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Pictures of disgusting foods and disgusted facial expressions suppress the tongue motor cortex
Citation
Vicario, CM and Rafal, RD and Borgomaneri, S and Paracampo, R and Kritikos, A and Avenanti, A, Pictures of disgusting foods and disgusted facial expressions suppress the tongue motor cortex, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 12, (2) pp. 352-362. ISSN 1749-5024 (2017) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2016 The Authors. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Abstract
The tongue holds a unique role in gustatory disgust. However, it is unclear whether the tongue representation in the motor cortex (tM1) is affected by the sight of distaste-related stimuli. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in healthy humans, we recorded tongue motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) as an index of tM1 cortico-hypoglossal excitability. MEPs were recorded while participants viewed pictures associated with gustatory disgust and revulsion (i.e. rotten foods and faces expressing distaste), non-oral-related disgusting stimuli (i.e. invertebrates like worms) and control stimuli. We found that oral-related disgust pictures suppressed tM1 cortico-hypoglossal output. This tM1 suppression was predicted by interindividual differences in disgust sensitivity. No similar suppression was found for disgusting invertebrates or when MEPs were recorded from a control muscle. These findings suggest that revulsion-eliciting food pictures trigger anticipatory inhibition mechanisms, possibly preventing toxin swallowing and contamination. A similar suppression is elicited when viewing distaste expressions, suggesting vicarious motor inhibition during social perception of disgust. Our study suggests an avoidant-defensive mechanism in human cortico-hypoglossal circuits and its ‘resonant’ activation in the vicarious experience of others’ distaste. These findings support a role for the motor system in emotion-driven motor anticipation and social cognition.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | disgust, emotion recognition, transcranial magnetic stimulation, motor-evoked potentials, tongue motor area |
| Research Division: | Medical and Health Sciences |
| Research Group: | Neurosciences |
| Research Field: | Neurosciences not elsewhere classified |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences |
| Author: | Vicario, CM (Dr Carmelo Vicario) |
| ID Code: | 114368 |
| Year Published: | 2017 (online first 2016) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 4 |
| Deposited By: | Psychology |
| Deposited On: | 2017-02-14 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-03-23 |
| Downloads: | 27 View Download Statistics |
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