Anticipating control over aversive stimuli is mediated by the medial prefrontal cortex: An fMRI study with healthy adults

• Main Authors: Boeker, H. (Author), Ernst, J. (Author), Grimm, S. (Author), Haugg, A. (Author), Huber, S. (Author), Northoff, G. (Author), Recher, D. (Author), Richter, A. (Author), Seifritz, E. (Author), Wade-Bohleber, L.M (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc 2021
• Subjects: adult; Adult; anterior cingulate; anticipation; Anticipation, Psychological; article; Auditory Perception; aversion; brain mapping; Brain Mapping; cingulate gyrus; clinical article; control anticipation; controlled study; diagnostic imaging; female; Female; functional magnetic resonance imaging; Gyrus Cinguli; hearing; human; human experiment; human tissue; Humans; insula; Insular Cortex; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; male; Male; medial prefrontal cortex; middle aged; Middle Aged; nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; physiology; posterior cingulate; posterior insula; prefrontal cortex; Prefrontal Cortex; psychomotor performance; Psychomotor Performance; reward; sound; ventral striatum; Ventral Striatum; Ventral Tegmental Area; ventral tegmentum; ventromedial prefrontal cortex
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 The anticipation of control over aversive events in life is relevant for our mental health. Insights on the underlying neural mechanisms remain limited. We developed a new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task that uses auditory stimuli to explore the neural correlates of (1) the anticipation of control over aversion and (2) the processing of aversion. In a sample of 25 healthy adults, we observed increased neural activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (ventromedial prefrontal cortex and rostral anterior cingulate cortex), other brain areas relevant for reward anticipation (ventral striatum, brainstem [ventral tegmental area], midcingulate cortex), and the posterior cingulate cortex when they anticipated control over aversion compared with anticipating no control (1). The processing of aversive sounds compared to neutral sounds (2) was associated with increased neural activation in the bilateral posterior insula. Our findings provide evidence for the important role of medial prefrontal regions in control anticipation and highlight the relevance of conceiving the neural mechanisms involved within a reward-based framework. © 2021 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.