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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

How to Detect Amygdala Activity with Magnetoencephalography using Source Imaging
Published on: June 3, 2013
Human attachment security is mediated by the amygdala: evidence from combined fMRI and psychophysiological measures
Erwin Lemche1, Vincent P Giampietro, Simon A Surguladze
1Division of Psychological Medicine, Section of Neuroscience and Emotion, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom. e.lemche@iop.kcl.ac.uk
Abstract:
The neural basis of human attachment security remains unexamined. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and simultaneous recordings of skin conductance levels, we measured neural and autonomic responses in healthy adult individuals during a semantic conceptual priming task measuring human attachment security "by proxy". Performance during a stress but not a neutral prime condition was associated with response in bilateral amygdalae. Furthermore, levels of activity within bilateral amygdalae were highly positively correlated with attachment insecurity and autonomic response during the stress prime condition. We thereby demonstrate a key role of the amygdala in mediating autonomic activity associated with human attachment insecurity.
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