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Guex R, Ros T, Mégevand P, Spinelli L, Seeck M, Vuilleumier P, Domínguez-Borràs J. Prestimulus amygdala spectral activity is associated with visual face awareness. Cereb Cortex 2023; 33:1044-1057. [PMID: 35353177 PMCID: PMC9930624 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhac119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2021] [Revised: 02/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Alpha cortical oscillations have been proposed to suppress sensory processing in the visual, auditory, and tactile domains, influencing conscious stimulus perception. However, it is unknown whether oscillatory neural activity in the amygdala, a subcortical structure involved in salience detection, has a similar impact on stimulus awareness. Recording intracranial electroencephalography (EEG) from 9 human amygdalae during face detection in a continuous flash suppression task, we found increased spectral prestimulus power and phase coherence, with most consistent effects in the alpha band, when faces were undetected relative to detected, similarly as previously observed in cortex with this task using scalp-EEG. Moreover, selective decreases in the alpha and gamma bands preceded face detection, with individual prestimulus alpha power correlating negatively with detection rate in patients. These findings reveal for the first time that prestimulus subcortical oscillations localized in human amygdala may contribute to perceptual gating mechanisms governing subsequent face detection and offer promising insights on the role of this structure in visual awareness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raphael Guex
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva – HUG, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Tomas Ros
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, Functional Brain Mapping Laboratory, Campus Biotech, University of Geneva, Geneva 1202, Switzerland
- Lemanic Biomedical Imaging Centre (CIBM), Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Pierre Mégevand
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva – HUG, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Laurent Spinelli
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva – HUG, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Margitta Seeck
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Geneva – HUG, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva 1202, Switzerland
| | - Judith Domínguez-Borràs
- Department of Fundamental Neuroscience, University of Geneva – Campus Biotech, Geneva 1211, Switzerland
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona 08035, Spain
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2
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Liu TT, Fu JZ, Chai Y, Japee S, Chen G, Ungerleider LG, Merriam EP. Layer-specific, retinotopically-diffuse modulation in human visual cortex in response to viewing emotionally expressive faces. Nat Commun 2022; 13:6302. [PMID: 36273204 PMCID: PMC9588045 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33580-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2021] [Accepted: 09/22/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Viewing faces that are perceived as emotionally expressive evokes enhanced neural responses in multiple brain regions, a phenomenon thought to depend critically on the amygdala. This emotion-related modulation is evident even in primary visual cortex (V1), providing a potential neural substrate by which emotionally salient stimuli can affect perception. How does emotional valence information, computed in the amygdala, reach V1? Here we use high-resolution functional MRI to investigate the layer profile and retinotopic distribution of neural activity specific to emotional facial expressions. Across three experiments, human participants viewed centrally presented face stimuli varying in emotional expression and performed a gender judgment task. We found that facial valence sensitivity was evident only in superficial cortical layers and was not restricted to the retinotopic location of the stimuli, consistent with diffuse feedback-like projections from the amygdala. Together, our results provide a feedback mechanism by which the amygdala directly modulates activity at the earliest stage of visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina T. Liu
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, 20892 MD USA
| | - Jason Z Fu
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, 20892 MD USA
| | - Yuhui Chai
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, 20892 MD USA
| | - Shruti Japee
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, 20892 MD USA
| | - Gang Chen
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Scientific and Statistical Computing Core, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, 20892 MD USA
| | - Leslie G. Ungerleider
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, 20892 MD USA
| | - Elisha P. Merriam
- grid.416868.50000 0004 0464 0574Laboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental Health, NIH, Bethesda, 20892 MD USA
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3
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Reisch LM, Wegrzyn M, Mielke M, Mehlmann A, Woermann FG, Bien CG, Kissler J. Face processing and efficient recognition of facial expressions are impaired following right but not left anteromedial temporal lobe resections: Behavioral and fMRI evidence. Neuropsychologia 2022; 174:108335. [PMID: 35863496 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2021] [Revised: 07/04/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Anteromedial temporal lobe structures seem to support processing of faces and facial expressions. However, differential effects of unilateral left or right temporal lobe resections (TLR) on face processing, recognition of facial expressions, and on BOLD response to faces in intact brain areas are not yet fully understood. Therefore, we compared 39 patients with unilateral TLR (18 left, 21 right) and 20 healthy controls regarding recognition of facial identity and emotional facial expressions as well as BOLD response to fearful and neutral faces. We found impaired recognition of facial identity following right TLR, which was paralleled by reduced BOLD response to faces irrespective of expression in the right fusiform and lingual gyrus in postsurgical fMRI. Right TLR patients also exhibited subtle impairments of emotion recognition as they needed higher intensity of facial expressions for correct responses in a morphing task. Accuracy of emotion recognition and subjective appraisals of facial expressions did not differ between groups. There was no specific reduction of BOLD response to fearful versus neutral faces in either patient group. Our results underline the specific role of the right anteromedial temporal lobe in processing of faces and facial expressions by showing changes in face processing following right TLR in behavioral as well as imaging data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lea Marie Reisch
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany; Department of Epileptology (Krankenhaus Mara), Bielefeld University, Campus Bielefeld-Bethel, Bielefeld, Germany.
| | - Martin Wegrzyn
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Malena Mielke
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | | | - Friedrich G Woermann
- Department of Epileptology (Krankenhaus Mara), Bielefeld University, Campus Bielefeld-Bethel, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Christian G Bien
- Department of Epileptology (Krankenhaus Mara), Bielefeld University, Campus Bielefeld-Bethel, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Johanna Kissler
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
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4
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Ana K, Iris ŽI, Nina P, Marina R, Tomislav Ć, Snježana S, Andrea B, Milan R, Ivica K. Linking integrity of visual pathways trajectories to visual behavior deficit in very preterm infants. Infant Behav Dev 2022; 67:101697. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2022.101697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2021] [Revised: 01/23/2022] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
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5
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Reisch LM, Wegrzyn M, Mielke M, Mehlmann A, Woermann FG, Kissler J, Bien CG. Effects of left and right medial temporal lobe resections on hemodynamic correlates of negative and neutral scene processing. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:3293-3305. [PMID: 35384132 PMCID: PMC9189037 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Revised: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Enhanced visual cortex activation by negative compared to neutral stimuli is often attributed to modulating feedback from the amygdala, but evidence from lesion studies is scarce, particularly regarding differential effects of left and right amygdala lesions. Therefore, we compared visual cortex activation by negative and neutral complex scenes in an event‐related fMRI study between 40 patients with unilateral temporal lobe resection (TLR; 19 left [lTLR], 21 right [rTLR]), including the amygdala, and 20 healthy controls. We found preserved hemodynamic emotion modulation of visual cortex in rTLR patients and only subtle reductions in lTLR patients. In contrast, rTLR patients showed a significant decrease in visual cortex activation irrespective of picture content. In line with this, healthy controls showed small emotional modulation of the left amygdala only, while their right amygdala was activated equally by negative and neutral pictures. Correlations of activation in amygdala and visual cortex were observed for both negative and neutral pictures in the controls. In both patient groups, this relationship was attenuated ipsilateral to the TLR. Our results support the notion of reentrant mechanisms between amygdala and visual cortex and suggest laterality differences in their emotion‐specificity. While right medial temporal lobe structures including the amygdala seem to influence visual processing in general, the left medial temporal lobe appears to contribute specifically to emotion processing. Still, effects of left TLR on visual emotion processing were relatively subtle. Therefore, hemodynamic correlates of visual emotion processing are likely supported by a distributed cerebral network, challenging an amygdalocentric view of emotion processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lea Marie Reisch
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.,Department of Epileptology (Krankenhaus Mara), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Martin Wegrzyn
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Malena Mielke
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | | | - Friedrich G Woermann
- Department of Epileptology (Krankenhaus Mara), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Johanna Kissler
- Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
| | - Christian G Bien
- Department of Epileptology (Krankenhaus Mara), Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany
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6
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Distinct alterations of amygdala subregional functional connectivity in early- and late-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder. J Affect Disord 2022; 298:421-430. [PMID: 34748823 DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2021] [Revised: 10/28/2021] [Accepted: 11/02/2021] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Age of onset may be an important feature associated with distinct subtypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The amygdala joined neurocircuitry models of OCD for its role in mediating fear and regulating anxiety. The present study aims to identify the underlying pathophysiological specifics in OCD with different onset times by assessing amygdala subregional functional connectivity (FC) alterations in early-onset OCD (EO-OCD) and late-onset OCD (LO-OCD). METHODS Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 88 medication-free OCD patients (including 30 EO-OCD and 58 LO-OCD) and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) for each patient group. Onset-by-diagnosis interactions were examined and comparisons between each OCD group and the corresponding HC group were performed regarding the FC of amygdala subregions including the basolateral amygdala (BLA), centromedial amygdala (CMA), superficial amygdala (SFA) and amygdalostriatal transition area (Astr). RESULTS Significant onset-by-diagnosis interactions were found in FC between bilateral SFA, right CMA, left Astr and the cerebellum. EO-OCD patients showed abnormally increased BLA/SFA-cerebellum, BLA-precuneus and BLA/SFA-fusiform connectivity in addition to decreased BLA/SFA-orbitofrontal cortex connectivity. In contrast, LO-OCD patients exhibited increased CMA/Astr-precentral/postcentral gyrus and CMA-cuneus connectivity as well as decreased CMA/Astr-cerebellum and BLA-striatum connectivity. LIMITATIONS The exclusion of comorbidity may reduce the generalizability of our results. CONCLUSIONS These findings emphasized the different patterns of amygdala subregional connectivity alterations associated with EO-OCD and LO-OCD patients. These results provide unique insights into constructing evidence-based distinct OCD subtypes based on brain intrinsic connectivity and point to the need of specified management for EO-OCD and LO-OCD in clinical setting.
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7
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Domínguez-Borràs J, Vuilleumier P. Amygdala function in emotion, cognition, and behavior. HANDBOOK OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY 2022; 187:359-380. [PMID: 35964983 DOI: 10.1016/b978-0-12-823493-8.00015-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The amygdala is a core structure in the anterior medial temporal lobe, with an important role in several brain functions involving memory, emotion, perception, social cognition, and even awareness. As a key brain structure for saliency detection, it triggers and controls widespread modulatory signals onto multiple areas of the brain, with a great impact on numerous aspects of adaptive behavior. Here we discuss the neural mechanisms underlying these functions, as established by animal and human research, including insights provided in both healthy and pathological conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Domínguez-Borràs
- Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology & Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Department of Neuroscience and Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
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8
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Putnam PT, Chang SWC. Toward a holistic view of value and social processing in the amygdala: Insights from primate behavioral neurophysiology. Behav Brain Res 2021; 411:113356. [PMID: 33989727 PMCID: PMC8238892 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2021] [Revised: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2021] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Located medially within the temporal lobes, the amygdala is a formation of heterogenous nuclei that has emerged as a target for investigations into the neural bases of both primitive and complex behaviors. Although modern neuroscience has eschewed the practice of assigning broad functions to distinct brain regions, the amygdala has classically been associated with regulating negative emotional processes (such as fear or aggression), primarily through research performed in rodent models. Contemporary studies, particularly those in non-human primate models, have provided evidence for a role of the amygdala in other aspects of cognition such as valuation of stimuli or shaping social behaviors. Consequently, many modern perspectives now also emphasize the amygdala's role in processing positive affect and social behaviors. Importantly, several recent experiments have examined the intersection of two seemingly autonomous domains; how both valence/value and social stimuli are simultaneously represented in the amygdala. Results from these studies suggest that there is an overlap between valence/value processing and the processing of social behaviors at the level of single neurons. These findings have prompted researchers investigating the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying social interactions to question what contributions reward-related processes in the amygdala make in shaping social behaviors. In this review, we will examine evidence, primarily from primate neurophysiology, suggesting that value-related processes in the amygdala interact with the processing of social stimuli, and explore holistic hypotheses about how these amygdalar interactions might be instantiated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip T Putnam
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States.
| | - Steve W C Chang
- Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 06520, United States; Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06510, United States; Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, 06511, United States
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9
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Hansen HA, Li J, Saygin ZM. Adults vs. neonates: Differentiation of functional connectivity between the basolateral amygdala and occipitotemporal cortex. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0237204. [PMID: 33075046 PMCID: PMC7571669 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2020] [Accepted: 10/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The amygdala, a subcortical structure known for social and emotional processing, consists of multiple subnuclei with unique functions and connectivity patterns. Tracer studies in adult macaques have shown that the basolateral subnuclei differentially connect to parts of visual cortex, with stronger connections to anterior regions and weaker connections to posterior regions; infant macaques show robust connectivity even with posterior visual regions. Do these developmental differences also exist in the human amygdala, and are there specific functional regions that undergo the most pronounced developmental changes in their connections with the amygdala? To address these questions, we explored the functional connectivity (from resting-state fMRI data) of the basolateral amygdala to occipitotemporal cortex in human neonates scanned within one week of life and compared the connectivity patterns to those observed in young adults. Specifically, we calculated amygdala connectivity to anterior-posterior gradients of the anatomically-defined occipitotemporal cortex, and also to putative occipitotemporal functional parcels, including primary and high-level visual and auditory cortices (V1, A1, face, scene, object, body, high-level auditory regions). Results showed a decreasing gradient of functional connectivity to the occipitotemporal cortex in adults-similar to the gradient seen in macaque tracer studies-but no such gradient was observed in neonates. Further, adults had stronger connections to high-level functional regions associated with face, body, and object processing, and weaker connections to primary sensory regions (i.e., A1, V1), whereas neonates showed the same amount of connectivity to primary and high-level sensory regions. Overall, these results show that functional connectivity between the amygdala and occipitotemporal cortex is not yet differentiated in neonates, suggesting a role of maturation and experience in shaping these connections later in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Heather A. Hansen
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Jin Li
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
| | - Zeynep M. Saygin
- Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, United States of America
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10
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Sonkusare S, Nguyen VT, Moran R, van der Meer J, Ren Y, Koussis N, Dionisio S, Breakspear M, Guo C. Intracranial-EEG evidence for medial temporal pole driving amygdala activity induced by multi-modal emotional stimuli. Cortex 2020; 130:32-48. [PMID: 32640373 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2020] [Revised: 05/13/2020] [Accepted: 05/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The temporal pole (TP) is an associative cortical region required for complex cognitive functions such as social and emotional cognition. However, mapping the TP with functional magnetic resonance imaging is technically challenging and thus understanding its interaction with other key emotional circuitry, such as the amygdala, remains elusive. We exploited the unique advantages of stereo-electroencephalography (sEEG) to assess the responses of the TP and the amygdala during the perception of emotionally salient stimuli of pictures, music and movies. These stimuli consistently elicited high gamma responses (70-140 Hz) in both the TP and the amygdala, accompanied by functional connectivity in the low frequency range (2-12 Hz). Computational analyses suggested that the TP drove this effect in the theta frequency range, modulated by the emotional valence of the stimuli. Notably, cross-frequency analysis indicated the phase of theta oscillations in the TP modulated the amplitude of high gamma activity in the amygdala. These results were reproducible across three types of sensory inputs including naturalistic stimuli. Our results suggest that multimodal emotional stimuli induce a hierarchical influence of the TP over the amygdala.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saurabh Sonkusare
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
| | - Vinh T Nguyen
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Rosalyn Moran
- Department of Neuroimaging, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | | | - Yudan Ren
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; School of Information Science and Technology, Northwest University, Xi'an, China
| | - Nikitas Koussis
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Sasha Dionisio
- Mater Advanced Epilepsy Unit, Mater Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Michael Breakspear
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia; Hunter Medical Research Institute, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.
| | - Christine Guo
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
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11
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Domínguez-Borràs J, Moyne M, Saj A, Guex R, Vuilleumier P. Impaired emotional biases in visual attention after bilateral amygdala lesion. Neuropsychologia 2020; 137:107292. [PMID: 31811846 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107292] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2019] [Revised: 10/16/2019] [Accepted: 11/30/2019] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
It is debated whether the amygdala is critical for the emotional modulation of attention. While some studies show reduced attentional benefits for emotional stimuli in amygdala-damaged patients, others report preserved emotional effects. Various factors may account for these discrepant findings, including the temporal onset of the lesion, the completeness and severity of tissue damage, or the extent of neural plasticity and compensatory mechanisms, among others. Here, we investigated a rare patient with focal acute destruction of bilateral amygdala and adjacent hippocampal structures after late-onset herpetic encephalitis in adulthood. We compared her performance in two classic visual attention paradigms with that of healthy controls. First, we tested for any emotional advantage during an attentional blink task. Whereas controls showed better report of fearful and happy than neutral faces on trials with short lags between targets, the patient showed no emotional advantage, but also globally reduced report rates for all faces. Second, to ensure that memory disturbance due to hippocampal damage would not interfere with report performance, we also used a visual search task with either emotionally or visually salient face targets. Although the patient still exhibited efficient guided search for visually salient, non-emotional faces, her search slopes for emotional versus neutral faces showed no comparable benefit. In both tasks, however, changes in the patient predominated for happy more than fear stimuli, despite her normal explicit recognition of happy expressions. Our results provide new support for a causal role of the amygdala in emotional facilitation of visual attention, especially under conditions of increasing task-demands, and not limited to negative information. In addition, our data suggest that such deficits may not be amenable to plasticity and compensation, perhaps due to sudden and late-onset damage occurring in adulthood.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Domínguez-Borràs
- Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Campus Biotech, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - M Moyne
- Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Campus Biotech, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - A Saj
- Department of Neurology, University Hospital, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - R Guex
- Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Campus Biotech, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - P Vuilleumier
- Laboratory for Behavioral Neurology and Imaging of Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Campus Biotech, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland; Geneva Neuroscience Center, University of Geneva, CH-1211, Geneva, Switzerland.
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12
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Yakoubi R, Rollenhagen A, von Lehe M, Miller D, Walkenfort B, Hasenberg M, Sätzler K, Lübke JH. Ultrastructural heterogeneity of layer 4 excitatory synaptic boutons in the adult human temporal lobe neocortex. eLife 2019; 8:48373. [PMID: 31746736 PMCID: PMC6919978 DOI: 10.7554/elife.48373] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2019] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Synapses are fundamental building blocks controlling and modulating the ‘behavior’ of brain networks. How their structural composition, most notably their quantitative morphology underlie their computational properties remains rather unclear, particularly in humans. Here, excitatory synaptic boutons (SBs) in layer 4 (L4) of the temporal lobe neocortex (TLN) were quantitatively investigated. Biopsies from epilepsy surgery were used for fine-scale and tomographic electron microscopy (EM) to generate 3D-reconstructions of SBs. Particularly, the size of active zones (AZs) and that of the three functionally defined pools of synaptic vesicles (SVs) were quantified. SBs were comparatively small (~2.50 μm2), with a single AZ (~0.13 µm2); preferentially established on spines. SBs had a total pool of ~1800 SVs with strikingly large readily releasable (~20), recycling (~80) and resting pools (~850). Thus, human L4 SBs may act as ‘amplifiers’ of signals from the sensory periphery, integrate, synchronize and modulate intra- and extracortical synaptic activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachida Yakoubi
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
| | - Astrid Rollenhagen
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany
| | - Marec von Lehe
- Department of Neurosurgery, Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Bochum, Germany.,Department of Neurosurgery, Brandenburg Medical School, Ruppiner Clinics, Neuruppin, Germany
| | - Dorothea Miller
- Department of Neurosurgery, Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Bernd Walkenfort
- Medical Research Centre, IMCES Electron Microscopy Unit (EMU), University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Mike Hasenberg
- Medical Research Centre, IMCES Electron Microscopy Unit (EMU), University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Kurt Sätzler
- School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Londonderry, United Kingdom
| | - Joachim Hr Lübke
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-10, Research Centre Jülich GmbH, Jülich, Germany.,Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH University Hospital Aachen, Aachen, Germany.,JARA Translational Brain Medicine, Jülich/Aachen, Germany
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13
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Burgos-Robles A, Gothard KM, Monfils MH, Morozov A, Vicentic A. Conserved features of anterior cingulate networks support observational learning across species. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 107:215-228. [PMID: 31509768 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.09.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2019] [Revised: 08/27/2019] [Accepted: 09/06/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The ability to observe, interpret, and learn behaviors and emotions from conspecifics is crucial for survival, as it bypasses direct experience to avoid potential dangers and maximize rewards and benefits. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and its extended neural connections are emerging as important networks for the detection, encoding, and interpretation of social signals during observational learning. Evidence from rodents and primates (including humans) suggests that the social interactions that occur while individuals are exposed to important information in their environment lead to transfer of information across individuals that promotes adaptive behaviors in the form of either social affiliation, alertness, or avoidance. In this review, we first showcase anatomical and functional connections of the ACC in primates and rodents that contribute to the perception of social signals. We then discuss species-specific cognitive and social functions of the ACC and differentiate between neural activity related to 'self' and 'other', extending into the difference between social signals received and processed by the self, versus observing social interactions among others. We next describe behavioral and neural events that contribute to social learning via observation. Finally, we discuss some of the neural mechanisms underlying observational learning within the ACC and its extended network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony Burgos-Robles
- Department of Biology, Neuroscience Institute, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249, USA; Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - Katalin M Gothard
- Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724, USA
| | - Marie H Monfils
- Department of Psychology, Institute for Mental Health Research, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
| | - Alexei Morozov
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA 24016, USA
| | - Aleksandra Vicentic
- Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science, National Institute of Mental Health, Rockville, MD 20852, USA.
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14
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Weston CSE. Four Social Brain Regions, Their Dysfunctions, and Sequelae, Extensively Explain Autism Spectrum Disorder Symptomatology. Brain Sci 2019; 9:E130. [PMID: 31167459 PMCID: PMC6627615 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci9060130] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2019] [Revised: 05/31/2019] [Accepted: 06/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a challenging neurodevelopmental disorder with symptoms in social, language, sensory, motor, cognitive, emotional, repetitive behavior, and self-sufficient living domains. The important research question examined is the elucidation of the pathogenic neurocircuitry that underlies ASD symptomatology in all its richness and heterogeneity. The presented model builds on earlier social brain research, and hypothesizes that four social brain regions largely drive ASD symptomatology: amygdala, orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), temporoparietal cortex (TPC), and insula. The amygdala's contributions to ASD largely derive from its major involvement in fine-grained intangible knowledge representations and high-level guidance of gaze. In addition, disrupted brain regions can drive disturbance of strongly interconnected brain regions to produce further symptoms. These and related effects are proposed to underlie abnormalities of the visual cortex, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), caudate nucleus, and hippocampus as well as associated symptoms. The model is supported by neuroimaging, neuropsychological, neuroanatomical, cellular, physiological, and behavioral evidence. Collectively, the model proposes a novel, parsimonious, and empirically testable account of the pathogenic neurocircuitry of ASD, an extensive account of its symptomatology, a novel physiological biomarker with potential for earlier diagnosis, and novel experiments to further elucidate the mechanisms of brain abnormalities and symptomatology in ASD.
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15
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Domínguez-Borràs J, Guex R, Méndez-Bértolo C, Legendre G, Spinelli L, Moratti S, Frühholz S, Mégevand P, Arnal L, Strange B, Seeck M, Vuilleumier P. Human amygdala response to unisensory and multisensory emotion input: No evidence for superadditivity from intracranial recordings. Neuropsychologia 2019; 131:9-24. [PMID: 31158367 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.05.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2018] [Revised: 05/15/2019] [Accepted: 05/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
The amygdala is crucially implicated in processing emotional information from various sensory modalities. However, there is dearth of knowledge concerning the integration and relative time-course of its responses across different channels, i.e., for auditory, visual, and audiovisual input. Functional neuroimaging data in humans point to a possible role of this region in the multimodal integration of emotional signals, but direct evidence for anatomical and temporal overlap of unisensory and multisensory-evoked responses in amygdala is still lacking. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) and oscillatory activity from 9 amygdalae using intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) in patients prior to epilepsy surgery, and compared electrophysiological responses to fearful, happy, or neutral stimuli presented either in voices alone, faces alone, or voices and faces simultaneously delivered. Results showed differential amygdala responses to fearful stimuli, in comparison to neutral, reaching significance 100-200 ms post-onset for auditory, visual and audiovisual stimuli. At later latencies, ∼400 ms post-onset, amygdala response to audiovisual information was also amplified in comparison to auditory or visual stimuli alone. Importantly, however, we found no evidence for either super- or subadditivity effects in any of the bimodal responses. These results suggest, first, that emotion processing in amygdala occurs at globally similar early stages of perceptual processing for auditory, visual, and audiovisual inputs; second, that overall larger responses to multisensory information occur at later stages only; and third, that the underlying mechanisms of this multisensory gain may reflect a purely additive response to concomitant visual and auditory inputs. Our findings provide novel insights on emotion processing across the sensory pathways, and their convergence within the limbic system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Judith Domínguez-Borràs
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Raphaël Guex
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland; Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland.
| | | | - Guillaume Legendre
- Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Basic Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Laurent Spinelli
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Stephan Moratti
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Spain; Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain.
| | - Sascha Frühholz
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Pierre Mégevand
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Basic Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Luc Arnal
- Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Basic Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Bryan Strange
- Laboratory for Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Biomedical Technology, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; Department of Neuroimaging, Alzheimer's Disease Research Centre, Reina Sofia-CIEN Foundation, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Margitta Seeck
- Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland.
| | - Patrik Vuilleumier
- Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Campus Biotech, Geneva, Switzerland; Department of Basic Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
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16
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Sambuco N, Bradley M, Herring D, Hillbrandt K, Lang PJ. Transdiagnostic trauma severity in anxiety and mood disorders: Functional brain activity during emotional scene processing. Psychophysiology 2019; 57:e13349. [DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13349] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2018] [Revised: 12/20/2018] [Accepted: 01/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Nicola Sambuco
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention University of Florida Gainesville Florida
| | - Margaret Bradley
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention University of Florida Gainesville Florida
| | - David Herring
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention University of Florida Gainesville Florida
| | - Katja Hillbrandt
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention University of Florida Gainesville Florida
| | - Peter J. Lang
- Center for the Study of Emotion and Attention University of Florida Gainesville Florida
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17
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Fishman I, Linke AC, Hau J, Carper RA, Müller RA. Atypical Functional Connectivity of Amygdala Related to Reduced Symptom Severity in Children With Autism. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2018; 57:764-774.e3. [PMID: 30274651 PMCID: PMC6230473 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2018.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Revised: 05/21/2018] [Accepted: 06/21/2018] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Converging evidence indicates that brain abnormalities in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) involve atypical network connectivity. Given the central role of social deficits in the ASD phenotype, this investigation examined functional connectivity of the amygdala-a brain structure critically involved in processing of social information-in children and adolescents with ASDs, as well as age-dependent changes and links with clinical symptoms. METHOD Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data from 55 participants with ASDs and 50 typically developing (TD) controls, aged 7 to 17 years, were included. Groups were matched for age, gender, IQ, and head motion. Functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) analysis was applied to examine intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) of the amygdala, including cross-sectional tests of age-related changes. RESULTS Direct between-group comparisons revealed reduced functional connectivity between bilateral amygdalae and left inferior occipital cortex, accompanied by greater connectivity between right amygdala and right sensorimotor cortex in the ASD group. This atypical pattern of amygdala connectivity was associated with decreased symptom severity and better overall functioning, as specifically seen in an ASD subgroup with the most atypical amygdala iFC but the least impaired social functioning. Age-related strengthening of amygdala-prefrontal connectivity, as observed in the TD group, was not detected in children with ASDs. CONCLUSION Findings support aberrant network sculpting in ASDs, specifically atypical integration between amygdala and primary sensorimotor circuits. Paradoxical links between atypical iFC and behavioral measures suggest that abnormal amygdala functional connections may be compensatory in some individuals with ASDs.
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18
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Weston CSE. Amygdala Represents Diverse Forms of Intangible Knowledge, That Illuminate Social Processing and Major Clinical Disorders. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:336. [PMID: 30186129 PMCID: PMC6113401 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2018] [Accepted: 08/02/2018] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Amygdala is an intensively researched brain structure involved in social processing and multiple major clinical disorders, but its functions are not well understood. The functions of a brain structure are best hypothesized on the basis of neuroanatomical connectivity findings, and of behavioral, neuroimaging, neuropsychological and physiological findings. Among the heaviest neuroanatomical interconnections of amygdala are those with perirhinal cortex (PRC), but these are little considered in the theoretical literature. PRC integrates complex, multimodal, meaningful and fine-grained distributed representations of objects and conspecifics. Consistent with this connectivity, amygdala is hypothesized to contribute meaningful and fine-grained representations of intangible knowledge for integration by PRC. Behavioral, neuroimaging, neuropsychological and physiological findings further support amygdala mediation of a diversity of such representations. These representations include subjective valence, impact, economic value, noxiousness, importance, ingroup membership, social status, popularity, trustworthiness and moral features. Further, the formation of amygdala representations is little understood, and is proposed to be often implemented through embodied cognition mechanisms. The hypothesis builds on earlier work, and makes multiple novel contributions to the literature. It highlights intangible knowledge, which is an influential but insufficiently researched factor in social and other behaviors. It contributes to understanding the heavy but neglected amygdala-PRC interconnections, and the diversity of amygdala-mediated intangible knowledge representations. Amygdala is a social brain region, but it does not represent species-typical social behaviors. A novel proposal to clarify its role is postulated. The hypothesis is also suggested to illuminate amygdala's involvement in several core symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Specifically, novel and testable explanations are proposed for the ASD symptoms of disorganized visual scanpaths, apparent social disinterest, preference for concrete cognition, aspects of the disorder's heterogeneity, and impairment in some activities of daily living. Together, the presented hypothesis demonstrates substantial explanatory potential in the neuroscience, social and clinical domains.
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19
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Putnam PT, Young LJ, Gothard KM. Bridging the gap between rodents and humans: The role of non-human primates in oxytocin research. Am J Primatol 2018; 80:e22756. [PMID: 29923206 DOI: 10.1002/ajp.22756] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2018] [Revised: 02/28/2018] [Accepted: 03/10/2018] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Oxytocin (OT), a neuropeptide that acts in the brain as a neuromodulator, has been long known to shape maternal physiology and behavior in mammals, however its role in regulating social cognition and behavior in primates has come to the forefront only in the recent decade. Many of the current perspectives on the role of OT in modulating social behavior emerged first from studies in rodents, where invasive techniques with a high degree of precision have permitted the mechanistic dissection of OT-related behaviors, as well as their underlying neural circuits in exquisite detail. In parallel, behavioral and imaging studies in humans have suggested that brain OT may similarly influence human social behavior and neural activity. These studies in rodents and humans have spurred interest in the therapeutic potential of targeting the OT system to remedy deficits in social cognition and behavior that are present across numerous psychiatric disorders. Yet there remains a tremendous gap in our mechanistic understanding of the influence of brain OT on social neural circuitry between rodents and man. In fact, very little is known regarding the neural mechanisms by which exogenous or endogenous OT influences human social cognition, limiting its therapeutic potential. Here we discuss how non-human primates (NHPs) are uniquely positioned to now bridge the gaps in knowledge provided by the precise circuit-level approaches widely used in rodent models and the behavioral, imaging, and clinical studies in humans. This review provides a perspective on what has been achieved, and what can be expected from exploring the role of OT in shaping social behaviors in NHPs in the coming years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Philip T Putnam
- Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.,Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Larry J Young
- Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition, Atlanta, Georgia.,Department of Psychiatry, Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Katalin M Gothard
- Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.,Silvio O. Conte Center for Oxytocin and Social Cognition, Atlanta, Georgia
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20
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Lojowska M, Ling S, Roelofs K, Hermans EJ. Visuocortical changes during a freezing-like state in humans. Neuroimage 2018; 179:313-325. [PMID: 29883732 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2017] [Revised: 05/29/2018] [Accepted: 06/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
An adaptive response to threat requires optimized detection of critical sensory cues. This optimization is thought to be aided by freezing - an evolutionarily preserved defensive state of immobility characterized by parasympathetically mediated fear bradycardia and regulated by the amygdala-periaqueductal grey (PAG) circuit. Behavioral observations in humans and animals have suggested that freezing is also a state of enhanced visual sensitivity, particularly for coarse visual information, but the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. We induced a freezing-like state in healthy volunteers using threat of electrical shock and measured threat-related changes in both stimulus-independent (baseline) and stimulus-evoked visuocortical activity to low-vs. high-spatial frequency gratings, using functional MRI. As measuring immobility is not feasible in MRI environments, we used fear bradycardia and amygdala-PAG coupling in inferring a freezing-like state. An independent functional localizer and retinotopic mapping were used to assess the retinotopic specificity of visuocortical modulations. We found a threat-induced increase in baseline (stimulus-independent) visuocortical activity that was retinotopically nonspecific, which was accompanied by increased connectivity with the amygdala. A positive correlation between visuocortical activity and fear bradycardia (while controlling for sympathetic activation), and a concomitant increase in amygdala-PAG connectivity, confirmed the specificity of these findings for the parasympathetically dominated freezing-like state. Visuocortical responses to gratings were retinotopically specific, but did not differ between threat and safe conditions across participants. However, individuals who exhibited better discrimination of low-spatial frequency stimuli showed reduced stimulus-evoked V1 responses under threat. Our findings suggest that a defensive state of freezing involves an integration of preparatory defensive and perceptual changes which may be regulated by a common mechanism involving the amygdala.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Lojowska
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Sam Ling
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Boston University, Boston, USA
| | - Karin Roelofs
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Erno J Hermans
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, The Netherlands; Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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21
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Winker C, Rehbein MA, Sabatinelli D, Dohn M, Maitzen J, Wolters CH, Arolt V, Junghofer M. Noninvasive stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex modulates emotional face processing. Neuroimage 2018; 175:388-401. [PMID: 29605579 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.03.067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2017] [Revised: 02/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/28/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is associated with emotional states that can be characterized as positive affect. Moreover, a variety of psychiatric disorders that are associated with disturbed reactions toward reward- or safety-signaling stimuli reveal functional or structural anomalies within this area. Thus, neuromodulation of this region via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) offers an attractive opportunity to noninvasively influence pleasant emotional and reward processing. Recent experiments revealed hemodynamic and electrophysiological evidence for valence specific modulations of emotional scene processing after excitatory and inhibitory tDCS of the vmPFC. Here, we identified that tDCS modulation of vmPFC during emotional face processing results in effects convergent with scene processing, in that excitatory tDCS increased neural reactivity during happy compared to fearful face perception, whereas inhibitory stimulation led to a converse effect. In addition, behavioral data (affect identification of ambiguous expressive faces) revealed a bias toward preferential processing of happy compared to fearful faces after excitatory compared to after inhibitory stimulation. These results further support the vmPFC as an appropriate target for noninvasive neuromodulation of an appetitive processing network in patients suffering from disturbed cognition of reward- and safety-signaling stimuli. It should however be noted that electrophysiological pre-tDCS differences at earlier time intervals of emotional face and scene processing appeared amplified by tDCS, which remains to be investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constantin Winker
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Maimu A Rehbein
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Dean Sabatinelli
- Department of Psychology and BioImaging Research Center, University of Georgia, USA
| | - Mira Dohn
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Julius Maitzen
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Carsten H Wolters
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Volker Arolt
- Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Germany
| | - Markus Junghofer
- Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignalanalysis, University of Muenster, Germany; Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Muenster, Germany.
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22
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Dubois J, Oya H, Tyszka JM, Howard M, Eberhardt F, Adolphs R. Causal mapping of emotion networks in the human brain: Framework and initial findings. Neuropsychologia 2017; 145:106571. [PMID: 29146466 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2017.11.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2017] [Revised: 11/09/2017] [Accepted: 11/11/2017] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Emotions involve many cortical and subcortical regions, prominently including the amygdala. It remains unknown how these multiple network components interact, and it remains unknown how they cause the behavioral, autonomic, and experiential effects of emotions. Here we describe a framework for combining a novel technique, concurrent electrical stimulation with fMRI (es-fMRI), together with a novel analysis, inferring causal structure from fMRI data (causal discovery). We outline a research program for investigating human emotion with these new tools, and provide initial findings from two large resting-state datasets as well as case studies in neurosurgical patients with electrical stimulation of the amygdala. The overarching goal is to use causal discovery methods on fMRI data to infer causal graphical models of how brain regions interact, and then to further constrain these models with direct stimulation of specific brain regions and concurrent fMRI. We conclude by discussing limitations and future extensions. The approach could yield anatomical hypotheses about brain connectivity, motivate rational strategies for treating mood disorders with deep brain stimulation, and could be extended to animal studies that use combined optogenetic fMRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julien Dubois
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
| | - Hiroyuki Oya
- Department of Neurosurgery, Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, IA 52241, USA
| | - J Michael Tyszka
- Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Matthew Howard
- Department of Neurosurgery, Human Brain Research Laboratory, University of Iowa, IA 52241, USA
| | - Frederick Eberhardt
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
| | - Ralph Adolphs
- Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Chen Neuroscience Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
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23
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Giorgio A, Zhang J, Costantino F, De Stefano N, Frezzotti P. Diffuse brain damage in normal tension glaucoma. Hum Brain Mapp 2017; 39:532-541. [PMID: 29064608 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.23862] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2017] [Revised: 10/06/2017] [Accepted: 10/16/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Brain changes within and beyond the visual system have been demonstrated in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), the most common type of glaucoma. These changes have been often interpreted as a neurodegenerative process due, at least partially, to the raised intraocular pressure (IOP). In this context, normal tension glaucoma (NTG), a form of POAG with IOP <21 mm Hg despite the typical glaucomatous findings, represents the most suitable model of glaucoma to test the validity of this hypothesis. We acquired multimodal brain MRI in NTG patients (n = 17) and compared them with demographically matched groups of POAG patients with raised IOP (n = 17) and normal controls (NC, n = 29). Voxelwise statistics was performed with nonparametric permutation testing. Both NTG and POAG patients showed, compared to NC, significantly more gray matter atrophy in both the visual system and in nonvisual brain regions and altered diffusion tensor imaging-derived anatomical connectivity (AC; lower fractional anisotropy and/or higher diffusivities). Compared with NTG, POAG had both more atrophic visual cortex and higher axial diffusivity in nonvisual regions. Functional connectivity (FC) with respect to NC was altered in NTG at short-range level [visual network (VN), ventral attention network] and in POAG at long-range level (between secondary VN and limbic network). FC of POAG was higher than NTG in both VN and executive network. This study provides further evidence that diffuse structural and functional abnormalities across glaucoma brain may be, at least partially, independent of raised IOP and the consequent retinal degeneration. This further defines glaucoma as a condition with neurodegeneration spreading. Hum Brain Mapp 39:532-541, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonio Giorgio
- Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, University of Siena, Italy
| | - Jian Zhang
- Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, University of Siena, Italy
| | | | - Nicola De Stefano
- Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, University of Siena, Italy
| | - Paolo Frezzotti
- Department of Medicine, Surgery and Neuroscience, University of Siena, Italy
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24
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Saygin ZM, Kliemann D, Iglesias JE, van der Kouwe AJW, Boyd E, Reuter M, Stevens A, Van Leemput K, McKee A, Frosch MP, Fischl B, Augustinack JC. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging reveals nuclei of the human amygdala: manual segmentation to automatic atlas. Neuroimage 2017; 155:370-382. [PMID: 28479476 PMCID: PMC5557007 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.04.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 260] [Impact Index Per Article: 37.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2016] [Revised: 04/06/2017] [Accepted: 04/19/2017] [Indexed: 10/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The amygdala is composed of multiple nuclei with unique functions and connections in the limbic system and to the rest of the brain. However, standard in vivo neuroimaging tools to automatically delineate the amygdala into its multiple nuclei are still rare. By scanning postmortem specimens at high resolution (100-150µm) at 7T field strength (n = 10), we were able to visualize and label nine amygdala nuclei (anterior amygdaloid, cortico-amygdaloid transition area; basal, lateral, accessory basal, central, cortical medial, paralaminar nuclei). We created an atlas from these labels using a recently developed atlas building algorithm based on Bayesian inference. This atlas, which will be released as part of FreeSurfer, can be used to automatically segment nine amygdala nuclei from a standard resolution structural MR image. We applied this atlas to two publicly available datasets (ADNI and ABIDE) with standard resolution T1 data, used individual volumetric data of the amygdala nuclei as the measure and found that our atlas i) discriminates between Alzheimer's disease participants and age-matched control participants with 84% accuracy (AUC=0.915), and ii) discriminates between individuals with autism and age-, sex- and IQ-matched neurotypically developed control participants with 59.5% accuracy (AUC=0.59). For both datasets, the new ex vivo atlas significantly outperformed (all p < .05) estimations of the whole amygdala derived from the segmentation in FreeSurfer 5.1 (ADNI: 75%, ABIDE: 54% accuracy), as well as classification based on whole amygdala volume (using the sum of all amygdala nuclei volumes; ADNI: 81%, ABIDE: 55% accuracy). This new atlas and the segmentation tools that utilize it will provide neuroimaging researchers with the ability to explore the function and connectivity of the human amygdala nuclei with unprecedented detail in healthy adults as well as those with neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Z M Saygin
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ McGovern Institute, 43 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA.
| | - D Kliemann
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology/ McGovern Institute, 43 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - J E Iglesias
- University College London, Dept. Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Translational Imaging Group, Malet Place Engineering Building, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK; Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language, Paseo Mikeletegi 69, 20009 Donostia - San Sebastian, Spain
| | - A J W van der Kouwe
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - E Boyd
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - M Reuter
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - A Stevens
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - K Van Leemput
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
| | - A McKee
- Department of Neurology and Pathology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston University Alzheimer's Disease Center, Boston, MA 02118, USA; VA Boston Healthcare System, MA 02130, USA
| | - M P Frosch
- C.S. Kubik Laboratory for Neuropathology, Pathology Service, MGH, 55 Fruit St., Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - B Fischl
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; MIT Computer Science and AI Lab, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - J C Augustinack
- Athinoula A Martinos Center, Dept. of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
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25
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Abstract
Brain regions that process affect are strongly connected with visual regions, but the functional consequences of this structural organization have been relatively unexplored. How does the momentary affect of an observer influence perception? We induced either pleasant or unpleasant affect in participants and then recorded their neural activity using magnetoencephalography while they completed an object recognition task. We hypothesized, and found, that affect influenced the speed of object recognition by modulating the speed and amplitude of evoked responses in occipitotemporal cortex and regions important for representing affect. Furthermore, affect modulated functional interactions between affective and perceptual regions early during perceptual processing. These findings indicate that affect can serve as an important contextual influence on object recognition processes.
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26
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Ebisch SJH, Salone A, Martinotti G, Carlucci L, Mantini D, Perrucci MG, Saggino A, Romani GL, Di Giannantonio M, Northoff G, Gallese V. Integrative Processing of Touch and Affect in Social Perception: An fMRI Study. Front Hum Neurosci 2016; 10:209. [PMID: 27242474 PMCID: PMC4861868 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2016.00209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2016] [Accepted: 04/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social perception commonly employs multiple sources of information. The present study aimed at investigating the integrative processing of affective social signals. Task-related and task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 26 healthy adult participants during a social perception task concerning dynamic visual stimuli simultaneously depicting facial expressions of emotion and tactile sensations that could be either congruent or incongruent. Confounding effects due to affective valence, inhibitory top-down influences, cross-modal integration, and conflict processing were minimized. The results showed that the perception of congruent, compared to incongruent stimuli, elicited enhanced neural activity in a set of brain regions including left amygdala, bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and left superior parietal cortex. These congruency effects did not differ as a function of emotion or sensation. A complementary task-related functional interaction analysis preliminarily suggested that amygdala activity depended on previous processing stages in fusiform gyrus and PCC. The findings provide support for the integrative processing of social information about others' feelings from manifold bodily sources (sensory-affective information) in amygdala and PCC. Given that the congruent stimuli were also judged as being more self-related and more familiar in terms of personal experience in an independent sample of participants, we speculate that such integrative processing might be mediated by the linking of external stimuli with self-experience. Finally, the prediction of task-related responses in amygdala by intrinsic functional connectivity between amygdala and PCC during a task-free state implies a neuro-functional basis for an individual predisposition for the integrative processing of social stimulus content.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sjoerd J H Ebisch
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences and Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy
| | - Anatolia Salone
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences and Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy
| | - Giovanni Martinotti
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences and Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy
| | - Leonardo Carlucci
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy
| | - Dante Mantini
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH ZurichZurich, Switzerland; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, OxfordUK; Research Center for Motor Control and Neuroplasticity, KU LeuvenLeuven, Belgium
| | - Mauro G Perrucci
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences and Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy
| | - Aristide Saggino
- Department of Psychological, Health and Territorial Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy
| | - Gian Luca Romani
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences and Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy
| | - Massimo Di Giannantonio
- Department of Neuroscience, Imaging and Clinical Sciences and Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies, G. d'Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara Chieti, Italy
| | - Georg Northoff
- The Royal's Institute of Mental Health Research & University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute, Centre for Neural Dynamics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Vittorio Gallese
- Section of Physiology, Department of Neuroscience, University of ParmaParma, Italy; Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of LondonLondon, UK
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27
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Maher S, Ekstrom T, Chen Y. Impaired visual cortical processing of affective facial information in schizophrenia. Clin Psychol Sci 2015; 4:651-660. [PMID: 27833789 DOI: 10.1177/2167702615609595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Facial emotion perception impairment in schizophrenia is currently viewed as abnormal affective processing. Facial emotion perception also relies on visual processing. Yet, visual cortical processing of facial emotion is not well understood in this disorder. We measured perceptual thresholds for detecting facial fear and happiness in patients (n=23) and controls (n=23), and adjusted emotion intensity of facial stimuli (via morphing between images of neutral and emotive expressions) for each subject. We then evaluated activations of the visual cortex and amygdala during the performance of perceptually-equated facial emotion detection tasks. Patients had significantly lower fear- and happiness-induced activations in the visual cortex and amygdala. Activations between the visual cortex and amygdala were largely correlated, but the correlations in patients occurred abnormally early in response time course during fear perception. In schizophrenia, visual processing of facial emotion is deficient and visual and affective processing of negative facial emotion may be prematurely associated.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Maher
- McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - T Ekstrom
- McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School
| | - Y Chen
- McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School
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28
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Van den Stock J, Hortensius R, Sinke C, Goebel R, de Gelder B. Personality traits predict brain activation and connectivity when witnessing a violent conflict. Sci Rep 2015; 5:13779. [PMID: 26337369 PMCID: PMC4559660 DOI: 10.1038/srep13779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2015] [Accepted: 08/05/2015] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
As observers we excel in decoding the emotional signals telling us that a social interaction is turning violent. The neural substrate and its modulation by personality traits remain ill understood. We performed an fMRI experiment in which participants watched videos displaying a violent conflict between two people. Observers’ attention was directed to either the aggressor or the victim. Focusing on the aggressor (vs. focusing on the victim) activated the superior temporal sulcus (STS), extra-striate body area (EBA), occipital poles and centro-medial amygdala (CMA). Stronger instantaneous connectivity occurred between these and the EBA, insula, and the red nucleus. When focusing on the victim, basolateral amygdala (BLA) activation was related to trait empathy and showed increased connectivity with the insula and red nucleus. STS activation was associated with trait aggression and increased connectivity with the hypothalamus. The findings reveal that focusing on the aggressor of a violent conflict triggers more activation in categorical (EBA) and emotion (CMA, STS) areas. This is associated with increased instantaneous connectivity among emotion areas (CMA-insula) and between categorical and emotion (EBA-STS) areas. When the focus is on the victim, personality traits (aggression/empathy) modulate activity in emotion areas (respectively STS and postcentral gyrus/ BLA), along with connectivity in the emotional diencephalon (hypothalamus) and early visual areas (occipital pole).
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Van den Stock
- Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychiatry, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.,Old Age Psychiatry, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Ruud Hortensius
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Charlotte Sinke
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry &Mental Health, University of Cape Town, J-Block, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Rainer Goebel
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Oxfordlaan 55, 6200 MD Maastricht, the Netherlands.,Department of Psychiatry &Mental Health, University of Cape Town, J-Block, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
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29
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Silverstein DN, Ingvar M. A multi-pathway hypothesis for human visual fear signaling. Front Syst Neurosci 2015; 9:101. [PMID: 26379513 PMCID: PMC4547041 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2015.00101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2015] [Accepted: 06/29/2015] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
A hypothesis is proposed for five visual fear signaling pathways in humans, based on an analysis of anatomical connectivity from primate studies and human functional connectvity and tractography from brain imaging studies. Earlier work has identified possible subcortical and cortical fear pathways known as the "low road" and "high road," which arrive at the amygdala independently. In addition to a subcortical pathway, we propose four cortical signaling pathways in humans along the visual ventral stream. All four of these traverse through the LGN to the visual cortex (VC) and branching off at the inferior temporal area, with one projection directly to the amygdala; another traversing the orbitofrontal cortex; and two others passing through the parietal and then prefrontal cortex, one excitatory pathway via the ventral-medial area and one regulatory pathway via the ventral-lateral area. These pathways have progressively longer propagation latencies and may have progressively evolved with brain development to take advantage of higher-level processing. Using the anatomical path lengths and latency estimates for each of these five pathways, predictions are made for the relative processing times at selective ROIs and arrival at the amygdala, based on the presentation of a fear-relevant visual stimulus. Partial verification of the temporal dynamics of this hypothesis might be accomplished using experimental MEG analysis. Possible experimental protocols are suggested.
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Affiliation(s)
- David N Silverstein
- PDC Center for High Performance Computing and Department of Computational Biology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm, Sweden ; Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institutet Solna, Sweden
| | - Martin Ingvar
- Stockholm Brain Institute, Karolinska Institutet Solna, Sweden ; Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet Solna, Sweden
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30
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Montes-Lourido P, Vicente AF, Bermudez MA, Gonzalez F. Neural activity in monkey amygdala during performance of a multisensory operant task. J Integr Neurosci 2015; 14:309-23. [PMID: 26246438 DOI: 10.1142/s021963521550020x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In this paper, we study the potential involvement of monkey amygdala in the evaluation of value encoding of visual and auditive stimuli associated with reward or no reward. We recorded the activity of 93 extracellular neurons from the monkey right amygdala, while performing a multisensory operant task. The activity of 78 task-related neurons was studied. Of these, 13 neurons (16%) responded to the value of visual stimuli, 22 neurons (28%) responded after the presentation of visual stimuli, 22 neurons (28%) showed an inhibition around the lever-pressing and were classified as action related neurons and 22 neurons (28%) responded after reward delivery. These findings suggest that neurons in the amygdala play a role in encoding value and processing visual information, participate in motor regulation and are sensitive to reward. The activity of these neurons did not change in the evaluation of auditive stimuli. These data support the hypothesis that amygdala neurons are specific to each sensory modality and that different groups of amygdala neurons process visual and auditive information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pilar Montes-Lourido
- * Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela E-15782, Spain
| | - Ana F Vicente
- * Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela E-15782, Spain
| | - Maria A Bermudez
- * Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela E-15782, Spain
| | - Francisco Gonzalez
- * Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela E-15782, Spain.,† Department of Surgery, University of Santiago de Compostela, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain.,‡ Service of Ophthalmology and IDIS, Complejo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago de Compostela, E-15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
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31
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Kohno S, Noriuchi M, Iguchi Y, Kikuchi Y, Hoshi Y. Emotional discrimination during viewing unpleasant pictures: timing in human anterior ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Front Hum Neurosci 2015; 9:51. [PMID: 25713527 PMCID: PMC4322640 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2015.00051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2014] [Accepted: 01/19/2015] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and amygdala have critical roles in the generation and regulation of unpleasant emotions, and in this study the dynamic neural basis of unpleasant emotion processing was elucidated by using paired-samples permutation t-tests to identify the timing of emotional discrimination in various brain regions. We recorded the temporal dynamics of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals in those brain regions during the viewing of unpleasant pictures by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with high temporal resolution, and we compared the time course of the signal within the volume of interest (VOI) across emotional conditions. Results show that emotional discrimination in the right amygdala precedes that in the left amygdala and that emotional discrimination in both those regions precedes that in the right anterior VLPFC. They support the hypotheses that the right amygdala is part of a rapid emotional stimulus detection system and the left amygdala is specialized for sustained stimulus evaluation and that the right anterior VLPFC is implicated in the integration of viscerosensory information with affective signals between the bilateral anterior VLPFCs and the bilateral amygdalae.
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Affiliation(s)
- Satoru Kohno
- Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science Tokyo, Japan
| | - Madoka Noriuchi
- Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science Tokyo, Japan
| | | | | | - Yoko Hoshi
- Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science Tokyo, Japan
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32
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Morecraft RJ, Ge J, Stilwell-Morecraft KS, McNeal DW, Hynes SM, Pizzimenti MA, Rotella DL, Darling WG. Vulnerability of the medial frontal corticospinal projection accompanies combined lateral frontal and parietal cortex injury in rhesus monkey. J Comp Neurol 2014; 523:669-97. [PMID: 25349147 DOI: 10.1002/cne.23703] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2014] [Revised: 10/14/2014] [Accepted: 10/15/2014] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Concurrent damage to the lateral frontal and parietal cortex is common following middle cerebral artery infarction, leading to upper extremity paresis, paresthesia, and sensory loss. Motor recovery is often poor, and the mechanisms that support or impede this process are unclear. Since the medial wall of the cerebral hemisphere is commonly spared following stroke, we investigated the spontaneous long-term (6 and 12 month) effects of lateral frontoparietal injury (F2P2 lesion) on the terminal distribution of the corticospinal projection (CSP) from intact, ipsilesional supplementary motor cortex (M2) at spinal levels C5 to T1. Isolated injury to the frontoparietal arm/hand region resulted in a significant loss of contralateral corticospinal boutons from M2 compared with controls. Specifically, reductions occurred in the medial and lateral parts of lamina VII and the dorsal quadrants of lamina IX. There were no statistical differences in the ipsilateral CSP. Contrary to isolated lateral frontal motor injury (F2 lesion), which results in substantial increases in contralateral M2 labeling in laminae VII and IX (McNeal et al. [2010] J. Comp. Neurol. 518:586-621), the added effect of adjacent parietal cortex injury to the frontal motor lesion (F2P2 lesion) not only impedes a favorable compensatory neuroplastic response but results in a substantial loss of M2 CSP terminals. This dramatic reversal of the CSP response suggests a critical trophic role for cortical somatosensory influence on spared ipsilesional frontal corticospinal projections, and that restoration of a favorable compensatory response will require therapeutic intervention.
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Affiliation(s)
- R J Morecraft
- Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Laboratory of Neurological Sciences, The University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine, Vermillion, South Dakota, 57069
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33
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Peck CJ, Salzman CD. Amygdala neural activity reflects spatial attention towards stimuli promising reward or threatening punishment. eLife 2014; 3. [PMID: 25358090 PMCID: PMC4238057 DOI: 10.7554/elife.04478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2014] [Accepted: 10/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Humans and other animals routinely identify and attend to sensory stimuli so as to rapidly acquire rewards or avoid aversive experiences. Emotional arousal, a process mediated by the amygdala, can enhance attention to stimuli in a non-spatial manner. However, amygdala neural activity was recently shown to encode spatial information about reward-predictive stimuli, and to correlate with spatial attention allocation. If representing the motivational significance of sensory stimuli within a spatial framework reflects a general principle of amygdala function, then spatially selective neural responses should also be elicited by sensory stimuli threatening aversive events. Recordings from amygdala neurons were therefore obtained while monkeys directed spatial attention towards stimuli promising reward or threatening punishment. Neural responses encoded spatial information similarly for stimuli associated with both valences of reinforcement, and responses reflected spatial attention allocation. The amygdala therefore may act to enhance spatial attention to sensory stimuli associated with rewarding or aversive experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Peck
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, United States
| | - C Daniel Salzman
- Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, United States
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34
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Bickart KC, Dickerson BC, Barrett LF. The amygdala as a hub in brain networks that support social life. Neuropsychologia 2014; 63:235-48. [PMID: 25152530 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.08.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 238] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2014] [Revised: 08/09/2014] [Accepted: 08/11/2014] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
A growing body of evidence suggests that the amygdala is central to handling the demands of complex social life in primates. In this paper, we synthesize extant anatomical and functional data from rodents, monkeys, and humans to describe the topography of three partially distinct large-scale brain networks anchored in the amygdala that each support unique functions for effectively managing social interactions and maintaining social relationships. These findings provide a powerful componential framework for parsing social behavior into partially distinct neural underpinnings that differ among healthy people and disintegrate or fail to develop in neuropsychiatric populations marked by social impairment, such as autism, antisocial personality disorder, and frontotemporal dementia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin C Bickart
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Northeastern University, United States
| | - Bradford C Dickerson
- Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program and Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Northeastern University, United States; Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, United States
| | - Lisa Feldman Barrett
- Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program and Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Northeastern University, United States; Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, United States.
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35
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Abstract
The human amygdala plays a key role in recognizing facial emotions and neurons in the monkey and human amygdala respond to the emotional expression of faces. However, it remains unknown whether these responses are driven primarily by properties of the stimulus or by the perceptual judgments of the perceiver. We investigated these questions by recording from over 200 single neurons in the amygdalae of 7 neurosurgical patients with implanted depth electrodes. We presented degraded fear and happy faces and asked subjects to discriminate their emotion by button press. During trials where subjects responded correctly, we found neurons that distinguished fear vs. happy emotions as expressed by the displayed faces. During incorrect trials, these neurons indicated the patients' subjective judgment. Additional analysis revealed that, on average, all neuronal responses were modulated most by increases or decreases in response to happy faces, and driven predominantly by judgments about the eye region of the face stimuli. Following the same analyses, we showed that hippocampal neurons, unlike amygdala neurons, only encoded emotions but not subjective judgment. Our results suggest that the amygdala specifically encodes the subjective judgment of emotional faces, but that it plays less of a role in simply encoding aspects of the image array. The conscious percept of the emotion shown in a face may thus arise from interactions between the amygdala and its connections within a distributed cortical network, a scheme also consistent with the long response latencies observed in human amygdala recordings.
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36
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Redlich R, Grotegerd D, Opel N, Kaufmann C, Zwitserlood P, Kugel H, Heindel W, Donges US, Suslow T, Arolt V, Dannlowski U. Are you gonna leave me? Separation anxiety is associated with increased amygdala responsiveness and volume. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 10:278-84. [PMID: 24752071 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu055] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The core feature of separation anxiety is excessive distress when faced with actual or perceived separation from people to whom the individual has a strong emotional attachment. So far little is known about the neurobiological underpinnings of separation anxiety. Therefore, we investigated functional (amygdala responsiveness and functional connectivity during threat-related emotion processing) and structural (grey matter volume) imaging markers associated with separation anxiety as measured with the Relationship Scale Questionnaire in a large sample of healthy adults from the Münster Neuroimaging Cohort (N = 320). We used a robust emotional face-matching task and acquired high-resolution structural images for morphometric analyses using voxel-based morphometry. The main results were positive associations of separation anxiety scores with amygdala reactivity to emotional faces as well as increased amygdala grey matter volumes. A functional connectivity analysis revealed positive associations between separation anxiety and functional coupling of the amygdala with areas involved in visual processes and attention, including several occipital and somatosensory areas. Taken together, the results suggest a higher emotional involvement in subjects with separation anxiety while watching negative facial expressions, and potentially secondary neuro-structural adaptive processes. These results could help to understand and treat (adult) separation anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ronny Redlich
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Dominik Grotegerd
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Nils Opel
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Carolin Kaufmann
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Pienie Zwitserlood
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Harald Kugel
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Walter Heindel
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Uta-Susan Donges
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Thomas Suslow
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Volker Arolt
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
| | - Udo Dannlowski
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G 9A, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychology, University of Muenster, Fliednerstr. 21, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Muenster, Albert Schweizer-Campus 1, G A1, 48149 Muenster, Germany, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University of Leipzig, Semmelweisstraße 10, 04103 Leipzig, Germany, and Department of Psychiatry, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
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Liu XB, Schumann CM. Optimization of electron microscopy for human brains with long-term fixation and fixed-frozen sections. Acta Neuropathol Commun 2014; 2:42. [PMID: 24721148 PMCID: PMC4003521 DOI: 10.1186/2051-5960-2-42] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2014] [Accepted: 03/26/2014] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Abnormal connectivity across brain regions underlies many neurological disorders including multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and autism, possibly due to atypical axonal organization within white matter. Attempts at investigating axonal organization on post-mortem human brains have been hindered by the availability of high-quality, morphologically preserved tissue, particularly for neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism. Brains are generally stored in a fixative for long periods of time (often greater than 10 years) and in many cases, already frozen and sectioned on a microtome for histology and immunohistochemistry. Here we present a method to assess the quality and quantity of axons from long-term fixed and frozen-sectioned human brain samples to demonstrate their use for electron microscopy (EM) measures of axonal ultrastructure. RESULTS Six samples were collected from white matter below the superior temporal cortex of three typically developing human brains and prepared for EM analyses. Five samples were stored in fixative for over 10 years, two of which were also flash frozen and sectioned on a freezing microtome, and one additional case was fixed for 3 years and sectioned on a freezing microtome. In all six samples, ultrastructural qualitative and quantitative analyses demonstrate that myelinated axons can be identified and counted on the EM images. Although axon density differed between brains, axonal ultrastructure and density was well preserved and did not differ within cases for fixed and frozen tissue. There was no significant difference between cases in axon myelin sheath thickness (g-ratio) or axon diameter; approximately 70% of axons were in the small (0.25 μm) to medium (0.75 μm) range. Axon diameter and g-ratio were positively correlated, indicating that larger axons may have thinner myelin sheaths. CONCLUSION The current study demonstrates that long term formalin fixed and frozen-sectioned human brain tissue can be used for ultrastructural analyses. Axon integrity is well preserved and can be quantified using the methods presented here. The ability to carry out EM on frozen sections allows for investigation of axonal organization in conjunction with other cellular and histological methods, such as immunohistochemistry and stereology, within the same brain and even within the same frozen cut section.
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Levita L, Howsley P, Jordan J, Johnston P. Potentiation of the early visual response to learned danger signals in adults and adolescents. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2014; 10:269-77. [PMID: 24652856 DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsu048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The reinforcing effects of aversive outcomes on avoidance behaviour are well established. However, their influence on perceptual processes is less well explored, especially during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Using electroencephalography, we examined whether learning to actively or passively avoid harm can modulate early visual responses in adolescents and adults. The task included two avoidance conditions, active and passive, where two different warning stimuli predicted the imminent, but avoidable, presentation of an aversive tone. To avoid the aversive outcome, participants had to learn to emit an action (active avoidance) for one of the warning stimuli and omit an action for the other (passive avoidance). Both adults and adolescents performed the task with a high degree of accuracy. For both adolescents and adults, increased N170 event-related potential amplitudes were found for both the active and the passive warning stimuli compared with control conditions. Moreover, the potentiation of the N170 to the warning stimuli was stable and long lasting. Developmental differences were also observed; adolescents showed greater potentiation of the N170 component to danger signals. These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that learned danger signals in an instrumental avoidance task can influence early visual sensory processes in both adults and adolescents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liat Levita
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK and Department of Psychology, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Philippa Howsley
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK and Department of Psychology, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Jeff Jordan
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK and Department of Psychology, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Pat Johnston
- Department of Psychology, The University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK and Department of Psychology, The University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
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Rockland KS. Zinc-positive and zinc-negative connections of the claustrum. Front Syst Neurosci 2014; 8:37. [PMID: 24672440 PMCID: PMC3957022 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2014.00037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2014] [Accepted: 02/28/2014] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Kathleen S Rockland
- Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School Medicine Boston, MA, USA ; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor NY, USA
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40
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Blechert J, Goltsche JE, Herbert BM, Wilhelm FH. Eat your troubles away: Electrocortical and experiential correlates of food image processing are related to emotional eating style and emotional state. Biol Psychol 2014; 96:94-101. [DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2013.12.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2012] [Revised: 12/09/2013] [Accepted: 12/10/2013] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
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41
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Weston CSE. Posttraumatic stress disorder: a theoretical model of the hyperarousal subtype. Front Psychiatry 2014; 5:37. [PMID: 24772094 PMCID: PMC3983492 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2014] [Accepted: 03/20/2014] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a frequent and distressing mental disorder, about which much remains to be learned. It is a heterogeneous disorder; the hyperarousal subtype (about 70% of occurrences and simply termed PTSD in this paper) is the topic of this article, but the dissociative subtype (about 30% of occurrences and likely involving quite different brain mechanisms) is outside its scope. A theoretical model is presented that integrates neuroscience data on diverse brain regions known to be involved in PTSD, and extensive psychiatric findings on the disorder. Specifically, the amygdala is a multifunctional brain region that is crucial to PTSD, and processes peritraumatic hyperarousal on grounded cognition principles to produce hyperarousal symptoms. Amygdala activity also modulates hippocampal function, which is supported by a large body of evidence, and likewise amygdala activity modulates several brainstem regions, visual cortex, rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC), and medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), to produce diverse startle, visual, memory, numbing, anger, and recklessness symptoms. Additional brain regions process other aspects of peritraumatic responses to produce further symptoms. These contentions are supported by neuroimaging, neuropsychological, neuroanatomical, physiological, cognitive, and behavioral evidence. Collectively, the model offers an account of how responses at the time of trauma are transformed into an extensive array of the 20 PTSD symptoms that are specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth edition. It elucidates the neural mechanisms of a specific form of psychopathology, and accords with the Research Domain Criteria framework.
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Morecraft RJ, Ge J, Stilwell-Morecraft KS, McNeal DW, Pizzimenti MA, Darling WG. Terminal distribution of the corticospinal projection from the hand/arm region of the primary motor cortex to the cervical enlargement in rhesus monkey. J Comp Neurol 2013; 521:4205-35. [PMID: 23840034 PMCID: PMC3894926 DOI: 10.1002/cne.23410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 70] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2013] [Revised: 05/08/2013] [Accepted: 06/28/2013] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
To further our understanding of the corticospinal projection (CSP) from the hand/arm representation of the primary motor cortex (M1), high-resolution anterograde tracing methodology and stereology were used to investigate the terminal distribution of this connection at spinal levels C5 to T1. The highest number of labeled terminal boutons occurred contralaterally (98%) with few ipsilaterally (2%). Contralaterally, labeled boutons were located within laminae I-X, with the densest distribution found in lamina VII and, to a lesser extent, laminae IX and VI. Fewer terminals were found in other contralateral laminae. Within lamina VII, terminal boutons were most prominent in the dorsomedial, dorsolateral, and ventrolateral subsectors. Within lamina IX, the heaviest terminal labeling was distributed dorsally. Ipsilaterally, boutons were found in laminae V-X. The most pronounced distribution occurred in the dorsomedial and ventromedial sectors of lamina VII and fewer labeled boutons were located in other ipsilateral laminae. Segmentally, contralateral lamina VII labeling was highest at levels C5-C7. In contrast, lamina IX labeling was highest at C7-T1 and more widely dispersed among the quadrants at C8-T1. Our findings suggest dominant contralateral influence of the M1 hand/arm CSP, a contralateral innervation pattern in lamina VII supporting Kuypers (1982) conceptual framework of a "lateral motor system," and a projection to lamina IX indicating significant influence on motoneurons innervating flexors acting on the shoulder and elbow rostrally (C5-C7), along with flexors, extensors, abductors and adductors acting on the digits, hand and wrist caudally (C8-T1).
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert J. Morecraft
- Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Laboratory of Neurological Sciences, The University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069
| | - Jizhi Ge
- Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Laboratory of Neurological Sciences, The University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069
| | - Kimberly S. Stilwell-Morecraft
- Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Laboratory of Neurological Sciences, The University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069
| | - David W. McNeal
- Division of Basic Biomedical Sciences, Laboratory of Neurological Sciences, The University of South Dakota, Sanford School of Medicine, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069
| | - Marc A. Pizzimenti
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Carver College of Medicine, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242
| | - Warren G. Darling
- Department of Health and Human Physiology, Motor Control Laboratories, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
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43
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Chen Y, Li H, Jin Z, Shou T, Yu H. Feedback of the amygdala globally modulates visual response of primary visual cortex in the cat. Neuroimage 2013; 84:775-85. [PMID: 24045078 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2013] [Revised: 09/04/2013] [Accepted: 09/05/2013] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
The amygdala is an important center for emotional behavior, and it influences other cortical regions. Long feedback projections from the amygdala to the primary visual cortex were recently reported in the cat and monkey, two animal models for vision research. However, the detailed functional roles of these extensive projections still remain largely unknown. In this study, intrinsic signal optical imaging was used to investigate the visually driven responses of the primary visual cortex of cats as focal drugs were injected into the basal nucleus of the amygdala. Both the visually evoked global signals and differential signals in the functional maps of the primary visual cortex were enhanced or reduced by glutamate-induced activation or GABA-induced deactivation of neurons in the amygdala, respectively. This modulation was found to be non-selective, consistent with the gain control mechanism-both the preferred orientation and its mapped orientation tuning width remained unchanged. The single unit recordings showed similar results supporting the above observations. These results suggest that the distal feedback signals of the amygdala enhance the primary sensory information processing in a non-selective, gain-control fashion. This provides direct neurophysiological evidence and insight for previous studies on emotional-cue related psychological studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanxin Chen
- Vision Research Laboratory, Center for Brain Science Research and School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433, China
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Mende-Siedlecki P, Verosky SC, Turk-Browne NB, Todorov A. Robust selectivity for faces in the human amygdala in the absence of expressions. J Cogn Neurosci 2013; 25:2086-106. [PMID: 23984945 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
There is a well-established posterior network of cortical regions that plays a central role in face processing and that has been investigated extensively. In contrast, although responsive to faces, the amygdala is not considered a core face-selective region, and its face selectivity has never been a topic of systematic research in human neuroimaging studies. Here, we conducted a large-scale group analysis of fMRI data from 215 participants. We replicated the posterior network observed in prior studies but found equally robust and reliable responses to faces in the amygdala. These responses were detectable in most individual participants, but they were also highly sensitive to the initial statistical threshold and habituated more rapidly than the responses in posterior face-selective regions. A multivariate analysis showed that the pattern of responses to faces across voxels in the amygdala had high reliability over time. Finally, functional connectivity analyses showed stronger coupling between the amygdala and posterior face-selective regions during the perception of faces than during the perception of control visual categories. These findings suggest that the amygdala should be considered a core face-selective region.
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45
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Garcia-Marin V, Ahmed TH, Afzal YC, Hawken MJ. Distribution of vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGluT2) in the primary visual cortex of the macaque and human. J Comp Neurol 2013; 521:130-51. [PMID: 22684983 DOI: 10.1002/cne.23165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2011] [Revised: 11/18/2011] [Accepted: 06/04/2012] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
The majority of thalamic terminals in V1 arise from lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) afferents. Thalamic afferent terminals are preferentially labeled by an isoform of the vesicular glutamate transporter, VGluT2. The goal of our study was to determine the distribution of VGluT2-ir puncta in macaque and human visual cortex. First, we investigated the distribution of VGluT2-ir puncta in all layers of macaque monkey primary visual cortex (V1), and found a very close correspondence between the known distribution of LGN afferents from previous studies and the distribution of VGluT2-immunoreactive (-ir) puncta. There was also a close correspondence between cytochrome oxidase density and VGluT2-ir puncta distribution. After validating the correspondence in macaque, we made a comparative study in human V1. In many aspects, the distribution of VGluT2-ir puncta in human was qualitatively similar to that of the macaque: high densities in layer 4C, patches of VGluT2-ir puncta in the supragranular layer (2/3), lower but clear distribution in layers 1 and 6, and very few puncta in layers 5 and 4B. However, there were also important differences between macaques and humans. In layer 4A of human, there was a sparse distribution of VGluT2-ir puncta, whereas in macaque, there was a dense distribution with the characteristic honeycomb organization. The results suggest important changes in the pattern of cortical VGluT2 immunostaining that may be related to evolutionary differences in the cortical organization of LGN afferents between Old World monkeys and humans.
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Zhu Q, Nelissen K, Van den Stock J, De Winter FL, Pauwels K, de Gelder B, Vanduffel W, Vandenbulcke M. Dissimilar processing of emotional facial expressions in human and monkey temporal cortex. Neuroimage 2013; 66:402-11. [PMID: 23142071 PMCID: PMC3625447 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.10.083] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2012] [Revised: 10/26/2012] [Accepted: 10/30/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Emotional facial expressions play an important role in social communication across primates. Despite major progress made in our understanding of categorical information processing such as for objects and faces, little is known, however, about how the primate brain evolved to process emotional cues. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the processing of emotional facial expressions between monkeys and humans. We used a 2×2×2 factorial design with species (human and monkey), expression (fear and chewing) and configuration (intact versus scrambled) as factors. At the whole brain level, neural responses to conspecific emotional expressions were anatomically confined to the superior temporal sulcus (STS) in humans. Within the human STS, we found functional subdivisions with a face-selective right posterior STS area that also responded to emotional expressions of other species and a more anterior area in the right middle STS that responded specifically to human emotions. Hence, we argue that the latter region does not show a mere emotion-dependent modulation of activity but is primarily driven by human emotional facial expressions. Conversely, in monkeys, emotional responses appeared in earlier visual cortex and outside face-selective regions in inferior temporal cortex that responded also to multiple visual categories. Within monkey IT, we also found areas that were more responsive to conspecific than to non-conspecific emotional expressions but these responses were not as specific as in human middle STS. Overall, our results indicate that human STS may have developed unique properties to deal with social cues such as emotional expressions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Zhu
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Koen Nelissen
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
| | - Jan Van den Stock
- Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Brain and Emotion Laboratory Leuven (BELL), Division of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - François-Laurent De Winter
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory Leuven (BELL), Division of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Karl Pauwels
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA; Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands; Brain and Emotion Laboratory Leuven (BELL), Division of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Laboratory for Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
| | - Mathieu Vandenbulcke
- Brain and Emotion Laboratory Leuven (BELL), Division of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
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47
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Long-term memory search across the visual brain. Neural Plast 2012; 2012:392695. [PMID: 22900206 PMCID: PMC3409559 DOI: 10.1155/2012/392695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2012] [Revised: 05/23/2012] [Accepted: 05/28/2012] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Signal transmission from the human retina to visual cortex and connectivity of visual brain areas are relatively well understood. How specific visual perceptions transform into corresponding long-term memories remains unknown. Here, I will review recent Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (BOLD fMRI) in humans together with molecular biology studies (animal models) aiming to understand how the retinal image gets transformed into so-called visual (retinotropic) maps. The broken object paradigm has been chosen in order to illustrate the complexity of multisensory perception of simple objects subject to visual —rather than semantic— type of memory encoding. The author explores how amygdala projections to the visual cortex affect the memory formation and proposes the choice of experimental techniques needed to explain our massive visual memory capacity. Maintenance of the visual long-term memories is suggested to require recycling of GluR2-containing α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptors (AMPAR) and β2-adrenoreceptors at the postsynaptic membrane, which critically depends on the catalytic activity of the N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) and protein kinase PKMζ.
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48
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Gonzalez Andino SL, Grave de Peralta Menendez R. Coding of saliency by ensemble bursting in the amygdala of primates. Front Behav Neurosci 2012; 6:38. [PMID: 22848193 PMCID: PMC3404502 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2012.00038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2012] [Accepted: 06/19/2012] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Salient parts of a visual scene attract longer and earlier fixations of the eyes. Saliency is driven by bottom-up (image dependent) factors and top-down factors such as behavioral relevance, goals, and expertise. It is currently assumed that a saliency map defining eye fixation priorities is stored in neural structures that remain to be determined. Lesion studies support a role for the amygdala in detecting saliency. Here we show that neurons in the amygdala of primates fire differentially when the eyes approach to or fixate behaviorally relevant parts of visual scenes. Ensemble bursting in the amygdala accurately predicts main fixations during the free-viewing of natural images. However, fixation prediction is significantly better for faces—where a bottom-up computational saliency model fails—compared to unfamiliar objects and landscapes. On this basis we propose the amygdala as a locus for a saliency map and ensemble bursting as a saliency coding mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- S L Gonzalez Andino
- Electrical Neuroimaging Group, Clinic of Neurology and Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Centre and Geneva University Hospital Geneva, Switzerland
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49
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Miskovic V, Keil A. Acquired fears reflected in cortical sensory processing: a review of electrophysiological studies of human classical conditioning. Psychophysiology 2012; 49:1230-41. [PMID: 22891639 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01398.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2012] [Accepted: 05/02/2012] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
The capacity to associate neutral stimuli with affective value is an important survival strategy that can be accomplished by cell assemblies obeying Hebbian learning principles. In the neuroscience laboratory, classical fear conditioning has been extensively used as a model to study learning-related changes in neural structure and function. Here, we review the effects of classical fear conditioning on electromagnetic brain activity in humans, focusing on how sensory systems adapt to changing fear-related contingencies. By considering spatiotemporal patterns of mass neuronal activity, we illustrate a range of cortical changes related to a retuning of neuronal sensitivity to amplify signals consistent with fear-associated stimuli at the cost of other sensory information. Putative mechanisms that may underlie fear-associated plasticity at the level of the sensory cortices are briefly considered, and several avenues for future work are outlined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vladimir Miskovic
- Center for the Study of Emotion & Attention, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
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50
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Emotional processing and its impact on unilateral neglect and extinction. Neuropsychologia 2012; 50:1054-71. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2011] [Revised: 02/29/2012] [Accepted: 03/01/2012] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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