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Background: Although mental wellbeing has been linked with positive health outcomes, including longevity and improved emotional and cognitive functioning, studies examining the underlying neural mechanisms of both subjective and psychological wellbeing have been sparse. We assessed whether both forms of wellbeing are associated with neural activity engaged during positive and negative emotion processing and the extent to which this association is driven by genetics or environment. Methods: We assessed mental wellbeing in 230 healthy adult monozygotic and dizygotic twins using a previously validated questionnaire (COMPAS-W) and undertook functional magnetic resonance imaging during a facial emotion viewing task. We used linear mixed models to analyse the association between COMPAS-W scores and emotion-elicited neural activation. Univariate twin modelling was used to evaluate heritability of each brain region. Multivariate twin modelling was used to compare twin pairs to assess the contributions of genetic and environmental factors to this association. Results: Higher levels of wellbeing were associated with greater neural activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, localised in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), in response to positive emotional expressions of happiness. Univariate twin modelling showed activity in the IFG to have 20% heritability. Multivariate twin modelling suggested that the association between wellbeing and positive emotion-elicited neural activity was driven by common variance from unique environment (r = 0.208) rather than shared genetics. Conclusions: Higher mental wellbeing may have a basis in greater engagement of prefrontal neural regions in response to positive emotion, and this association may be modifiable by unique life experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It is well-known that both emotional and motivational events greatly impact our behaviour. Based on previous work on the interplay between these two constructs, the present study aimed to test whether and how concurrent emotion and reward signals interact in terms of their basic valence, when both are equally relevant to the task. To this end, we employed a novel fMRI paradigm in which reward availability was explicitly signalled by positive, neutral, or negative facial expressions (using block-wise instructions). Hence, in contrast to previous studies combining reward cues with irrelevant emotional stimuli, the present paradigm required participants to process the emotional information in order to respond and receive the reward. Compared to no-reward trials, we found performance benefits in trials in which reward was signalled by positive emotion, and performance detriments in trials in which reward was signalled by negative emotion - even though the reward value of the positive and negative emotion trials was identical. Neurally, reward trials signalled by negative emotion were associated with increased activity in frontal cognitive control regions, indicative of an induced conflict arising from a mismatch in absolute valence between reward and emotion. In contrast, reward trials signalled by positive emotion did not differentially increase activity anywhere in the brain (despite being associated with behavioural facilitation), which seems to support the notion of an inherent, and hence effortless, mapping between positive/rewarding stimuli and approach behaviour. Together, we interpret these patterns in terms of overlapping and non-overlapping valence signals (and associated response tendencies), which can induce benefits and costs, respectively. Highlights • Positive, negative, and neutral face stimuli were used to predict reward prospect. • Performance benefits were observed for overlapping valence trials (happy + reward). • Non-overlapping valence trials (angry/neutral + reward) led to performance costs. • Angry reward trials were associated with prefrontal activity, indicative of conflict. • The results highlight compatibility effects between incentive and emotional valence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical studies indicate a link between creativity and schizotypal personality traits, where individuals who score highly on schizotypy measures also display greater levels of creative behaviour. However, the exact nature of this relationship is not yet clear, with only a few studies examining this association using neuroimaging methods. In the present study, the neural substrates of creative thinking were assessed with a drawing task paradigm in healthy individuals using fMRI. These regions were then statistically correlated with the participants’ level of schizotypy as measured by the Oxford–Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE), which is a questionnaire consisting of four dimensions. Neural activations associated with the creativity task were observed in bilateral inferior temporal gyri, left insula, left parietal lobule, right angular gyrus, as well as regions in the prefrontal cortex. This widespread pattern of activation suggests that creative thinking utilises multiple neurocognitive networks, with creative production being the result of collaboration between these regions. Furthermore, the correlational analyses found the Unusual Experiences factor of the O-LIFE to be the most common dimension associated with these areas, followed by the Impulsive Nonconformity dimension. These correlations were negative, indicating that individuals who scored the highest in these factors displayed the least amount of activation when performing the creative task. This is in line with the idea that ‘less is more’ for creativity, where the deactivation of specific cortical areas may facilitate creativity. Thus, these findings contribute to the evidence of a common neural basis between creativity and schizotypy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reward consistently boosts performance in cognitive tasks. Although many different reward manipulations exist, systematic comparisons are lacking. Reward effects on cognitive control are usually studied using monetary incentive delay (MID; cue-related reward information) or stimulus-reward association (SRA; target-related reward information) tasks. While for MID tasks, evidence clearly implicates reward-triggered global increases in proactive control, it is unclear how reward effects arise in SRA tasks, and in how far such mechanisms overlap during task preparation and target processing. Here, we address these questions with simultaneous EEG-fMRI using a Stroop task with four different block types. In addition to MID and SRA blocks, we used an SRA-task modification with reward-irrelevant cues (C-SRA) and regular reward-neutral Stroop-task blocks. Behaviorally, we observed superior performance for all reward conditions compared to Neutral, and more pronounced reward effects in the SRA and C-SRA blocks, compared to MID blocks. The fMRI data showed similar reward effects in value-related areas for events that signaled reward availability (MID cues and (C-)SRA targets), and comparable reward modulations in cognitive-control regions for all targets regardless of block type. This result pattern was echoed by the EEG data, showing clear markers of valuation and cognitive control, which only differed during task preparation, whereas reward-related modulations during target processing were again comparable across block types. Yet, considering only cue-related fMRI data, C-SRA cues triggered preparatory control processes beyond reward-unrelated MID cues, without simultaneous modulations in typical reward areas, implicating enhanced task preparation that is not directly driven by a concurrent neural reward-anticipation response. • Effect of reward locked to cues and to targets in a Stroop task are compared. • Clear behavioral reward effects that are stronger for target-reward associations. • Simultaneous EEG-fMRI data suggest similar reward effects on target processing. • Data suggest that similar processes are engaged with different temporal dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]