Stability of amygdala BOLD response to fearful faces over multiple scan sessions

We used fMRI to examine amygdala activation in response to fearful facial expressions, measured over multiple scanning sessions. 15 human subjects underwent three scanning sessions, at 0, 2 and 8 weeks. During each session, functional brain images centered about the amygdala were acquired continuous...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:NeuroImage (Orlando, Fla.) Fla.), 2005-05, Vol.25 (4), p.1112-1123
Main Authors: Johnstone, Tom, Somerville, Leah H., Alexander, Andrew L., Oakes, Terrence R., Davidson, Richard J., Kalin, Ned H., Whalen, Paul J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Amygdala
Amygdala - metabolism
Amygdala - physiology
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
BOLD response
Brain
Facial Expression
Fear - physiology
Fearful facial expression
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Linear Models
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Medical imaging
Middle Aged
Models, Neurological
Oxygen - blood
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Reproducibility of Results
Scanners
Stability
Standard deviation
Studies
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Summary:We used fMRI to examine amygdala activation in response to fearful facial expressions, measured over multiple scanning sessions. 15 human subjects underwent three scanning sessions, at 0, 2 and 8 weeks. During each session, functional brain images centered about the amygdala were acquired continuously while participants were shown alternating blocks of fearful, neutral and happy facial expressions. Intraclass correlation coefficients calculated across the sessions indicated stability of response in left amygdala to fearful faces (as a change from baseline), but considerably less left amygdala stability in responses to neutral expressions and for fear versus neutral contrasts. The results demonstrate that the measurement of fMRI BOLD responses in amygdala to fearful facial expressions might be usefully employed as an index of amygdala reactivity over extended periods. While signal change to fearful facial expressions appears robust, the experimental design employed here has yielded variable responsivity within baseline or comparison conditions. Future studies might manipulate the experimental design to either amplify or attenuate this variability, according to the goals of the research.
ISSN:1053-8119
1095-9572
DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2004.12.016