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Amygdala activation to masked happy facial expressions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 December 2009

MARIO F. JURUENA ,
VINCENT P. GIAMPIETRO ,
STEPHEN D. SMITH ,
SIMON A. SURGULADZE ,
JEFFREY A. DALTON ,
PHILIP J. BENSON ,
ANTHONY J. CLEARE  and
CYNTHIA H.Y. FU
MARIO F. JURUENA
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom Department of Neurosciences and Behavioural Sciences, School of Medicine of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil
VINCENT P. GIAMPIETRO
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
STEPHEN D. SMITH
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Canada
SIMON A. SURGULADZE
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
JEFFREY A. DALTON
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
PHILIP J. BENSON
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
ANTHONY J. CLEARE
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
CYNTHIA H.Y. FU*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Cynthia H.Y. Fu, Institute of Psychiatry, 103 Denmark Hill, P074, London SE5 8AF UK. E-mail: c.fu@iop.kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract

The amygdala has a key role in automatic non-conscious processing of emotions. Highly salient emotional stimuli elicit amygdala activity, and happy faces are among the most rapidly perceived facial expressions. In backward masking paradigms, an image is presented briefly and then masked by another stimulus. However, reports of amygdala responses to masked happy faces have been mixed. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine amygdala activation to masked happy, sad, and neutral facial expressions. Masked happy faces elicited greater amygdala activation bilaterally as compared to masked sad faces. Our findings indicate that the amygdala is highly responsive to non-consciously perceived happy facial expressions. (JINS, 2010, 16, 383–387.)

Keywords

Functional magnetic resonance imagingSubliminalNon-consciousUnconsciousHappySadEmotion
Type
Brief Communications
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 383 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2009

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