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| Research article summary (published 30 Aug 2002): |
The amygdala response to emotional stimuli: a comparison of faces and scenes.
Full Abstract
As a central fear processor of the brain, the amygdala initiates a cascade of critical physiological and behavioral responses. Neuroimaging studies have shown that the human amygdala responds not only to fearful and angry facial expressions but also to fearful and threatening scenes such as attacks, explosions, and mutilations. Given the relative importance of facial expressions in adaptive social behavior, we hypothesized that the human amygdala would exhibit a stronger response to angry and fearful facial expressions in comparison to other fearful and threatening stimuli. Twelve subjects completed two tasks while undergoing fMRI:
matching angry or fearful facial expressions, and matching scenes depicting fearful or threatening situations derived from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). While there was an amygdala response to both facial expressions and IAPS stimuli, direct comparison revealed that the amygdala response to facial expressions was significantly greater than that to IAPS stimuli. Autonomic reactivity, measured by skin conductance responses, was also greater to facial expressions. These results suggest that the human amygdala shows a stronger response to affective facial expressions than to scenes, a bias that should be considered in the design of experimental paradigms interested in probing amygdala function.
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Author information
Author/s: Hariri, Ahmad R (AR); Tessitore, Alessandro (A); Mattay, Venkata S (VS); Fera, Francesco (F); Weinberger, Daniel R (DR);
Affiliation: Clinical Brain Disorders Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. hariria(-atsign-)intra.nimh.nih.gov
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
Journal: NeuroImage (Neuroimage), published in United States. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-Sep; vol 17 (issue 1) : pp 317-23
Dates: Created 2002/12/16; Completed 2003/01/14; Revised 2006/11/15;
PMID: 12482086, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
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