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Left and right amygdala - mediofrontal cortical functional connectivity is differentially modulated by harm avoidance
Chris Baeken1, Daniele Marinazzo2, Peter Van Schuerbeek3
1Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital (UZBrussel), Brussels, Belgium; Ghent Experimental Psychiatry (GHEP) Lab, Ghent, Belgium.
Plos One
|April 25, 2014
Summary
High Harm Avoidance personality in women is linked to distinct amygdala connectivity patterns in the brain, potentially indicating vulnerability to stress and anxiety disorders.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Psychiatry
- Psychology
Background:
- The amygdalae, left and right, are crucial for emotion regulation.
- Personality traits like Harm Avoidance (HA) may influence brain circuits involved in emotion.
- Lateralized amygdala processing related to HA is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between the personality dimension Harm Avoidance (HA) and lateralized amygdala resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC).
Main Methods:
- Examined 56 drug-naive healthy female subjects.
- Utilized resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) imaging.
- Assessed the correlation between the HA personality dimension and lateralized amygdala rsFC.
Main Results:
- Left and right amygdalae showed distinct connectivity patterns, primarily within the same hemisphere.
- Higher HA scores correlated with stronger left amygdala rsFC with ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) regions linked to affective disturbances.
- Higher HA scores also showed stronger right amygdala rsFC with dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), involved in negative affect regulation.
Conclusions:
- Distinct prefrontal cortex (mPFC) brain networks involving the left and right amygdalae are associated with HA in healthy females.
- These findings suggest a potential neural vulnerability marker for heightened sensitivity to stress and anxiety disorders.
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