Emotion-dependent responses in spinal cord neurons: A spinal fMRI study

Previous research has demonstrated that emotional stimuli receive preferential processing in the brain. In the current study, functional magnetic resonance imaging was utilized to determine if emotion-specific responses are detectable in the cervical spinal cord. During the passive (i.e., non-motoric) perception of images, activity was detected in the left dorsal and right ventral spinal cord in response to negative emotional stimuli; however, this pattern was reversed in response to neutral and positive stimuli. Critically, during active motoric responses to images, there was greater activity in the ventral cervical spinal cord in response to negative emotional stimuli than to neutral stimuli. These results demonstrate preferential motor responses to negative emotional images by the spinal cord, likely indicating an enhancement of activity in response to threat.

Research highlights
► Activity in the cervical spinal cord is influenced by emotional images.
► Positive and negative images elicit opposite patterns of activity during perception.
► Threatening images increase activity in the cervical spinal cord during movements.
► Activity occurs in the ventral aspect of the cord during the negative condition.
► Activity is lateralized to the side producing movement in the negative condition.