Journal article
The Brain Basis for Misophonia
Current biology, Vol.27(4), pp.527-533
02/20/2017
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.048
PMCID: PMC5321671
PMID: 28162895
Abstract
Misophonia is an affective sound-processing disorder characterized by the experience of strong negative emotions (anger and anxiety) in response to everyday sounds, such as those generated by other people eating, drinking, chewing, and breathing [1–8]. The commonplace nature of these sounds (often referred to as “trigger sounds”) makes misophonia a devastating disorder for sufferers and their families, and yet nothing is known about the underlying mechanism. Using functional and structural MRI coupled with physiological measurements, we demonstrate that misophonic subjects show specific trigger-sound-related responses in brain and body. Specifically, fMRI showed that in misophonic subjects, trigger sounds elicit greatly exaggerated blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the anterior insular cortex (AIC), a core hub of the “salience network” that is critical for perception of interoceptive signals and emotion processing. Trigger sounds in misophonics were associated with abnormal functional connectivity between AIC and a network of regions responsible for the processing and regulation of emotions, including ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), posteromedial cortex (PMC), hippocampus, and amygdala. Trigger sounds elicited heightened heart rate (HR) and galvanic skin response (GSR) in misophonic subjects, which were mediated by AIC activity. Questionnaire analysis showed that misophonic subjects perceived their bodies differently: they scored higher on interoceptive sensibility than controls, consistent with abnormal functioning of AIC. Finally, brain structural measurements implied greater myelination within vmPFC in misophonic individuals. Overall, our results show that misophonia is a disorder in which abnormal salience is attributed to particular sounds based on the abnormal activation and functional connectivity of AIC.
•Trigger sounds elicit exaggerated response in anterior insula in misophonia•In misophonia, there is abnormal functional connectivity of anterior insula•Heightened autonomic responses are mediated by anterior insula in misophonia•Misophonia is associated with altered interoception
Kumar et al. show that misophonia is associated with abnormal activation, functional connectivity, and structural changes in the brain and heightened autonomic responses of the body.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Brain Basis for Misophonia
- Creators
- Sukhbinder Kumar - University of Newcastle AustraliaOlana Tansley-Hancock - Newcastle UniversityWilliam Sedley - Newcastle UniversityJoel S. Winston - Wellcome Centre for Human NeuroimagingMartina F. Callaghan - Wellcome Centre for Human NeuroimagingMicah Allen - Wellcome Centre for Human NeuroimagingThomas E. Cope - Newcastle UniversityPhillip E. Gander - University of IowaDoris-Eva Bamiou - UCL Ear InstituteTimothy D. Griffiths - University of Newcastle Australia
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Current biology, Vol.27(4), pp.527-533
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.cub.2016.12.048
- PMID
- 28162895
- PMCID
- PMC5321671
- NLM abbreviation
- Curr Biol
- ISSN
- 0960-9822
- eISSN
- 1879-0445
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100004440, name: Wellcome Trust, award: WT091681MA, WT106964; name: Wellcome Trust Postdoctoral Training Fellowship for MB/PhD Graduates, award: 095939; DOI: 10.13039/100004440, name: Wellcome Trust, award: 091593
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/20/2017
- Academic Unit
- Radiology; Psychological and Brain Sciences; Neurosurgery; Otolaryngology; Health, Sport, and Human Physiology
- Record Identifier
- 9984304039502771
Metrics
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