Misophonia is associated with altered brain activity in the auditory cortex and salience network

Misophonia is characterized by intense rage and disgust provoked by hearing specific human sounds resulting in social isolation due to avoidance. We exposed patients with symptom provoking audiovisual stimuli to investigate brain activity of emotional responses. 21 patients with misophonia and 23 ma...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2019-05, Vol.9 (1), p.7542-7542, Article 7542
Main Authors: Schröder, Arjan, van Wingen, Guido, Eijsker, Nadine, San Giorgi, Renée, Vulink, Nienke C, Turbyne, Collin, Denys, Damiaan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affective Symptoms - physiopathology
Aggression - physiology
Arousal
Auditory Cortex - physiology
Brain mapping
Cortex (auditory)
Cortex (cingulate)
Cortex (temporal)
Disgust
EKG
Electrocardiography
Emotions
Emotions - physiology
Female
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Gyrus Cinguli - physiology
Heart rate
Heart Rate - physiology
Humans
Hyperacusis - physiopathology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Neuroimaging
Physiology
Rage - physiology
Sensory integration
Social interactions
Surveys and Questionnaires
Temporal Lobe - physiology
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Summary:Misophonia is characterized by intense rage and disgust provoked by hearing specific human sounds resulting in social isolation due to avoidance. We exposed patients with symptom provoking audiovisual stimuli to investigate brain activity of emotional responses. 21 patients with misophonia and 23 matched healthy controls were recruited at the psychiatry department of the Amsterdam UMC. Participants were presented with three different conditions, misophonia related cues (video clips with e.g. lip smacking and loud breathing), aversive cues (violent or disgusting clips from movies), and neutral cues (video clips of e.g. someone meditating) during fMRI. Electrocardiography was recorded to determine physiological changes and self-report measures were used to assess emotional changes. Misophonic cues elicited anger, disgust and sadness in patients compared to controls. Emotional changes were associated with increases in heart rate. The neuroimaging data revealed increased activation of the right insula, right anterior cingulate cortex and right superior temporal cortex during viewing of the misophonic video clips compared to neutral clips. Our results demonstrate that audiovisual stimuli trigger anger and physiological arousal in patients with misophonia, associated with activation of the auditory cortex and salience network.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-019-44084-8