Affective and attentive neural networks in humans

Age-related valence-based reversal in recruitment of medial prefrontal cortex on a visual search task

“…These regions' correspondence to detection of emotional targets is consistent with extensive evidence that emotion can modulate visual processing within the fusiform gyrus (e.g., Lang et al, 1998;Talmi, Anderson, Riggs, Caplan, & Moscovitch, 2008;Vuilleumier & Pourtois, 2007) as well as a host of attentional and sensory processes mediated by the medial thalamus (e.g., Davis, 2006;Fredrikson, Wik, Fischer, & Andersson, 1995). Thus the present results suggest that there is some preservation in the way that emotion modulates attention and sensory processing throughout the adult lifespan.…”

Magnetic brain imaging of extinction processes in human classical conditioning

“…3 Using a visual CS with an electric shock UCS, we applied PET to describe increased rCBF in subcortical and cortical brain areas. 4 As well as bilateral activation in the thalamus, hypothalamus and the central gray of the midbrain, that study also revealed an asymmetrical increase of neural activity corresponding to the cortical SI representation of the electric shock UCS. In our previous MEG report, 1 we demonstrated neuromagnetic activation in the SI appearing before UCS presentation, and suggested that this activation reflected part of a specific CR that served to reduce the noxious impact of the UCS.…”

“…[2][3][4] A study of the specific eyeblink response, 2 using an auditory warning signal as CS for an UCS corneal air puff, revealed redistribution of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the cerebellum, but also in the auditory cortex and cortices with associative function. A study of non-specific aversive conditioning with an auditory CS and electric shock UCS showed activation predominantly of the right frontal and temporal cortices.…”

Altered brain activity processing in high-anxiety rodents revealed by challenge paradigms and functional mapping

“…Many of these identified brain areas have also been found to be activated (indicated by enhanced CBF) by fear/anxiety-related stimuli in 'healthy' human volunteers (e.g. Fredrikson et al, 1995;Ploghaus et al, 1999) and have been implicated in fear/anxiety mechanisms based on studies including stimulation and ablation work (for review, see Millan, 2003). Taken together, this evidence underlines the idea of integrated neuronal circuits that are common targets for stimuli that are linked to anxiety.…”