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Effects of negative emotion and its correlated neural activity on secretory immunoglobulin A

  • Articles
  • Psychology
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

In this study, we investigated how the negative emotional arousal induced by watching a number of unpleasant images altered the concentration of secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) in saliva. Although our results found discrepancies among participants’ SIgA concentration (i.e. some participants’ SIgA decreased after watching unpleasant pictures, whereas others increased), further analysis revealed correlations among participants’ changes in SIgA concentration, their general coping styles and their actual strategies for emotion regulation when perceiving unpleasant pictures, and the event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with viewing unpleasant pictures. The participants whose SIgA increased after watching unpleasant pictures (the “Increasers”) had higher positive coping scores in the Trait Coping Styles Questionnaire (TCSQ) than those whose SIgA decreased (the “Decreasers”). Also, relative to the “Decreasers”, the “Increasers” tended to use more emotion regulation strategies, particularly with extremely negative pictures. The amplitude of their late positive potentials (LPPs) exhibited a reverse dissociation pattern for extremely negative pictures versus least negative ones and was related to the cognitive evaluation of the stimuli’s meaning. In sum, this research revealed the psychological mechanisms by which negative emotional states influence the immune system and the related ERP changes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Mental Health, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Fan Li, BuXin Han & Jing Luo

  2. Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Fan Li

  3. Department of Psychology, Education School, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, 321004, China

    Jun Ren

  4. Learning & Cognition Lab, Capital Normal University, Beijing, 100037, China

    Jing Luo

Authors
  1. Fan Li
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  2. BuXin Han
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  3. Jun Ren
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  4. Jing Luo
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to BuXin Han or Jing Luo.

Additional information

Supported by the National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2006AA02Z431), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 30770708) and Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KSCX2-YW-R-28)

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Li, F., Han, B., Ren, J. et al. Effects of negative emotion and its correlated neural activity on secretory immunoglobulin A. Chin. Sci. Bull. 53, 1861–1870 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0233-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-008-0233-5

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