville, J. A. 2003. Shared representations between self and other: a social cognitive neuroscience view. Trends Cogn. Sci.,7(12), 527-533.
[4] American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Pub.
[5] Nejati, V., & Izadi-Najafabadi, S. 2012. Verbal fluency and working memory deficit in first-degree relatives of autistic children. Journal of Gorgan University of Medical Sciences, 14(3), 109-114.
[6] Ramachandra, V., Depalma, N., & Lisiewski, S. 2009. The role of mirror neurons in processing vocal emotions: Evidence from psychophysiological data. Int J NeuroSci, 119(5), 681-691.
[7] Hill, A. T., Fitzgibbon, B. M., Arnold, S. L., Rinehart, N. J., Fitzgerald, P. B., & Enticott, P. G. 2013. Modulation of putative mirror neuron activity by both positively and negatively valenced affective stimuli: A TMS study. Behav. Brain Res., 249, 116-123.
[8] Yuan, T. F., & Hoff, R. 2008. Mirror neuron system based therapy for emotional disorders. Med. Hypotheses, 71(5), 722-726.
[9] Watson, D. (2005). Rethinking the mood and anxiety disorders: A quantitative hierarchical model for DSM-V. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 522−536.
[10] Campbell-Sills, L., & Barlow, D. H. 2007. Incorporating emotion regulation into conceptualizations and treatments of anxiety and mood disorders, in Gross, J. J. (Eds), Handbook of emotion regulation. Guilford Press, New York, pp. 542-559.
[11] Gross, J. J., & Muñoz, R. F. 1995. Emotion regulation and mental health.Clinical psychology: Glob Health Sci Pract, 2(2), 151-164.
[12] Mennin, D. S., Holaway, R. M., Fresco, D. M., Moore, M. T., & Heimberg, R. G. (2007). Delineating components of emotion and its dysregulation in anxiety and mood psychopathology. Behavior Therapy, 38(3), 284-302.
[13] Carr, L., Iacoboni, M., Dubeau, M. C., Mazziotta, J. C., & Lenzi, G. L. 2003. Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: a relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas. Proc Natl Acad Sci,100(9), 5497-5502.
[14] Malhi, G. S., Lagopoulos, J., Owen, A. M., Ivanovski, B., Shnier, R., & Sachdev, P. 2007. Reduced activation to implicit affect induction in euthymic bipolar patients: an fMRI study. J Affect Disord, 97(1), 109-122
[15] Dolcos, F., & McCarthy, G. 2006. Brain systems mediating cognitive interference by emotional distraction. The J Neurosci Neuroeng, 26(7), 2072-2079.
[16] Olsson, A., & Ochsner, K. N. 2008. The role of social cognition in emotion. Trends Cogn. Sci, 12(2), 65-71.
[17] Jonides, J., Smith, E. E., Marshuetz, C., Koeppe, R. A., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. 1998. Inhibition in verbal working memory revealed by brain activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci India Sect B Biol Sci, 95(14), 8410-8413.
[18] Nitsche, M. A., Boggio, P. S., Fregni, F., & Pascual-Leone, A. 2009. Treatment of depression with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): a review. Exp Neurol, 219(1), 14-19.
[19] Javadi, A. H., & Walsh, V. 2012. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulates declarative memory. Brain Stimul, 5(3), 231-241.
[20] Utz, K. S., Dimova, V., Oppenländer, K., & Kerkhoff, G. 2010. Electrified minds: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) as methods of non-invasive brain stimulation in neuropsychology—a review of current data and future implications. Neuropsychologia, 48(10), 2789-2810.
[21] Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2006). Mirrors in the mind. Scientific American, 295(5), 54-61.
[22] Raymaekers, R., Wiersema, J. R., & Roeyers, H. (2009). EEG study of the mirror neuron system in children with high functioning autism. Brain research, 1304, 113-121.
[23] Arbib, M. A., & Mundhenk, T. N. (2005). Schizophrenia and the mirror system: an essay. Neuropsychologia, 43(2), 268-280.
[24] Gross, J. J. (Ed.). (2013). Handbook of emotion regulation. Guilford publications.
[25] Jasper, H. H. (1958). The ten twenty electrode system of the international federation. Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 10, 371-375.
[26] Veiga, H., Deslandes, A., Cagy, M., Fiszman, A., Piedade, R. A. M., & Ribeiro, P. (2003). Neurocortical electrical activity tomography in chronic schizophrenics. Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria, 61(3B), 712-717.
[27] Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Carbin, M. G. (1988). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical psychology review, 8(1), 77-100.
[28] Teplan, M. 2002. Fundamentals of EEG measurement. Meas Sci Rev, 2(2), 1-11.
[29] Homan, R. W., Herman, J., & Purdy, P. (1987). Cerebral location of international 10–20 system electrode placement. Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 66(4), 376-382.
[30] Ray, R. D. 2007. Emotion elicitation using films. Handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment, 9-28.
[31] Hasani, J., Azad Fllah, P., & Ashyeri, H. 2008. the effect of reappraisal and suppression of emotional experiences of regional brain activity with regard to extraversion and neuroticism dimensions.
[32] Howitt, D., & Cramer, D. 2007. Introduction to statistics in psychology. Pearson Education.
[33] Bodini, B., Iacoboni, M., & Lenzi, G. L. 2004. Acute stroke effects on emotions: an interpretation through the mirror system. Curr. Opin. Neurol., 17(1), 55-60.
[34] Wicker, B., Keysers, C., Plailly, J., Royet, J. P., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G. 2003. Both of us disgusted in my insula: the common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust. Neuron, 40(3), 655-664.
[35] Leslie, K. R., Johnson-Frey, S. H., & Grafton, S. T. 2004. Functional imaging of face and hand imitation: towards a motor theory of empathy. Neuroimage,21(2), 601-607.
[36] Fecteau, S., Pascual-Leone, A., & Théoret, H. 2008. Psychopathy and the mirror neuron system: preliminary findings from a non-psychiatric sample. Psychiat Res, 160(2), 137-144.
[37] Pfeifer, J. H., Iacoboni, M., Mazziotta, J. C., & Dapretto, M. 2008. Mirroring others' emotions relates to empathy and interpersonal competence in children. Neuroimage, 39(4), 2076-2085.
[38] Aitken, K. J. 2008. Intersubjectivity, affective neuroscience, and the neurobiology of autistic spectrum disorders: a systematic review. Keio J Med, 57(1), 15-36.
[39] Sato, W., Kochiyama, T., Yoshikawa, S., Naito, E., & Matsumura, M. (2004). Enhanced neural activity in response to dynamic facial expressions of emotion: an fMRI study. Cognitive Brain Research, 20(1), 81-91.
[1] Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2001). Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the understanding and imitation of action. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2(9), 661-670.
[2] Pineda, J. A. 2009. Mirror neuron systems. The Role of Mirroring Processes in Social Cognition.
[3] Decety, J., & Sommerville, J. A. 2003. Shared representations between self and other: a social cognitive neuroscience view. Trends Cogn. Sci.,7(12), 527-533.
[4] American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5®). American Psychiatric Pub.
[5] Nejati, V., & Izadi-Najafabadi, S. 2012. Verbal fluency and working memory deficit in first-degree relatives of autistic children. Journal of Gorgan University of Medical Sciences, 14(3), 109-114.
[6] Ramachandra, V., Depalma, N., & Lisiewski, S. 2009. The role of mirror neurons in processing vocal emotions: Evidence from psychophysiological data. Int J NeuroSci, 119(5), 681-691.
[7] Hill, A. T., Fitzgibbon, B. M., Arnold, S. L., Rinehart, N. J., Fitzgerald, P. B., & Enticott, P. G. 2013. Modulation of putative mirror neuron activity by both positively and negatively valenced affective stimuli: A TMS study. Behav. Brain Res., 249, 116-123.
[8] Yuan, T. F., & Hoff, R. 2008. Mirror neuron system based therapy for emotional disorders. Med. Hypotheses, 71(5), 722-726.
[9] Watson, D. (2005). Rethinking the mood and anxiety disorders: A quantitative hierarchical model for DSM-V. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 522−536.
[10] Campbell-Sills, L., & Barlow, D. H. 2007. Incorporating emotion regulation into conceptualizations and treatments of anxiety and mood disorders, in Gross, J. J. (Eds), Handbook of emotion regulation. Guilford Press, New York, pp. 542-559.
[11] Gross, J. J., & Muñoz, R. F. 1995. Emotion regulation and mental health.Clinical psychology: Glob Health Sci Pract, 2(2), 151-164.
[12] Mennin, D. S., Holaway, R. M., Fresco, D. M., Moore, M. T., & Heimberg, R. G. (2007). Delineating components of emotion and its dysregulation in anxiety and mood psychopathology. Behavior Therapy, 38(3), 284-302.
[13] Carr, L., Iacoboni, M., Dubeau, M. C., Mazziotta, J. C., & Lenzi, G. L. 2003. Neural mechanisms of empathy in humans: a relay from neural systems for imitation to limbic areas. Proc Natl Acad Sci,100(9), 5497-5502.
[14] Malhi, G. S., Lagopoulos, J., Owen, A. M., Ivanovski, B., Shnier, R., & Sachdev, P. 2007. Reduced activation to implicit affect induction in euthymic bipolar patients: an fMRI study. J Affect Disord, 97(1), 109-122
[15] Dolcos, F., & McCarthy, G. 2006. Brain systems mediating cognitive interference by emotional distraction. The J Neurosci Neuroeng, 26(7), 2072-2079.
[16] Olsson, A., & Ochsner, K. N. 2008. The role of social cognition in emotion. Trends Cogn. Sci, 12(2), 65-71.
[17] Jonides, J., Smith, E. E., Marshuetz, C., Koeppe, R. A., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. A. 1998. Inhibition in verbal working memory revealed by brain activation. Proc Natl Acad Sci India Sect B Biol Sci, 95(14), 8410-8413.
[18] Nitsche, M. A., Boggio, P. S., Fregni, F., & Pascual-Leone, A. 2009. Treatment of depression with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): a review. Exp Neurol, 219(1), 14-19.
[19] Javadi, A. H., & Walsh, V. 2012. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex modulates declarative memory. Brain Stimul, 5(3), 231-241.
[20] Utz, K. S., Dimova, V., Oppenländer, K., & Kerkhoff, G. 2010. Electrified minds: transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and galvanic vestibular stimulation (GVS) as methods of non-invasive brain stimulation in neuropsychology—a review of current data and future implications. Neuropsychologia, 48(10), 2789-2810.
[21] Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2006). Mirrors in the mind. Scientific American, 295(5), 54-61.
[22] Raymaekers, R., Wiersema, J. R., & Roeyers, H. (2009). EEG study of the mirror neuron system in children with high functioning autism. Brain research, 1304, 113-121.
[23] Arbib, M. A., & Mundhenk, T. N. (2005). Schizophrenia and the mirror system: an essay. Neuropsychologia, 43(2), 268-280.
[24] Gross, J. J. (Ed.). (2013). Handbook of emotion regulation. Guilford publications.
[25] Jasper, H. H. (1958). The ten twenty electrode system of the international federation. Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 10, 371-375.
[26] Veiga, H., Deslandes, A., Cagy, M., Fiszman, A., Piedade, R. A. M., & Ribeiro, P. (2003). Neurocortical electrical activity tomography in chronic schizophrenics. Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria, 61(3B), 712-717.
[27] Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A., & Carbin, M. G. (1988). Psychometric properties of the Beck Depression Inventory: Twenty-five years of evaluation. Clinical psychology review, 8(1), 77-100.
[28] Teplan, M. 2002. Fundamentals of EEG measurement. Meas Sci Rev, 2(2), 1-11.
[29] Homan, R. W., Herman, J., & Purdy, P. (1987). Cerebral location of international 10–20 system electrode placement. Electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology, 66(4), 376-382.
[30] Ray, R. D. 2007. Emotion elicitation using films. Handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment, 9-28.
[31] Hasani, J., Azad Fllah, P., & Ashyeri, H. 2008. the effect of reappraisal and suppression of emotional experiences of regional brain activity with regard to extraversion and neuroticism dimensions.
[32] Howitt, D., & Cramer, D. 2007. Introduction to statistics in psychology. Pearson Education.
[33] Bodini, B., Iacoboni, M., & Lenzi, G. L. 2004. Acute stroke effects on emotions: an interpretation through the mirror system. Curr. Opin. Neurol., 17(1), 55-60.
[34] Wicker, B., Keysers, C., Plailly, J., Royet, J. P., Gallese, V., & Rizzolatti, G. 2003. Both of us disgusted in my insula: the common neural basis of seeing and feeling disgust. Neuron, 40(3), 655-664.
[35] Leslie, K. R., Johnson-Frey, S. H., & Grafton, S. T. 2004. Functional imaging of face and hand imitation: towards a motor theory of empathy. Neuroimage,21(2), 601-607.
[36] Fecteau, S., Pascual-Leone, A., & Théoret, H. 2008. Psychopathy and the mirror neuron system: preliminary findings from a non-psychiatric sample. Psychiat Res, 160(2), 137-144.
[37] Pfeifer, J. H., Iacoboni, M., Mazziotta, J. C., & Dapretto, M. 2008. Mirroring others' emotions relates to empathy and interpersonal competence in children. Neuroimage, 39(4), 2076-2085.
[38] Aitken, K. J. 2008. Intersubjectivity, affective neuroscience, and the neurobiology of autistic spectrum disorders: a systematic review. Keio J Med, 57(1), 15-36.
[39] Sato, W., Kochiyama, T., Yoshikawa, S., Naito, E., & Matsumura, M. (2004). Enhanced neural activity in response to dynamic facial expressions of emotion: an fMRI study. Cognitive Brain Research, 20(1), 81-91.
@article{"International Journal of Medical, Medicine and Health Sciences:75530", author = "Elyas Akbari and Jafar Hasani and Newsha Dehestani and Mohammad Khaleghi and Alireza Moradi", title = "An Investigation of the Effects of Emotional Experience Induction on Mirror Neurons System Activity with Regard to Spectrum of Depressive Symptoms", abstract = "The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of emotional experience induction in the mirror neurons systems (MNS) activity with regard to the spectrum of depressive symptoms. For this purpose, at first stage, 449 students of Kharazmi University of Tehran were selected randomly and completed the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Then, 36 students with standard Z-score equal or above +1.5 and equal or equal or below -1.5 were selected to construct two groups of high and low spectrum of depressive symptoms. In the next stage, the basic activity of MNS was recorded (mu wave) before presenting the positive and negative emotional video clips by Electroencephalography (EEG) technique. The findings related to emotion induction (neutral, negative and positive emotion) demonstrated that the activity of recorded mirror neuron areas had a significant difference between the depressive and non-depressive groups. These findings suggest that probably processing of negative emotions in depressive individuals is due to the idea that the mirror neurons in motor cortex matched up the activity of cognitive regions with the person’s schema. Considering the results of the present study, it could be said that the MNS provides a substrate where emotional disorders can be studied and evaluated.
", keywords = "Emotional experiences, mirror neurons, depressive symptoms.", volume = "11", number = "5", pages = "243-5", }
