Age-related differences in brain activation during emotional face processing

Gunning-Dixon, Faith M.; Gur, Ruben C.; Perkins, Alexis; Schroeder, Lee F.; Turner, Travis H.; Turetsky, Bruce I.; Chan, Robin M.; Loughead, James; Alsop, David C.; Maldjian, Joseph A.; Gur, Raquel E.

doi:10.1016/s0197-4580(02)00099-4

Cited by 257 publications

(230 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…(2007) have shown that brain reactivity to negative emotional input decreased linearly with age, while it remained stable for positive input. Finally, an age-related reduced reactivity of the amygdala has been described for negative facial expressions and pictures, but not for positive ones (e.g., Gunning-Dixon et al, 2003;Iidaka et al, 2002;Mather et al, 2004). It is therefore possible that the age-related changes in motivation towards positive input and the bias to positivity, which appear to be linked with changes in brain function, underlie the pattern of results reported here.…”

Section: Explanatory Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 44%

Emotion recognition in music changes across the adult life span

Lima

Castro

2011

Cognition & Emotion

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In comparison with other modalities, the recognition of emotion in music has received little attention. An unexplored question is whether and how emotion recognition in music changes as a function of aging. In the present study, healthy adults aged between 17 and 84 years (N = 114) judged the magnitude to which a set of musical excerpts (Vieillard et al., 2008) expressed happiness, peacefulness, sadness and fear/threat. The results revealed emotion specific age-related changes: advancing age was associated with a gradual decrease in responsiveness to sad and scary music from middle age onwards, whereas the recognition of happiness and peacefulness, both positive emotional qualities, remained stable from young adulthood to older age. Additionally, the number of years of music training was associated with more accurate categorization of the musical emotions examined here. We argue that these findings are consistent with two accounts on how aging might influence the recognition of emotions: motivational changes towards positivity and, to a lesser extent, selective neuropsychological decline.

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Section: Explanatory Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 44%

Emotion recognition in music changes across the adult life span

Lima

Castro

2011

Cognition & Emotion

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“…While amygdala and fusiform gyrus activity decreases, prefrontal activity increases in healthy older men and women (460 years) in comparison to young adults (o30 years) (Iidaka et al, 2002;Gunning-Dixon et al, 2003;Mather et al, 2004;Tessitore et al, 2005). However, to our knowledge, amygdala reactivity during midlife has not been investigated previously.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Testosterone Increases Amygdala Reactivity in Middle-Aged Women to a Young Adulthood Level

Wingen

Zylicz

Pieters

et al. 2008

Neuropsychopharmacol

120

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Testosterone modulates mood and sexual function in women. However, androgen levels decline with age, which may relate to the ageassociated change in sexual functioning and the prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders. These effects of testosterone are potentially mediated by the amygdala. In the present study, we investigated whether the age-related decline in androgen levels is associated with reduced amygdala activity, and whether exogenous testosterone can restore amygdala activity. Healthy young and middle-aged women participated during the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle, and amygdala responses to biologically salient stimuli were measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Androgen levels were lower in middle-aged than young women, which was associated with decreased amygdala reactivity. Endogenous testosterone levels correlated positively with amygdala reactivity across the young and middle-aged women. The middle-aged women received a single nasal dose of testosterone in a double-blind, placebocontrolled, crossover manner, which rapidly increased amygdala reactivity to a level comparable to the young women. The enhanced testosterone levels correlated positively with superior frontal cortex responses and negatively with orbitofrontal cortex responses across individuals, which may reflect testosterone-induced changes in amygdala regulation. These results show that testosterone modulates amygdala reactivity in women, and suggest that the age-related decline in androgen levels contribute to the decrease in amygdala reactivity.

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“…Recent studies could document developmental differences in the degree to which engagement of affective circuitry contributes to emotion recognition. Juveniles show a higher level of amygdala activity than adults as well as increased activity in the fusiform gyrus when viewing emotional faces (Hare et al, 2008;Guyer et al, 2008), whereas adults show an increased participation of frontal regions (Gunning-Dixon et al, 2003). As an early onset of schizophrenia is related to a poor prognosis (Lay et al, 2000;Rapoport et al, 2005) it has to be clarified how these regular changes in emotion processing during development interact with the dysfunctional changes underlying the development of illness.…”

Section: Upregulation Of Brain Activity As Compensatory Processes?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuronal Correlates of Facial Emotion Discrimination in Early Onset Schizophrenia

Seiferth

Pauly

Kellermann

et al. 2008

Neuropsychopharmacol

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Emotion discrimination deficits represent a well-established finding in schizophrenia. Although imaging studies addressed the cerebral dysfunctions underlying emotion perception in adult patients, the question of trait vs state characteristics is still unresolved. The investigation of juvenile patients offers the advantage of studying schizophrenia at an age where influences of illness course and long-term medication are minimized. This may enable a more detailed characterization of emotion discrimination impairments and their cerebral correlates with respect to their appearance and exact nature. A total of 12 juvenile patients with early onset schizophrenia and matched healthy juveniles participated in this study. fMRI data were acquired during an emotion discrimination task consisting of standardized photographs of faces displaying happy, sad, angry, fearful, or neutral facial expression. Similar to findings in adult patients, juvenile patients exhibited reduced performance specificity whereas sensitivity was unaffected. Independent of the valence, their processing of emotional faces was associated with hypoactivations in both fusiform gyri and in the left inferior occipital gyrus. In addition, hyperactivations in patients were found in the right cuneus common to happy, angry, and fearful faces. Further, most distinct changes were present in juvenile patients when processing sad faces. These results point to a dysfunction in cerebral circuits relevant for emotion processing already prominent in adolescent schizophrenia patients. Regions affected by a decrease in activation are related to visual and face processing, similar to deficits reported in adult patients. These changes are accompanied by hyperactivations in areas related to emotion regulation and attribution, possibly reflecting compensatory mechanisms.

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Age-related differences in brain activation during emotional face processing

Cited by 257 publications

References 74 publications

Emotion recognition in music changes across the adult life span

Emotion recognition in music changes across the adult life span

Testosterone Increases Amygdala Reactivity in Middle-Aged Women to a Young Adulthood Level

Neuronal Correlates of Facial Emotion Discrimination in Early Onset Schizophrenia

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