Affective style, psychopathology, and resilience: Brain mechanisms and plasticity

“…for executive control while also recruiting regions more directly associated with inhibiting emotional processing in limbic areas (such as the OFC and ventromedial regions of the PFC as well as the amygdala) (Davidson 2000; Drevets and Raichle 1998; Mayberg et al. 1999; Ochsner et al. 2002).”

“Recent frontal activation-affective style models described by Davidson (1993, 2000) and Fox (1991, 1994) support the notion that emotions, and their role in the maintenance of individual differences in personality, are differentially lateralized in the brain.”

“Results of this pilot study showed that, on the base of already validated literature on EEG frontal imbalance [7-8], the fruition of music and video, in terms of pleasantness, is higher in the healthy child and in the EEG frontal asymmetry related to pleasantness of music perception”

“…followed was a plethora of studies documenting the role of frontal lobe approach-avoidance asymmetry in emotional processing and decision making (Davidson, 1992, 2000, 2002, 2004; Davidson, Ekman, Saron, Senulis, & Friesen, 1990; Gordon, Barnett, Cooper, Tran, & Williams, 2008; HarmonJones…”

“Normalization (Paoletti and Selvaggio, 2013) 2002a,b; Paoletti et al., 2022c; Paoletti and Ben Soussan, 2019), and was inspired by interdisciplinary literature (Fredrickson, 1998; Davidson, 2000; Korb, 2015; Paoletti, 2018; Tabibnia and Radecki, 2018).”

“…of biobehavioral self-regulation in children and adults (e.g., Fowles, 1994; Derryberry and Rothbart, 1997; Panksepp, 1998; Carver et al., 2000; Davidson, 2000; Gray and McNaughton, 2000) Approach reflects sensitivity to rewards, emotionally positive anticipation for pleasurable activities,…”

“For example, Elliot et al. (2007) provided evidence that red primed an avoidance motivation when being evaluated on an intelligence test but an approach motivation when in a romantic context (Meier, D’Agostino, Elliot, Maier, & Wilkowski, 2012). 2. Some aspects of the Mehta and Zhu (2009) study have experienced diffic…”

“23 Davidson, Richard J., Ekman, P., Saron, C. D., Senulis, J. A., & Friesen, W. V. (1990). Approach-withdrawal and cerebral asymmetry: Emotional expression and brain physiology: I. Journal of personality and social psychology, 58(2), 330. de Oliveira, G. N., Lessa, J. M. K., Gonçalves, A. P., Portela, E. J., Sander, J…”

“Even though recovery after an adverse experience has been considered as a resiliency factor (Davidson, 2000; Prince-Embury, 2007), it refers to resilience itself (the ability to bounce back from adversities; Smith et al.”

“…affective style, a measurement of individual differences in resting state asymmetry representing a “broad array of processes that either singly or in combination modulate an individual’s response to emotional challenges, dispositional mood, and affect-relevant cognitive processes” (Davidson, 2000).”

“irregularly across various brain regions of the cerebral cortex [30].”

“Emotional resilience, stemming from the term “psychological resilience”, is characterized by the ability of an individual to improve or maintain positive emotions and recover from negative emotions when faced with stress and adversity (Davidson, 2000).”

“For example, right frontal areas play a key role in the withdrawal from risk (e.g., Davidson, 2000), and inconsistent-handers are more sensitive to risk (Christman, Jasper, Sontam, & Cooil, 2007; Jasper, Woolf, & Christman, 2014).”

“Taken together, this pattern of results suggests that low PS individuals show a general increase in brain reactivity in response to negative pictures involving a distributed set of brain areas, including the OFC [23] (with hemispheric asymmetry in favour of the right side [3]) and the amygdala, which is in a position…”

“Finally, resilience can be viewed as the phenomenon of recovery from a prolonged or severe adversity, or from an immediate danger or stress (Carver &Scheier, 1999; Davidson, 2000).”

“The left prefrontal brain region is composed mainly of positive emotions, while the right anterior frontal brain region is mainly for negative emotions, such as withdrawal, sadness and fear [22, 23].”

“Studies examining a constellation of behavioral and physiological measures (Davidson, 2000) show that affective style can be indexed by biological measures as well as measures of self-reported trait affect.”

“The above explanation runs against Luthar’s point of view when she states that: “Resilience rests, fundamentally, on relationships” (Luthar, 2006, p. 780). Relationships are good and necessary, as they make well-being easy. Nonetheless, many times people have to confront alone adverse situations and so, it is better t…”

“These changes tend to be significantly correlated with a variety of hedonic experiences and the subject's self-report (Davidson 1992, 2000; Davidson et al., 2000).”

“It is suggested that emotional resilience can be indicated by individuals’ ability to generate positive emotions and recover from negative emotions after adverse events (Davidson, 2000).”

“If the spatial information of different brain regions can be used, it is expected to provide help in understanding human emotions (Heller and Nitscke, 1997; Davidson, 2000; Lindquist et al., 2012).”

“Emotions are knowledge primary sources, playing a major role in the individual’s adaptation to the environment (Wallon, 1995, referred by Ressurreição et al., 2008) and they are the initiators of the learning process (Damásio, 2001).”

“Joseph wanted the pupils to have a positive outlook and the ability to recover from difficult emotional experiences (Davidson, 2000).”

“…to have different antecedents (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Finkenauer & Vohs, 2001), may be examined independently (Davis, Zautra & Smith, 2004) and are represented differently in people’s behaviours (Gendolla, 2000) and physiological systems (Davidson, 2000; Wager, Phan, Liberzon & Taylor, 2003).”

“…Page 3 Collura et al. and other pioneers whose names remain fundamental in clinical and experimental neuroscience. sLORETA Imaging and Emotional Decision Making (Approach-Avoidance Model) The underpinnings of this model are an outgrowth primarily from the work of Davidson (1992, 2000, 2002, 2004).”

“…with very little research examining the effects of these processes on recovery from laboratory provocations.1 The importance of examining less commonly studied facets of emotional responding such as recovery has been previously emphasized (Davidson, 2000; Davidson, Jackson, & Kalin, 2000).”

“Both patterns of frontal activation at rest are thought to be markers of emotion dysregulation and are known to be predictive of socioemotional problems (see Davidson, 2000; Fox, 1991, 1994; Schmidt & Fox, 2002, for reviews).”

“Regulating these states is critical for well-being and psychopathology [8, 9].”

“This nuanced view of the ANS further explains that the new suite of cranial nerves supports a range of abilities—voluntary breathing, fine control of vocalization and facial expressions, enhanced sensitivity to vocal tones—that work together to sustain the key facets of social communication, at the same time as they c…”

“From a physiological perspective, chronic exposure to environmental stressors is closely related to activation of the autonomic nervous system through excitation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA), the ‘stress response’ that is reflected in part in heightened emotional intensity and release of cortisol (…”

“For example, positive emotion represents entirely separate physiological processes, mediated by a separate neural substrate and serving an evolutionary function distinct from negative emotion (Davidson, 2000; Fredrickson, 2006).”

“Resilience refers to an individual’s capacity to generate positive emotions and recover swiftly from negative emotional experiences (Davidson, 2000), and it serves as a protective factor against the onset of mental disorders, including depression (Santos et al., 2021 ).”

“…that only individuals with relatively higher left frontal power (i.e., lower frontal activity) displayed increasing trajectories of extraversion supports Eysenck’s underarousal hypothesis and some aspects of motivation/emotion models of frontal activation (e.g., Davidson, 2000; Fox, 1991).”

“Various components may function differentially in psychopathology (Davidson, 2000; Hofmann et al., 2012).”

“Raw EEG measurements were pre-processed using in-house software in MATLAB (Mathworks, Inc., Natick, MA, USA) and the EEGLAB toolbox (Delorme and Makeig, 2004).”

“Among these resources, emotional resilience, defined as the capacity to sustain positive emotions and recover from adversity (Davidson, 2000), emerges as particularly relevant to the academic context.”

“Recent findings stress the role of the left prefrontal cortex in inhibiting the amygdala and, thus, in regulating affective style (Davidson 2000).”

“…positive outcomes in spite of exposure to risk (e.g., Luthar and Eisenberg 2017; Masten 2014), with more specific definitions emphasizing the ability of individuals to experience, express, and maintain positive emotions and reduce negative emotions within a stressful context (Davidson 2000).”

“According to literature on the brain’s structure and function (Breedlove, Watson, & Rosenzweig, 2010; Davidson, 2000; Davidson & Fox, 1988), the forebrain consisting of the left and right hemispheres, which are interconnected by the corpus callosum, deals with emotion, memory, and language.”

“Similarly, research has demonstrated that individuals can down-regulate neurobiological responses to affective stimuli, and this ability is linked to greater left prefrontal activation (Davidson et al., 2000).”

“Economists can begin again to take happiness seriously because self-reported subjective well-being is now shown to have objective validity: for evidence, see Coghill et al. (2003), Davidson (1992, 2000) , Davidson et al. (2000), and the summary provided by Layard (2005).”

“…behaviors: when self-control problems are faced, two separate neural subsystems are activated (McClure et al., 2004; Hare et al., 2009) and regulated by distinct brain circuitry associated with emotion in animals and humans (e.g. see Gray, 1990; Hoebel et al., 1999; Davidson, 1990, 1992, 2000).”

“Early childhood represents a critical developmental period when neural plasticity is at its peak and environmental factors are highly influential on the long-term adaptive functioning of stress physiology (Davidson, 2000).”

“4 This has been illustrated in studies linking EEG with neuroimaging to show that as alpha increases, blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response decreases in a given region.”

“Dans les premières publications, nous proposions que l’habileté à se remettre rapidement de l’adversité constitue un élément important du bien-être et que cette récupération pouvait être mesurée objectivement (Davidson, 2000, pour une recension des écrits).”

“Others assume that these individuals possess a significant ability to use the information provided by negative emotions and learn from their experiences, enabling them to act appropriately in the future (Davidson, 2000).”