Specialization of amygdala subregions in emotion processing
Journal article
Labuschagne, Izelle, Dominguez, Juan F., Sally, Grace, Mizzi, Simone, Henry, Julie D., Peters, Craig, Rabinak, Christine A., Sinclair, Erin, Lorenzetti, Valentina, Terrett, Gill, Rendell, Peter G., Pedersen, Mangor, Hocking, Darren R. and Heinrichs, Markus. (2024). Specialization of amygdala subregions in emotion processing. Human Brain Mapping. 45(5), p. Article e26673. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26673
Authors | Labuschagne, Izelle, Dominguez, Juan F., Sally, Grace, Mizzi, Simone, Henry, Julie D., Peters, Craig, Rabinak, Christine A., Sinclair, Erin, Lorenzetti, Valentina, Terrett, Gill, Rendell, Peter G., Pedersen, Mangor, Hocking, Darren R. and Heinrichs, Markus |
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Abstract | The amygdala is important for human fear processing. However, recent research has failed to reveal specificity, with evidence that the amygdala also responds to other emotions. A more nuanced understanding of the amygdala's role in emotion processing, particularly relating to fear, is needed given the importance of effective emotional functioning for everyday function and mental health. We studied 86 healthy participants (44 females), aged 18–49 (mean 26.12 ± 6.6) years, who underwent multiband functional magnetic resonance imaging. We specifically examined the reactivity of four amygdala subregions (using regions of interest analysis) and related brain connectivity networks (using generalized psycho-physiological interaction) to fear, angry, and happy facial stimuli using an emotional face-matching task. All amygdala subregions responded to all stimuli (p-FDR < .05), with this reactivity strongly driven by the superficial and centromedial amygdala (p-FDR < .001). Yet amygdala subregions selectively showed strong functional connectivity with other occipitotemporal and inferior frontal brain regions with particular sensitivity to fear recognition and strongly driven by the basolateral amygdala (p-FDR < .05). These findings suggest that amygdala specialization to fear may not be reflected in its local activity but in its connectivity with other brain regions within a specific face-processing network. |
Keywords | centromedial; facial expressions; fear; fMRI; superficial |
Year | 2024 |
Journal | Human Brain Mapping |
Journal citation | 45 (5), p. Article e26673 |
Publisher | Wiley Periodicals LLC |
ISSN | 1065-9471 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.26673 |
PubMed ID | 38590248 |
Scopus EID | 2-s2.0-85190069510 |
PubMed Central ID | PMC11002533 |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Page range | 1-11 |
Funder | Australian Catholic University (ACU) |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 09 Apr 2024 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 13 Mar 2024 |
Deposited | 04 Jun 2025 |
Grant ID | ACURF2013000557 |
14HS4027IL | |
Additional information | © 2024 The Authors. Human Brain Mapping published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/91y7q/specialization-of-amygdala-subregions-in-emotion-processing
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Publisher's version
OA_Labuschagne_2024_Specialization_of_amygdala_subregions_in_emotion.pdf | |
License: CC BY 4.0 | |
File access level: Open |
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