Work

The Brain Basis of Positive and Negative Affect: Evidence from a Meta-Analysis of the Human Neuroimaging Literature

Year: 2020

Type: review

Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis

Abstract: The ability to experience pleasant or unpleasant feelings or to represent objects as “positive” or “negative” is known as representing hedonic “valence.” Although scientists overwhelmingly agree that valence is a basic psychological phenomenon, debate continues about how to best conceptualize it scientifically. We used a meta-analysis of 397 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography studies (containing 914 experimental contrasts and 6827 participants) to test 3 competing hypotheses about the brain basis of valence: the bipolarity hypothesis that positive and negative affect are supported by a brain system that monotonically increases and/or decreases along the valence dimension, the bivalent hypothesis that positive and negative affect are supported by independent brain systems, and the affective workspace hypothesis that positive and negative affect are supported by a flexible set of valence-general regions. We found little evidence for the bipolar or bivalent hypotheses. Findings instead supported the hypothesis that, at the level of brain activity measurable by fMRI, valence is flexibly implemented across instances by a set of valence-general limbic and paralimbic brain regions.

Source: Carolina Digital Repository (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

DOI: 10.17615/yykc-n975

Authors: Weber, Jochen, Wager, Tor D., Lindquist, Kristen A., Barrett, Lisa Feldman, Satpute, Ajay B.

Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Language: English

Topic: Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences