Individuals with high emotional granularity make fine-grained distinctions between their emotional experiences. To have greater emotional granularity, one must acquire rich conceptual knowledge of emotions and use this knowledge in a controlled and nuanced way. In the brain, the neural correlates of emotional granularity are not well understood. While the anterior temporal lobes, angular gyri, and connected systems represent conceptual knowledge of emotions, inhibitory networks with hubs in the inferior frontal cortex (i.e., posterior inferior frontal gyrus, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, and dorsal anterior insula) guide the selection of this knowledge during emotions. We investigated the structural neuroanatomical correlates of emotional granularity in 58 healthy, older adults (ages 62–84 years), who have had a lifetime to accrue and deploy their conceptual knowledge of emotions. Participants reported on their daily experience of 13 emotions for 8 weeks and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging. We computed intraclass correlation coefficients across daily emotional experience surveys (45 surveys on average per participant) to quantify each participant’s overall emotional granularity. Surface-based morphometry analyses revealed higher overall emotional granularity related to greater cortical thickness in inferior frontal cortex (p_FWE < 0.05) in bilateral clusters in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex and extending into the left dorsal anterior insula. Overall emotional granularity was not associated with cortical thickness in the anterior temporal lobes or angular gyri. These findings suggest individual differences in emotional granularity relate to variability in the structural neuroanatomy of the inferior frontal cortex, an area that supports the controlled selection of conceptual knowledge during emotional experiences.

具有高情感粒度的个人可以对他们的情感体验进行细粒度的区分。为了获得更大的情感粒度，一个人必须获得丰富的情感概念知识，并以可控和细致的方式使用这些知识。在大脑中，情绪粒度的神经关联尚不清楚。虽然前颞叶、角回和连接系统代表了情绪的概念性知识，但以额下皮层中枢为中心的抑制网络（即额下回后部、眶额外侧皮层和背侧前岛叶）指导着这些知识的选择情绪期间。我们调查了 58 名健康老年人（62-84 岁）情绪粒度的结构神经解剖学相关性，他们一生都在积累和运用情绪的概念知识。参与者报告了他们在 8 周内每天经历的 13 种情绪，并接受了结构磁共振成像。我们计算了日常情绪体验调查（每个参与者平均 45 次调查）的组内相关系数，以量化每个参与者的整体情绪粒度。基于表面的形态测量分析显示，较高的整体情绪粒度与外侧眶额皮质双侧簇中的下额皮质（ p _{FWE < 0.05）较大的皮质厚度相关，并延伸至左背侧前岛叶。}总体情绪粒度与前颞叶或角回的皮质厚度无关。这些发现表明，情绪粒度的个体差异与下额叶皮层结构神经解剖学的变异性有关，该区域支持情绪体验期间概念知识的受控选择。