Neuroanatomical predictors of real-time fMRI-based emotional brain regulation.

Abstract Increasing evidence shows that learned control of BOLD activity in selected brain regions can support emotion regulation. Notably, a number of studies demonstrated that regulation of BOLD activity in several emotion-related areas leads to modifications of emotional behavior along with changes of neural activity in local and distributed networks, in both healthy individuals and individuals with emotional disorders. However, to date a comprehensive description of the neural mechanisms underlying self-regulation of the emotional brain is still lacking. Here, we aimed to delineate a neuroanatomical signature predictive of successful real-time fMRI-based anterior insula regulation, a neuromodulation procedure that has been previously shown to elicit changes in emotional stimuli perception in both healthy individuals and patients. Using a kernel ridge regression model, we investigated gray and white matter structural features discriminative of self-regulation of the anterior insula activity. Our multivariate regression analysis revealed that cortical and subcortical regions in the fronto-occipital and medial temporal lobes as well as the basal ganglia and cerebellum were good predictors of self-regulation of the anterior insula. Notably, the cerebellum appeared to have the largest weight for successful prediction of self-regulation of the anterior insula. Overall, our findings revealed a specific neuroanatomical topography relevant to emotional brain regulation. Ultimately, we reason that the observed neuroanatomical predictors of learned regulation might be important for designing and optimizing future protocols of patient-tailored interventions for emotional disorders.