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. 2009 Sep 18;132(11):3021–3031. doi: 10.1093/brain/awp212

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© The Author(s) 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Brain.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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A model incorporating the observed relations between affective somatic changes (startle reflex potentiation), VLPFC activity, and affect-related somatosensory activity in SII during stimulation of the BVF and SVF. During stimulation of the BVF, affect-related somatic responses are associated with an increase of activity in SII and reports of negative affective experience (left). During stimulation of the SVF, additional stimulus information resulting from in-depth cortical processing is available, and VLPFC sensitivity to somatic responses increases. Increased VLPFC activity, in turn, attenuates somatosensory-related activity. We suggest that this reduction of affect-related somatosensory activity leads to a decoupling of somatic changes and experienced affect and a reduction of negative phenomenal experience (right).