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Feeling or features: different sensitivity to emotion in high-order visual cortex and amygdala.
P Rotshtein1, R Malach, U Hadar
1Wohl Institute for Advanced Imaging, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Neuron
|November 24, 2001
Summary
Facial expression changes (expressional transfiguration) altered amygdala activation but not lateral occipital complex (LOC) activity. Amygdala adaptation correlated with LOC adaptation, suggesting amygdala modulation of visual cortex plasticity.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Emotionally charged visual stimuli typically increase activity in visual and limbic brain regions.
- Visual characteristics of stimuli can potentially confound findings related to emotional processing.
- The expressional transfiguration (ET) effect offers a method to alter stimulus valence while maintaining visual features.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of expressional transfiguration (ET) on brain activation and adaptation in visual processing areas.
- To differentiate the roles of the lateral occipital complex (LOC) and amygdala in processing emotional facial expressions.
- To examine the relationship between amygdala activity, LOC adaptation, and short-term plasticity in the visual cortex.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the expressional transfiguration (ET) effect to manipulate the emotional valence of faces, keeping visual features constant.
- Employed fMRI repetition suppression (adaptation) paradigms to assess neural responses to repeated stimuli.
- Analyzed brain activation and adaptation patterns in the lateral occipital complex (LOC) and amygdala.
Main Results:
- Lateral occipital complex (LOC) activation remained unchanged by emotional valence manipulation via ET.
- fMRI adaptation in LOC was significantly modulated by the ET manipulation, indicating sensitivity to repetition effects.
- Amygdala activation increased with ET manipulation, independent of adaptation effects, suggesting a direct role in emotional valence processing.
Conclusions:
- Amygdala activation is sensitive to emotional valence changes in faces, even when visual features are controlled.
- The lateral occipital complex (LOC) shows adaptation effects related to stimulus repetition, but not directly to emotional valence.
- A correlation between amygdala adaptation and LOC adaptation suggests the amygdala may modulate short-term plasticity in the visual cortex.