Amygdalar activation associated with positive and negative facial expressions

Yang, Tony T.; Menon, CA Vinod; Eliez, Stéphan; Blasey, Christine; White, Christopher D.; Reid, Amy J.; Gotlib, Ian H.; Reiss, Allan L.

doi:10.1097/00001756-200210070-00009

Cited by 227 publications

(141 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…First, we found significant increases in amygdala activation in response to the perception of faces with happy, angry or fearful affect relative to the control condition. These findings are consistent with other fMRI studies in adults [38] and adolescents [20,21,39]. Second, using well-established methods of heart rate data analysis [9,34], we found a significant positive correlation between the percent signal change in the right amygdala and peak LF/HF.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Increased amygdala activation is related to heart rate during emotion processing in adolescent subjects

Yang

Simmons

Matthews

et al. 2007

Neuroscience Letters

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Emotions have been conceptualized as representations of bodily responses to a stimulus that critically involves the autonomic nervous system (ANS). An association between amygdala activation and ANS activity has been shown in adults. However, to date, no studies have demonstrated this association in adolescents. Examining the interaction between the ANS and amygdala in healthy adolescents may provide information about age-related changes in the association between amygdala activation and ANS measures. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between amygdala activation and heart rate in normal adolescents. Eighteen 12-to 17-year old adolescents participated. Heart rate data was collected during functional magnetic resonance imaging while subjects performed a facial expression matching task that reliably activates the amygdala. Adolescents showed significant amygdala activation for all facial expressions relative to the shapematching, control task. Moreover, the degree of activation in the right amygdala for Fearful faces was significantly correlated with heart rate (Spearman's rho = 0.55, p = 0.018, two-tailed). This study shows that amygdala activity is related to heart rate in healthy adolescents. Thus, similar to adults, adolescents show a coupling between processing emotional events and adjusting the ANS accordingly. Furthermore, this study confirms previous adolescent studies showing amygdala activation to Fearful, Angry, and Happy faces. Finally, the results of the present study lay the foundation for future research to investigate whether adolescents with mood or anxiety disorders show an altered coupling between processing emotionally salient events and ANS activity.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Increased amygdala activation is related to heart rate during emotion processing in adolescent subjects

Yang

Simmons

Matthews

et al. 2007

Neuroscience Letters

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“…These results are in agreement with a number of previous studies using a similar paradigm. Specifically, although in some studies predominantly right-sided responses were observed, irrespective of emotion (Gur et al, 2002), in others bilateral amygdala responses were found across stimulus conditions (Britton et al, 2006;Fitzgerald et al, 2006;Yang et al, 2002), similar to the present study.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Amygdala responses to emotional faces in twins discordant or concordant for the risk for anxiety and depression

et al. 2008

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Background: Functional brain imaging studies have shown deviant amygdala responses to emotional stimuli in subjects suffering from anxiety and depressive disorder, but both hyperactivity and hypoactivity compared to healthy controls have been reported. To account for these discrepant findings, we hypothesize that genetic and environmental risk factors differently impact on amygdala functioning. Methods: To test this hypothesis, we assessed amygdala responses to an emotional faces paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging in monozygotic twin pairs discordant for the risk of anxiety and depression (n = 10 pairs) and in monozygotic twin pairs concordant for high (n = 7 pairs) or low (n = 15 pairs) risk for anxiety and depression. Results: Main effects (all faces vs. baseline) revealed robust bilateral amygdala activity across groups. In discordant twins, increased amygdala responses were found for negatively valenced stimuli (angry/anxious faces) in high-risk twins compared to their low-risk co-twins. In contrast, concordant high-risk pairs revealed blunted amygdala reactivity to both positive and negative faces compared with concordant low-risk pairs. Post-hoc analyses showed that these findings were independent of 5-HTTLPR genotype. Conclusions: Our findings indicate amygdala hyperactivity in subjects who are at high risk for anxiety and depression through environmental factors and amygdala hypoactivity in those at risk mainly through genetic factors. We suggest that this result reflects a difference in baseline amygdala activation in these groups. Future imaging studies on anxiety and depression should aim to avoid admixture of subjects who are at genetic risk with those at risk due to environmental factors.

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“…For example, because both negative and positive emotions stimulate amygdala activation (e.g., Garavan, Pendergrass, Ross, Stein, & Risinger, 2001;Hamann, Ely, Hoffman, & Kilts, 2002;Yang et al, 2002), some experimenters take care to instruct participants to adopt positive mental strategies (Young et al, 2014;Zotev, Phillips, Young, Drevets, & Bodurka, 2013). Similar considerations surface concerning up-regulation of the anterior insula, which responds strongly to disgust (e.g., Phillips et al, 1997;Wicker et al, 2003), and to modifying ACC activity, which relates to a wide spectrum of cognitive processes (e.g., Bush, Luu, & Posner, 2000;Etkin, Egner, & Kalisch, 2011).…”

Section: Fmrimentioning

confidence: 99%

The self-regulating brain and neurofeedback: Experimental science and clinical promise

Thibault

Lifshitz

Raz

2016

Cortex

198

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Neurofeedback, one of the primary examples of self-regulation, designates a collection of techniques that train the brain and help to improve its function. Since coming on the scene in the 1960s, electroencephalography-neurofeedback has become a treatment vehicle for a host of mental disorders; however, its clinical effectiveness remains controversial. Modern imaging technologies of the living human brain (e.g., real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging) and increasingly rigorous research protocols that utilize such methodologies begin to shed light on the underlying mechanisms that may facilitate more effective clinical applications. In this paper we focus on recent technological advances in the field of human brain imaging and discuss how these modern methods may influence the field of neurofeedback. Toward this end, we outline the state of the evidence and sketch out future directions to further explore the potential merits of this contentious therapeutic prospect.

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Amygdalar activation associated with positive and negative facial expressions

Cited by 227 publications

References 17 publications

Increased amygdala activation is related to heart rate during emotion processing in adolescent subjects

Increased amygdala activation is related to heart rate during emotion processing in adolescent subjects

Amygdala responses to emotional faces in twins discordant or concordant for the risk for anxiety and depression

The self-regulating brain and neurofeedback: Experimental science and clinical promise

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