Dynamic Regulation of Internal Experience
Jessica Andrews-Hanna, Ph.D.Department of Psychology; Cognitive Science Program
University of Arizona
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Zac Irving Kieran Fox
Joanna Arch
Randy BucknerMarie Banich
Tor Wager
Sona DimidjianRosi Kaiser
Marina Lopez-Sola
Lindsay IvesRamsey Wilcox
Jessica Renger
Sydney FreidmanQuentin Raffaelli
Jonathan Smallwood
Nathan SprengDiego Pizzagalli
Tal Yarkoni
Thank You!
KalinaChristoff
Mary-Frances O’Connor
HERE AND NOW
What are you doing right now?
Were you thinking about
something other than what you were doing?
46.9%“YES”
Killingsworth & Gilbert, Science, 2010
Off-Task Thinking (i.e. “Mind-Wandering”)
“You are today where your thoughts have brought you;
you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”
– James Allen (1864–1912), author.
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How to harness the adaptive potential of human thought?
How to promote enduring change?
• Task-Related and Task-Unrelated Cognition GREEN GREEN
• Static and Dynamic Approaches
measurement
Time
measurements
Time
• Behavioral, Physiological, and Neural
• Lab and Real-World Contexts
Are our thoughts largely positive or negative? Constructive or unconstructive?
How fused are we with our thoughts? Do they bother us and “loom large” in our
mind?
Smallwood & Andrews-Hanna, FrontiersPsych, 2013; Andrews-Hanna, Smallwood & Spreng, ANYAS, 2014; Christoff, Irving, Fox, Spreng & Andrews-Hanna, NRN, 2016; Andrews-Hanna et al., in press
DYNAMIC REGULATION / CONTROL of:
WHATtopics our thoughts
concern
HOWwe relate to our
thoughts
Do we let our thoughts interfere with important activities?
WHENour thoughts occur
Are they influenced by constraints on cognition? Do our thoughts transition with
ease?
PROCESSESby which our thoughts
initiate and unfold
DYNAMIC REGULATION / CONTROL of:
Christoff, Irving, Fox, Spreng & Andrews-Hanna, NRN, 2016; Andrews-Hanna et al., in press
A Taxonomy of Thought
Christoff, Irving, Fox, Spreng & Andrews-Hanna, NRN, 2016; Andrews-Hanna et al., in press
Highly Dynamic Thoughts
Conte
nt
Time
Highly Rigid Thought / Little Dynamic “Flow”
Conte
nt
Time
Dynamics of Internal Experience
• Emotions in daily life(all types of thought)
Trampe et al., PLOS One, 2015Fox, Andrews-Hanna et al., 2015; in prep;Mills et al., submitted
• 11 studies of off-task thought, (N> 5,000)
Patterns of Thought – What is “Normal”?
On average, people tend to think about mildly positive topics, even when those topics are
unrelated to the task at hand.
“We are all preoccupied with internal thoughts. These thoughts can often be a source of excitement, anxiety, or irritation. In this experiment, we are interested in what kinds of thoughts have been on your mind lately.”
“MY COLLEGE GPA”Future-OrientedSelf-RelevantImportant / Of ValueRecurring ThoughtPositiveSocially-OrientedVividModerately Specific
…
“UPCOMING HAWAII TRIP”
“MISS MY PARENTS”“CLIMB PIKE’S PEAK”
Andrews-Hanna et al, FrontiersPsych, 2013
Thought Content, Continued…
Strongly Disagree Strongly DisagreeNeither
Self-Relevant
Of Value/Importance
Central to Self-Identity
Recurrent Thought
Strongly Agree
Personally-significant
Strongly Disagree Strongly DisagreeNeither
Social / Involve Other People
Strongly Agree
Somewhat social
Valence
Neutral Strongly PositiveStrongly Negative
Somewhat positive
Future
Past
Present/Non-temporal
Andrews-Hanna et al., 2013
Future oriented
Positive, Constructive Content is the Norm
Andrews-Hanna et al., FrontiersPsych, 2013
Depression / Negative
Affect (BDI-II + PANAS-Gen)
Rumination(RRS + RRQ-Rumination)
Mindfulness(FFMQ)
Effect Size (Standardized β)
Personal Significance / Recurrency
Valence(Posvs. Neg)
Temporal Orientation (Future vs. Past)
Specificity / Imagery
***
*
More personally-significant/ recurrent
More negative
Effect Size (Standardized β)
*
Lessspecific/ imagery
Effect Size (Standardized β)
*
*
More specific/ imagery
Less personally-significant/ recurrent
More positive*
Andrews-Hanna et al., FrontiersPsych, 2013
Well-Being Correlates of Thought Content
43% of variance explainedby thought content
31% of variance explained by thought content
45% of variance explainedby thought content
• Develop an international database of daily thinking patterns.• Explore their content, correlates, and consequences
https://play.google.com/store/apps
Where’s My Mind? App
Andrews-Hanna & Arch, in prep
• MDD = Less variable off-task thought content as related to symptoms in an experimental setting (Hoffman et al., JAD, 2016)
• Rumination predicts subsequent negative affect (Moberly & Watkins, J. Abnormal Psych, 2008)
• Negative (especially self-relevant) material more salient, “sticky,” and remembered better in MDD (Matthews & MacLeod, Ann Rev Clin Psych, 2005; Gotlib & Joorman, Ann Rev Clin Psy, 2010)
Affective Constraints on Cognition
Critical Personal
Comments
N-Back Task (1 and 2-back)
Praiseworthy Personal
Comments
N-Back Task (1 and 2-back)
Kaiser, Andrews-Hanna, Metcalf, & Dimidjian, Cog Therapy Res, 2015
Heightened Salience of Negative Information
No relationships with individual
difference measures
following praise
• Daily events perceived as more stressful in MDD (Bylsma et al., J. Abnormal Psych, 2011)• MDD and GAD = heightened & extended rumination à poorer subsequent affect &
worse symptoms (Ruscio et al., J. Abnormal Psy, 2015)
• Broad impairments in executive function in MDD (i.e. poorer inhibition, shifting, working memory updating) (Snyder, Psych Bull, 2014)
Affective Constraints on Cognition
Learned patterns of thinking and feeling a certain way
Time
Constrain thought content
Strong automatic (affective)
biases
Broad impairments in
executive function
Restrict “flow” and impede dynamic
regulation of thought
Brain mechanisms
Default Network
Salience Network
Frontoparietal Control Network
The Default Network
Default Network
• Initially defined as regions that “deactivate” during tasks as compared to “rest” (Shulman et al., JOCN, 1997; Raichle et al., PNAS, 2001)
• Subsequently called a “task-negative network” (Fox et al., PNAS, 2005)
TASK < REST
The Default Network
Default Network
• Initially defined as regions that “deactivate” during tasks as compared to “rest” (Shulman et al., JOCN, 1997; Raichle et al., PNAS, 2001)
• Subsequently called a “task-negative network” (Fox et al., PNAS, 2005)
• Better characterized by role in internally-guided cognition (Buckner, Andrews-Hanna, Schacter, ANYAS, 2008; Andrews-Hanna, Smallwood, Spreng, ANYAS, 2014)
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MEMORY
PROSPECTION
MENTALIZING
The Default Network
Default Network
• Comprised of at least two subsystems that interact through core “hubs” (Andrews-Hanna et al., Neuron, 2010)
The Default Network
Default Network
Affective personal significance/meaning
Meta-cognitive reflection (mentalizing self and other)
Constructive episodic simulation
• Comprised of at least two subsystems that interact through core “hubs” (Andrews-Hanna et al., Neuron, 2010)
• Components contribute differently to internally-guided cognition (Andrews-Hanna, Smallwood, Spreng, 2014)
• Also engaged when “mind-wandering” (Fox et al., NI, 2015; Andrews-Hanna et al., JNeurophys, 2010).
• DMN core may be source of automatic constraints; MT subsystem may be a source of variability / spontaneity (Christoff et al., NRN, 2016)
Frontoparietal Control Network
• Dynamic regulation of external and internal attention based on nature of task (Spreng et al., JOCN, 2010; Andrews-Hanna, Smallwood, Spreng, ANYAS, 2013)
• May buffer internal thought and external attention from distracting information (Smallwood et al., Brain Res, 2011)
• Source of “deliberate” constraints on thought (Christoff et al., NRN, 2016)
Frontoparietal Control Network
Salience Network
• Bottom-up attention to salient external and internal information (Corbetta et al., Neuron, 2008; Hermans et al., 2011)
• Communicates with frontoparietal control network and default / dorsal attention networks to up-regulate attentional resources to internal or external sources (Uddin, NRN, 2015)
• Source of “automatic constraints” on thought (Christoff et al., NRN, 2016)
Salience NetworkAversive > Neutral Films Propanolol
(beta-blocker) reduced HR
and connectivity of salience network
SN regulated by locus coeruleus vis
noradrenergic arousal mechanisms
Are brain network dynamics altered
in mood and anxiety disorders?
• Structural alterations in default, control & salience network in MDD (Drevets et al., Brain Struct Func, 2008; Koolschijn et al., HBM, 2009)
• Hyperactivity of default network in MDD (Sheline et al., PNAS, 2009; Whitfield-Gabrieli& Ford, ARCP, 2012)
• Heightened SN and amygdala activity in response to negative stimuli in MDD and anxiety; reduced frontoparietal control activity (Hamilton et al., AmJPsych, 2012; Etkin & Wager, 2007)
Neural Alterations in Mood & Anxiety Disorders
Kaiser, Andrews-Hanna, et al., SCAN, 2015
Task-related connectivity between ACC and PCC
increased with depressive symptoms
• Salience network hyperconnectivity relates to anxiety (Seeley et al., JNeurosci, 2007)
• Increase default network vs. “task positive” network dominance during rest states in MDD (Hamilton et al., BioPsych, 2011)
• Correlates with rumination
Neural Alterations in Mood & Anxiety Disorders
Hamilton et al., BioPsych, 2011
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Frontoparietal Control Network
Dorsal Attention NetworkDefault Network
Bias towards internal thoughts
Bias away fromexternal environment
General deficits in cognitive control
Kaiser, Andrews-Hanna, Wager, & Pizzagalli, JAMA Psych, 2015
Increased inDepressionReduced inDepression
Meta-Analysis of Resting State Connectivity in Depression
ALSO: 1) Dysfunctional DN-FPCN-salience network connectivity
2) Reduced limbic – accumbens and amygdala connectivity
Static connectivity
Dynamic connectivity
Measuring Brain Dynamics with Dynamic Connectivity
Hutchison et al., Neuroimage, 2013
Dynamic connectivity measures can be more sensitive markers of mental health than static measures (e.g. Damaraju et al., Neuroimage Clinical, 2014)
Measure of connectivity Accuracy predicting group status (HC, SCZ, BPD)
Static rs-fcMRI 70%Dynamic rs-fcMRI 80.5%Static + Dynamic rs-fcMRI 90%
Vanhaudenhuyse et al., JOCN, 2010; Zabelina & Andrews-Hanna, Curr Opinion Neurol, 2016, Kuyci, NI, 2017
Fluctuations in spontaneous mental states occurs at similar frequencies as resting state fMRI
Dynamic Connectivity May Relate to Ongoing Cognition
Kaiser et al., Neuropsychopharm, 2015
Dynamic connectivity in MDD
• Decreased dynamic connectivity within default network in MDD
• Increased dynamic connectivity between MPFC and both insula and dLPFC
Learned patterns of thinking and feeling a certain way
Time
Constrain thought content
Strong automatic (affective)
biases
Broad impairments in
executive function
Restrict dynamic “flow” and regulation
of thought
Default NetworkSalience Network
Frontoparietal Control Network
Promoting Enduring Change
Lane, Ryan, Nadel & Greenberg, Behav Brain Sci, 2015
Promoting Enduring Change
Lane, Ryan, Nadel & Greenberg, Behav Brain Sci, 2015
Constructive meta-cognitive reflection / reappraisal
Episodic simulation / memory retrieval
Make new meaning out of
maladaptive thought patterns
Reconsolidated internal experience
Time
Default NetworkSalience Network
Frontoparietal Control Network
Reduce automatic (affective)
biases
Strengthen attentional
control
Facilitate dynamic “flow” and regulation
of thought
Less affectively constrained
thought content
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Thank You!
KalinaChristoff
Mary-Frances O’Connor
Zac Irving Kieran Fox
Joanna Arch
Randy BucknerMarie Banich
Tor Wager
Sona DimidjianRosi Kaiser
Marina Lopez-Sola
Lindsay IvesRamsey Wilcox
Jessica Renger
Sydney FreidmanQuentin Raffaelli
Jonathan Smallwood
Nathan SprengDiego Pizzagalli
Tal Yarkoni