.png)
By Emilia Irimia
Emotional intelligence is responsible for shaping the essence of our interpersonal connections and individual well-being as it intertwines with our cognitive faculties. This process is facilitated by the limbic system, which undertakes emotions at a neural level [1].
The amygdala (the linchpin of the limbic system) is the home base of emotional and social behavior. Funnily enough, it was found to be bigger in men [2]. The humor in this finding comes from the notion of use-dependent brain plasticity [3], which has been speculated to be a result of the belief that defines Hebbian learning "(neurons that regularly) fire together, wire together" [4]. The relation between these two concepts has been demonstrated on the basis of the repetition of physical, sensory, and auditory processing actions [5]. This study links brain growth and
increased gray matter volume to repeated practice of a behavior, as the synaptic connections and dendritic arborization associated with repetition prove.
Neuroplasticity, the brain's adaptive capacity, underscores the malleability of emotional intelligence. Experience, learning, and intentional cultivation can also sculpt the neural circuits associated with emotional regulation and social awareness. This places the anterior insula center stage.
While most studies apply repeated patterns of cognitive functions or physical actions in researching use-dependent plasticity, highlighting gray matter volume, the anterior insula becomes the main character when linking repetition of psychological functioning and associated
brain regions [6].
"Emotion regulation refers to the processes by which people seek to influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions." [7].
One of these processes is expressive suppression [8]; this is a response-focused form of emotional regulation meant to influence outward expression - the reaction to a (not suppressed!)
emotional response.
The anterior insula is primarily involved in (bodily and emotional) awareness and consciousness [9], but its role in connecting other regions involved in emotional regulation is to be noted [10]. These functions are mostly sought after when studying the emotional regulation barrier.
No other form of emotional regulation has been effective in involving the anterior insula, which suggests that consistently limiting emotional expression leads to increased insular volume [11]. Seeing as the anterior insula is one of the most volumetrically stable regions, the 0.3% difference
established at the end of this study serves as quantifiable proof.
The prefrontal cortex, especially the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), emerges as the executive conductor, integrating emotional signals for nuanced decision-making as a result of its connectivity with the limbic system [12].
A study run by Alipour et al. (2011) [13] utilized a test called the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) to assess differences in prefrontal lobe function in relation to groups with high and low EI, respectively. The WCST was initially standardized as an indicator for frontal lobe
dysfunction in patients with brain lesions [14], but it proved itself effective in demonstrating increased activity in individuals with high EI and the opposite in subjects with lower EI, as this particular study depicts.
In aid of this finding comes a previous study that defined a bridge between damage to the vmPFC and subpar EI [15]. In turn, we can exemplify some correlated behaviors: social incompetence, decreased sensitivity to social and situational stimuli, interpersonal interaction
problems, and abnormal changes in mood and personality [16].
All in all, these studies highlight the importance of emotional implication as markers for intelligence (impaired cognitive function as a result of low EI and/or ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage does not dignify results on standardized intelligence tests [17]).
Repeated behaviors, or habits, if you will, don't only define you as a neural being, a cognitive individual that lives in a society, but they also significantly affect the structure of your brain. So, cry or don't, yell and scream or keep it in, as long as you stick with it!
References
Rajmohan V, Mohandas E. The limbic system. Indian J Psychiatry. 2007
Marwha D, Halari M, Eliot L. Meta-analysis reveals a lack of sexual dimorphism in human
amygdala volume. Neuroimage, 2017
Kleim JA, Barbay S, Cooper NR, Hogg TM, Reidel CN, Remple MS, et al. Motor
learning-dependent synaptogenesis is localized to functionally reorganized motor cortex.
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 2002
Hebb DO. The organization of behavior. Wiley & Sons; New York: 1949
Kleim JA, Jones TA. Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: Implications for
rehabilitation after brain damage. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
2008
Coen SJ, Yaguez L, Aziz Q, Mitterschiffthaler MT, Brammer M, Williams SC, et al.
Negative mood affects brain processing of visceral sensation. Gastroenterology. 2009
Gross JJ. The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of
General Psychology. 1998
Goldin PR, McRae K, Ramel W, Gross J. The neural bases of emotion regulation: reappraisal and
suppression of negative emotion. Biological Psychiatry. 2008
Craig AD. How do you feel - now? The anterior insula and human awareness. Nature
Reviews Neuroscience. 2009
Nunn K, Frampton I, Gordon I, Lask B. The fault is not in her parents but in her insula -- a
neurobiological hypothesis of anorexia nervosa. European Eating Disorders Review.
2008
Giuliani NR, Drabant EM, Bhatnagar R, Gross JJ. Emotion regulation and brain plasticity:
expressive suppression use predicts anterior insula volume. Neuroimage. 2011
Krueger F, Barbey AK, McCabe K, Strenziok M, Zamboni G, Solomon J, et al. The neural
bases of key competencies of emotional intelligence. PNAS. 2009
Alipour A, Arefnasab Z, Babamahmoodi A. Emotional Intelligence and Prefrontal Cortex: a
Comparative Study Based on Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). Iran J Psychiatry
Behav Sci. 2011
Milner B. Effects of different brain lesions on card sorting: The role of the frontal lobes.
Arch Neurol. 1963
Eslinger PJ, Damasio AR. Severe disturbance of higher cognition after bilateral frontal lobe
ablation: Patient EVR. Neurology.
Koenigs M, Tranel D. Irrational economic decision-making after ventromedial prefrontal
damage: Evidence from the Ultimatum Game. J Neurosci. 2007
Tranel D, Manzel K, Anderson SW. Is the prefrontal cortex important for fluid intelligence?
A neuropsychological study using matrix reasoning. Clin Neuropsychol. 2008
Comments