IntroductionSome brain imaging studies suggest that gender differences exist in central processing of emotional stimuli [7,8]. To date, most studies used pictures of faces or erotic visual stimuli to assess gender differences in functional brain activation [18,10,15]. Emotions can readily be classified with respect to arousal and valence [1]. The degree of pleasantness of visual stimuli and the arousal elicited by these pictures may differ substantially between individual subjects. A frequently used, standardized method to evoke and assess emotions with respect to arousal and valence is the International Affective Picture System (IAPS [12]). In this paradigm, a large series of pictures with emotional content was rated and validated in different cultural contexts [13]. Although this paradigm is frequently used in clinical studies (e. g.[5]), so far only two brain imaging studies used the IAPS to elicit emotions and to assess gender differences in the associated brain activation [4,14]. Here we report brain activation in healthy men and women with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during the presentation of aversive (negative) versus affectively positive visual stimuli that were taken from the IAPS and matched for arousal and positive versus negative valence. MethodsTen right-handed women (mean age 40.0; SD = 6.70) and ten right-handed men (mean age 43.2; SD = 7.32) participated in the study after providing informed, written consent according to the declaration of Helsinki. Brain activation elicited by positive versus neutral and negative versus neutral cues was previously described [19]; here we report gender differences in brain activation elicited by the presentation of negative versus positive visu-Bibliography Pharmacopsychiatry 2003; 36 Suppl 3: S191±S194´ Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart´New York´ISSN 0936-9528 Emotional neuroscience maps neurocircuits associated with the processing of affective stimuli. To assess gender differences in brain activation elicited by affective stimuli, we used pictures from the International Affective Picture System in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. Ten male and ten female age-matched healthy volunteers were included and viewed affectively negative versus positive pictures, which were presented in an event related design. There was a significant interaction between valence of emotional stimuli and gender in the sublenticular extended amygdala (SLEA) and the rostral anterior cin-gulate. fMRI activation in these regions was stronger for negative compared to positive cues in women. In men fMRI activation was independent of stimulus valence. These results suggest to take gender differences into account when emotional paradigms are tested in functional brain imaging.

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