Contributions of amygdala and striatal activity in emotion regulation

Abstract

Background: Emotional information can facilitate or interfere with cognitive processes. In this study, we examined the influence of emotional information in biasing performance and the biological basis underlying this influence.

Methods: Ten human subjects (five female) were scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an emotional go/nogo task.

Results: Subjects were slower to approach fearful target expressions and had more difficulty avoiding happy nontarget expressions. The amygdala was recruited most for negative emotional context, and activity in this region was positively correlated with response time when detecting negative expressions. Increased signal in the right caudate nucleus was observed when avoiding nontargets and was negatively correlated with the number of false alarms subjects made.

Conclusions: Emotional context can alter behavioral and biological responses when approaching or avoiding a stimulus. We showed that recruitment of the amygdala, a region implicated in evaluating emotional significance, was associated with longer response latencies when approaching negative information, whereas recruitment of the caudate nucleus, a structure previously implicated in reward and impulse control, was most active when avoiding positive information. Our findings have significant implications for exaggerated and inhibited emotional responses that are characteristic of a number of psychiatric disorders.