Cited by 737Neural and Behavioral Psychology StudiesNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on BehaviorAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Brain activity during transient sadness and happiness in healthy women

Mark S. George, Terence A. Ketter, Priti I. Parekh, Barry Horwitz, Peter Herscovitch, Robert M. Post·1995·American Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The specific brain regions involved in the normal emotional states of transient sadness or happiness are poorly understood. The authors therefore sought to determine if H2(15)O positron emission tomography (PET) might demonstrate changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) associated with transient sadness or happiness in healthy adult women. METHOD: Eleven healthy and never mentally ill adult women were scanned, by using PET and H2(15)O, during happy, sad, and neutral states induced by recalling affect-appropriate life events and looking at happy, sad, or neutral human faces. RESULTS: Compared to the neutral condition, transient sadness significantly activated bilateral limbic and paralimbic structures (cingulate, medial prefrontal, and mesial temporal cortex), as well as brainstem, thalamus, and caudate/putamen. In contrast, transient happiness had no areas of significantly increased activity but was associated with significant and widespread reductions in cortical rCBF, especially in the right prefrontal and bilateral temporal-parietal regions. CONCLUSIONS: Transient sadness and happiness in healthy volunteer women are accompanied by significant changes in regional brain activity in the limbic system, as well as other brain regions. Transient sadness and happiness affect different brain regions in divergent directions and are not merely opposite activity in identical brain regions. These findings have implications for understanding the neural substrates of both normal and pathological emotion.

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Crossref · 10.1176/ajp.152.3.341

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Authors
George, M. S., Ketter, T. A., Parekh, P. I., Horwitz, B., Herscovitch, P., & Post, R. M.
Affiliations
National Institutes of Health (US)
Venue
American Journal of Psychiatry
Published
1995-03-01
Volume
152
Issue
3
Pages
341-351
ISSN
  • 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
  • 1535-7228
OpenAlex
W1517011095
Cited by
737
References
77
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 20 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 17
FWCI
20.13
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
regional cerebral blood flow, limbic system, prefrontal cortex, temporal-parietal cortex, women, neural substrates of emotion
MeSH terms
Adult, Affect, Brain, Cerebral Cortex, Cerebrovascular Circulation, Depression, Depressive Disorder, Emotions, Female, Happiness, Humans, Functional Laterality, Limbic System, Oxygen Radioisotopes, Task Performance and Analysis, Tomography, Emission-Computed

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