Common effects of emotional valence, arousal and attention on neural activation during visual processing of pictures

Emotion and attention heighten sensitivity to visual cues. How neural activation patterns associated with emotion change as a function of the availability of attentional resources is unknown. We used positron emission tomography (PET) and 15O-water to measure brain activity in male volunteers while...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychologia 1999-08, Vol.37 (9), p.989-997
Main Authors: Lane, Richard D., Chua, Phyllis M-L., Dolan, Raymond J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Amygdala
Analysis of Variance
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Anterior temporal cortex
Arousal
Arousal - physiology
Attention
Attention - physiology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - diagnostic imaging
Brain - physiology
Cerebrovascular Circulation - physiology
Emotions - physiology
Extrastriate visual cortex
Functional imaging
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Limbic System - diagnostic imaging
Limbic System - physiology
Male
Prefrontal Cortex - diagnostic imaging
Prefrontal Cortex - physiology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Temporal Lobe - diagnostic imaging
Temporal Lobe - physiology
Tomography, Emission-Computed
Visual Cortex - diagnostic imaging
Visual Cortex - physiology
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Summary:Emotion and attention heighten sensitivity to visual cues. How neural activation patterns associated with emotion change as a function of the availability of attentional resources is unknown. We used positron emission tomography (PET) and 15O-water to measure brain activity in male volunteers while they viewed emotional picture sets that could be classified according to valence or arousal. Subjects simultaneously performed a distraction task that manipulated the availability of attentional resources. Twelve scan conditions were generated in a 3×2×2 factorial design involving three levels of valence (pleasant, unpleasant and neutral), two levels of arousal and two levels of attention (low and high distraction). Extrastriate visual cortical and anterior temporal areas were independently activated by emotional valence, arousal and attention. Common areas of activation derived from a conjunction analysis of these separate activations revealed extensive areas of activation in extrastriate visual cortex with a focus in right BA18 (12, −88, −2) ( Z=5.73, P
ISSN:0028-3932
1873-3514
DOI:10.1016/S0028-3932(99)00017-2