Shifting the focus of attention modulates amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex reactivity to emotional faces

NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS

卷:514

Article

Klumpp, Heide^1,2  Angstadt, Mike¹  Phan, K. Luan^1,2,3 

[1] Univ Michigan, Dept Psychiat, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA

[2] Univ Illinois, Dept Psychiat, Mood & Anxiety Disorders Res Program, Chicago, IL 60612 USA

[3] Jesse Brown VA Med Ctr, Mental Hlth Serv, Neuropsychiat Res Program, Chicago, IL USA

关键词: fMRI;    Emotion;    Prefrontal;    Faces;    Imaging;    Attention;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.neulet.2012.03.003

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Functional neuroimaging studies have largely established the prominence of amygdala during emotion processing and prefrontal areas such as anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during attentional modulation. In general, emotion processing paradigms known to probe amygdala have not been adapted to recruit prefrontal areas. In this study we used a well-known perceptual face matching paradigm, designed to elicit amygdala response, and asked volunteers to shift their focus in order to recruit regions responsible for attentional control. Stimuli comprised a trio of geometric shapes (circles, rectangles, triangles) presented alongside a trio of emotional faces (angry, fear, or happy) within the same field of view, and subjects were instructed to Match Faces or Match Shapes, as a means of attending to and away from the emotional content, respectively. We observed greater amygdala reactivity to Match Faces (>Match Shapes), and greater rostral ACC response to Match Shapes (>Match Faces). Results indicate that simply and volitionally directing attention toward or away from emotional content correspondingly modulates amygdala and ACC activity. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free