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. 2016 May;11(5):703-11.
doi: 10.1093/scan/nsw001. Epub 2016 Jan 8.

'Imagined guilt' vs 'recollected guilt': implications for fMRI

Neil Mclatchie  1 , Roger Giner-Sorolla  2 , Stuart W G Derbyshire  3
Affiliations

'Imagined guilt' vs 'recollected guilt': implications for fMRI

Neil Mclatchie et al. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2016 May.

Abstract

Guilt is thought to maintain social harmony by motivating reparation. This study compared two methodologies commonly used to identify the neural correlates of guilt. The first, imagined guilt, requires participants to read hypothetical scenarios and then imagine themselves as the protagonist. The second, recollected guilt, requires participants to reflect on times they personally experienced guilt. In the fMRI scanner, participants were presented with guilt/neutral memories and guilt/neutral hypothetical scenarios. Contrasts confirmed a priori predictions that guilt memories, relative to guilt scenarios, were associated with significantly greater activity in regions associated with affect [anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), Caudate, Insula, orbital frontal cortex (OFC)] and social cognition [temporal pole (TP), precuneus). Similarly, results indicated that guilt memories, relative to neutral memories, were also associated with greater activity in affective (ACC, amygdala, Insula, OFC) and social cognition (mPFC, TP, precuneus, temporo-parietal junction) regions. There were no significant differences between guilt hypothetical scenarios and neutral hypothetical scenarios in either affective or social cognition regions. The importance of distinguishing between different guilt inductions inside the scanner is discussed. We offer explanations of our results and discuss ideas for future research.

Keywords: guilt; hypothetical scenarios; memories.

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Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Demonstrates the functional imaging block design. Presentations lasted 14 s. Participants then reflected on the memory/scenario for 10s before being presented with a crosshair during which they were asked to clear their minds.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
Results of the guilt memory/neutral memory contrast. effects are thresholded at P < 0.001, with a minimum cluster-size of 23 voxels. (A) Left hemispheric activity of the TPJ (8). (B) Right hemispheric activity of the OFC (1) and the Temporal Poles (6) (C) Sagittal view of hemispheric activity of ACC (2), mPFC (5) and precuneus (7). (D) Axial view of hemispheric activity of the amygdala (3) and insula (4).
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3.
Results of the guilt memory/guilt hypothetical contrast. Effects are thresholded at p < 0.001, with a minimum cluster-size of 23 voxels. (A) Left hemisphere showing increased activity of the OFC (4) and the temporal pole (5). (B) Sagittal view showing increased activity of ACC (1) and the precuneus (6). (C) Axial view showing increased activity of the insula (2) and the caudate nucleus (3).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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