Emotional words evoke region- and valence-specific patterns of concurrent neuromodulator release in human thalamus and cortex
Words represent a uniquely human information channel-humans use words to express thoughts and feelings and to assign emotional valence to experience. Work from model organisms suggests that valence assignments are carried out in part by the neuromodulators dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Here, we ask whether valence signaling by these neuromodulators extends to word semantics in humans by measuring sub-second neuromodulator dynamics in the thalamus (N = 13) and anterior cingulate cortex (N = 6) of individuals evaluating positive, negative, and neutrally valenced words. Our combined results suggest that valenced words modulate neuromodulator release in both the thalamus and cortex, but with region- and valence-specific response patterns, as well as hemispheric dependence for dopamine release in the anterior cingulate. Overall, these experiments provide evidence that neuromodulator-dependent valence signaling extends to word semantics in humans, but not in a simple one-valence-per-transmitter fashion.
Authors
- Mark R. Witcher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6877-2670)
- Seth R. Batten (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8147-4301)
- Gene A. Brewer
- Robert W. Bina
- Kenneth T. Kishida (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7394-8922)
- Brooks Casas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9734-0930)
- Marina Vannucci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7360-5321)
- Terry Lohrenz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1581-0765)
- Dan Bang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7446-7090)
- Jason P. White (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1754-3768)
- William M. Howe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0433-6591)
- Alexis Torres
- P. Read Montague (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8967-0339)
- Beniamino Hadj-Amar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2265-0712)
- Pearl H. Chiu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8767-7406)
- Xavier Celaya
- Natalie Melville
- Alec Hartle (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4089-5473)
- Leonardo S. Barbosa (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3412-2567)
- Samuel M. McClure
- Tom Twomey
Institutions
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging (GB)
- Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital (US)
- Banner Health (US)
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (GB)
- Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix (US)
- Virginia Tech - Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering & Sciences (US)
- Biomedical Research Institute (US)
- University College London (GB)
- Wake Forest University (US)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Carilion Clinic (US)
- ITT Technical Institute (US)
- Rice University (US)
- Virginia Tech (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Cell Reports
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.115162
- Citations
- 16
- Primary Topic
- Neural dynamics and brain function
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 22.90
Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
- Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
- Wellcome Trust
- Lundbeckfonden
- H. Lundbeck A/S
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Aging
- National Institute of Mental Health
- National Institute on Drug Abuse
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences