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Influence of the fusiform gyrus on amygdala response to emotional faces in the non-clinical range of social anxiety

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2009

J. Pujol ,
B. J. Harrison ,
H. Ortiz ,
J. Deus ,
C. Soriano-Mas ,
M. López-Solà ,
M. Yücel ,
X. Perich  and
N. Cardoner
J. Pujol*
Affiliation:
Institut d'Alta Tecnologia-PRBB, CRC Corporació Sanitària, Barcelona, Spain
B. J. Harrison
Affiliation:
Institut d'Alta Tecnologia-PRBB, CRC Corporació Sanitària, Barcelona, Spain Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Australia
H. Ortiz
Affiliation:
Institut d'Alta Tecnologia-PRBB, CRC Corporació Sanitària, Barcelona, Spain Department of Electronic Engineering, Technical University of Catalonia, Spain
J. Deus
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
C. Soriano-Mas
Affiliation:
Institut d'Alta Tecnologia-PRBB, CRC Corporació Sanitària, Barcelona, Spain
M. López-Solà
Affiliation:
Institut d'Alta Tecnologia-PRBB, CRC Corporació Sanitària, Barcelona, Spain Clinical Sciences Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Barcelona, Spain
M. Yücel
Affiliation:
Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Australia
X. Perich
Affiliation:
Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain
N. Cardoner
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Bellvitge University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain
*
*Address for correspondence: J. Pujol, M.D., Department of Magnetic Resonance, CRC Corporació Sanitària, Hospital del Mar, Passeig Marítim 25–29, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. (Email: [email protected])
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Abstract

Background

Social anxiety often involves a combination of hypervigilance and avoidance to potentially warning signals including the facial expression of emotions. Functional imaging has demonstrated an increase in amygdala response to emotional faces in subjects with social anxiety. Nevertheless, it is unclear to what extent visual areas processing faces influence amygdala reactivity in different socially anxious individuals. We assessed the influence of the fusiform gyrus activation on amygdala response to emotional faces in the non-clinical range of social anxiety.

Method

Twenty-two normal subjects showing a wide range in social anxiety scores were examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the processing of happy and fearful faces. A dimensional analysis approach was used involving voxel-wise mapping of the correlation between subjects' social anxiety scores and amygdala activation, before and after controlling for fusiform gyrus activation.

Results

We observed that only after controlling for subjects' level of activation of the fusiform gyrus was there an association between social anxiety ratings and amygdala response to both happy and fearful faces. The fusiform gyrus influence was more robust during the fear condition. Of note, fusiform gyrus response to fearful faces showed a negative correlation with additional behavioral assessments related to avoidance, including social anxiety scores, harm avoidance and sensitivity to punishment.

Conclusions

Relevant interactions among the emotional face-processing stages exist in the non-clinical range of social anxiety that may ultimately attenuate amygdala responses. Future research will help to establish the role of this effect in a clinical context.

Keywords

Brain activationemotionfMRIlimbic system
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 39 , Issue 7 , July 2009 , pp. 1177 - 1187
Copyright
Copyright © 2009 Cambridge University Press

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