The DOI matches its Crossref record; 37 of the 37 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Functional Neuroanatomy of Grief: An fMRI Study
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: In this study the authors examined the functional neuroanatomy of grief, which to their knowledge has not been studied previously in functional neuroimaging research. METHOD: Grief was elicited in eight bereaved women through photographs of the deceased versus a stranger, combined with words specific to the death event versus neutral words. Use of both pictures and words resulted in a 2x2 factorial design. RESULTS: Three brain regions were independently activated by the picture and word factors: posterior cingulate cortex, medial/superior frontal gyrus, and cerebellum. The two factors also activated distinct regions: for the picture factor, they were the cuneus, superior lingual gyrus, insula, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, inferior temporal gyrus, and fusiform gyrus; and for the word factor, they were the precuneus, precentral gyrus, midbrain, and vermis. The interaction of the two factors showed significant activation in the cerebellar vermis. CONCLUSIONS: Grief is mediated by a distributed neural network that subserves affect processing, mentalizing, episodic memory retrieval, processing of familiar faces, visual imagery, autonomic regulation, and modulation/coordination of these functions. This neural network may account for the unique, subjective quality of grief and provide new leads in understanding the health consequences of grief and the neurobiology of attachment.
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“Affected areas include the amygdala, the orbitofrontal cortex, the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, the nucleus accumbens and the insula 96-101 .”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Gündel, H., O’Connor, M.-F., Littrell, L., Fort, C., & Lane, R. D.
- Affiliations
- TUM Klinikum (DE)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Venue
- American Journal of Psychiatry
- Published
- 2003-11-01
- Volume
- 160
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1946-1953
- ISSN
- 0002-953X (ISSN-L)
- 1535-7228
- OpenAlex
- W2107751666
- Cited by
- 293
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 15.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- mediaTUM – the media and publications repository of the Technical University Munich (Technical University Munich) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Death, Funerary Practices, and Mourning
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- grief, bereavement, functional neuroanatomy, posterior cingulate cortex, cerebellar vermis, medial frontal gyrus, mentalization, episodic memory retrieval, visual imagery, autonomic regulation, attachment
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Arousal, Brain, Brain Mapping, Cerebral Cortex, Female, Form Perception, Galvanic Skin Response, Grief, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Middle Aged, Nerve Net, Object Attachment, Mental Recall, Semantics, Verbal Behavior, Visual Perception
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