By contrast, in Gaffan and Simpson experiments [147], rats were presented in each trial with a different scene comparison (i.e., a constant negative scene paired to a trial-unique variable scene; see Fig. 3A), thus forcing the animals to rely on the specific shape of the objects contained in the scenes, rather than on their low-level properties, such as brightness or area (see Fig. 3C E).
All participants viewed line drawings depicting either one or two persons (social factor) in an emotionally neutral or negative scene (emotional factor).
Vegetarians showed a selective recruitment of the right inferior parietal lobule during human negative scenes, and a prevailing activation of the ACC during animal negative scenes.
Conversely, during animal negative scenes an increased activation of the inferior prefrontal cortex was observed in vegans.
A previous study showed that seeing emotionally negative scenes increases the excitability of the left M1 at 150 ms after stimulus onset (Borgomaneri et al. 2013).
Remarkably, vegetarians and vegans have an higher engagement of empathy related areas while observing negative scenes regarding animals rather than humans, with the additional recruitment of the mPFC, PCC, and some visual areas.
Researchers trying to understand aging and emotion performed brain scans on people across a range of ages, gauging their reactions to positive and negative scenes.
Older people, it turned out, were the best at reinterpreting negative scenes in positive ways using positive reappraisal, a coping mechanism that draws heavily on life experience and lessons learned.
"I felt the positive images were only part of history, so I also photographed the negative scenes so that one day there would be a complete history".
First, it extended previous findings of opposing patterns of activity in the ventral affective vs. dorsal executive neural systems produced by distracters inducing general negative emotions (i.e., complex emotionally negative scenes) by showing similar effects with distracters inducing a specific emotion (i.e., transient anxiety-inducing angry faces).
