Elsevier

Journal of Affective Disorders

Volume 61, Issue 3, 2 December 2000, Pages 201-216
Journal of Affective Disorders

A model of neurovisceral integration in emotion regulation and dysregulation

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0327(00)00338-4Get rights and content

Abstract

In the present paper we present the outlines of a model that integrates autonomic, attentional, and affective systems into a functional and structural network that may help to guide us in our understanding of emotion regulation and dysregulation. We will emphasize the relationship between attentional regulation and affective processes and propose a group of underlying physiological systems that serve to integrate these functions in the service of self-regulation and adaptability of the organism. We will attempt to place this network in the context of dynamical systems models which involve feedback and feedforward circuits with special attention to negative feedback mechanisms, inhibitory processes, and their role in response selection. From a systems perspective, inhibitory processes can be viewed as negative feedback circuits that allow for the interruption of ongoing behavior and the re-deployment of resources to other tasks. When these negative feedback mechanisms are compromised, positive feedback loops may develop as a result (of dis-inhibition). From this perspective, the relative sympathetic activation seen in anxiety disorders may represent dis-inhibition due to faulty inhibitory mechanisms.

Introduction

The secret of success lies not so much in the abundance of thought as in our ability to follow one well chosen subject to the exclusion of others (p. 21) … One of the immediate results we obtain through the practice of right concentration is that our mind grows strong and flexible. It adapts itself with great ease to whatever may be placed before it, even something that is out of its accustomed line.” (p. 25) Swami Paramananda (1974)

Everyone knows what attention is. It is the taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration of consciousness are of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others, and is a condition which has a real opposite in the confused, dazed, scatter-brain state.” (James, 1997)

The idea that inhibitory processes are important for adaptability and success of both the individual and the species is not new. The above quotations from one of the first Eastern yogic teachers to come to the United States and from one of the pioneers of American psychology were written in the early part of the twentieth century. The first represents a distillation of thousands of years of yoga psychology, the second the prescient writings of one of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century. More recently, McGeer et al. (1978) note:

We can think that inhibition is a sculpturing process. The inhibition, as it were, chisels away at the diffuse and rather amorphous mass of excitatory action and gives a more specific form to neuronal performance at every stage of synaptic relay. This suppressing action of inhibition can be recognized very clearly at higher levels of the brain…” (p. 133).

A comprehensive model of emotions and disorders of affect must attempt to account for the complex mix of cognitive, affective, behavioral, and physiological concomitants of normal and pathological affective states and dispositions. In the present paper we present the outlines of a model that integrates some of these components into a functional and structural network that may help to guide us in our understanding of emotion regulation and dysregulation. Functionally, this network includes attentional regulation, classical conditioning, affective information processing, and behavioral and physiological flexibility. Structurally, this network includes central nervous system structures, particularly the cingulate cortex, and peripheral endorgans, particularly the cardiovascular system. We will briefly review some of the work that we have done on the functional aspects of emotion regulation and dysregulation tying these functions to specific structures. We will emphasize the relationship between attentional regulation and affective processes and propose a group of underlying physiological systems that serve to integrate these functions in the service of self-regulation and adaptability of the organism. We will attempt to place this network in the context of dynamical systems models which involve feedback and feedforward circuits with special attention to negative feedback mechanisms, inhibitory processes, and their role in response selection. Importantly, we will show that the arousal associated with anxiety represents a dis-inhibition of positive feedback circuits that are normally under tonic inhibitory control.

Section snippets

Functional and dysfunctional aspects of emotion

Emotions represent a distillation of an individual’s perception of personally relevant interplay with the environment including not only challenges and threats but also their ability to respond to or cope with them (Frijda, 1988). As such, emotions serve as an integrative index of an individual’s adjustment to the constantly changing environmental demands they face. Emotions have been characterized as an organismic response to an environmental event that allows for the rapid mobilization of

The central autonomic network and the anterior executive region

A number of researchers have identified functional units within the CNS that appear to support goal-directed behavior and adaptability. One such functional unit is the central autonomic network (CAN; Benarroch, 1993, Benarroch, 1997). Functionally, this network is an integrated component of an internal regulation system through which the brain controls visceromotor, neuroendocrine, and behavioral responses that are critical for goal-directed behavior and adaptability (Benarroch, 1993).

HRV in emotion and psychopathology

Autonomically mediated cardiovascular variability is critical as an index of neurovisceral integration and organism self-regulatory ability. The interplay of sympathetic and parasympathetic (vagal) outputs of the CAN at the sino-atrial node produces the complex beat-to-beat variability that is characteristic of a healthy, adaptive organism. Vagal influences dominant cardiovascular control and thus the cardiovascular system is under tonic inhibitory control via the vagus nerve (Levy, 1990).

Neural imaging of emotion and attention

Advances in our ability to observe the brain in action have shed much light on the neural substrates of behavior. In a recent comprehensive review of both the animal and human literature, Devinsky et al. (1995) propose a system of interconnected areas, termed the anterior executive region, that “assesses the motivational content of internal and external stimuli and regulates context-dependent behaviours” (p. 279). The anterior cingulate has been singled out of this larger system of structures

Summary

We have presented evidence that autonomic control of the heart as measured by HRV is related to attentional regulation, affective information processing, physiological flexibility, and cerebral blood flow. A relative deficit in vagally mediated HRV was found in individuals diagnosed with GAD. Importantly, HRV was also decreased in both non-anxious controls and patients during worry. Anxiety disorders have been linked to excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality (Hayward, 1995).

Conclusions

Autonomic regulation, attentional regulation, and affective regulation allow an organism to meet the challenges of an ever-changing environment. However, the importance of inhibitory processes in this self-regulatory behavior has not yet made its way into the dominant thinking in this area. From a systems perspective, inhibitory processes can be viewed as negative feedback circuits that allow for the interruption of ongoing behavior and the re-deployment of resources to other tasks. When these

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Bruce Friedman, Tom Borkovec, Jos Brosschot, Gary Schwartz, Peter Lang, and Jack Maser for their valuable contributions.

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