Automatic and Intentional Brain Responses during Evaluation of Face Approachability: Correlations with Trait Anxiety

Abstract

Background: The judgment of the approachability of others based on their facial appearance often precedes social interaction. Whether we ultimately approach or avoid others may depend on such judgments. Method: We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine the neural basis for such approachability judgments and the relationship between these judgments and trait anxiety. Participants viewed ambiguous (i.e. neutral) or relatively unambiguous (i.e. angry, happy) faces, assessing either the approachability or the sex of the person depicted. Results: Neutral faces elicited more inconsistent responses within participants only during approachability judgment, suggesting ambiguous property as signals. The contrast pertaining to the interaction between task and face valence demonstrated activation in several areas, such that the left amygdala and medial, middle and inferior frontal gyri were responsive to angry faces when subjects were asked to recognize the sex (implicit task) and to neutral faces when required to discern the approachability (explicit task). Moreover, the blood oxygenation level-dependent change within the left amygdala in response to neutral faces during the judgment of approachability was positively correlated with participant trait anxiety. Conclusions: These findings extend a proposed model of social cognition by highlighting the functional engagement of the amygdala in approachability judgments, which underlie an individual's sensitivity to ambiguous sources of probable threat.

Perceiving emotional expressions in others: Activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses of explicit evaluation, passive perception and incidental perception of emotions

“…Although the medial frontal cortex spans several structurally distinct regions (Öngür et al, 2003) that might subserve different functions in social cognition (Amodio and Frith, 2006), the same portion of the dMFC as found by us (BA 8) is consistently reported in verbal and nonverbal tasks that require thinking about the mental states of both human and nonhuman agents (Döhnel et al, 2012;Gallagher et al, 2000;Kim et al, 2005;Schlaffke et al, 2015;Schurz et al, 2014;Völlm et al, 2006). In addition to reasoning about other people's transient mental states such as beliefs and desires, medial BA 8 is equally involved in inferring more stable characteristics such as personality traits and dispositions (Iidaka et al, 2010;Mitchell et al, 2004Mitchell et al, , 2005b, intelligence (Hall et al, 2010) and approachability (Hall et al, 2012;Toki et al, 2013).…”

Increased Amygdala and Visual Cortex Activity and Functional Connectivity towards Stimulus Novelty Is Associated with State Anxiety

“…Though this association has been most studied for threat-related stimuli, some studies suggest that heightened anxiety may alter amygdala responses to other stimuli as well. For instance, subjects at risk of developing anxiety disorders have increased amygdala activity during evaluation of stimulus novelty [18], [26] or its approachability [27]. Essentially, it is possible that a more general category of behaviorally relevant stimuli provoke abnormal amygdala responses in anxious subjects, beyond emotional stimulation, subsequently affecting downstream brain areas and behavior.…”

An earlier time of scan is associated with greater threat-related amygdala reactivity

“…Further, we found that pre-scan STAI was not a significant predictor of amygdala reactivity in any analysis. While there are numerous reports of associations between trait anxiety and amygdala function ( Etkin et al , 2004 ; Etkin and Wager, 2007; Ewbank et al , 2009 ; Ball et al , 2012 ; Laeger et al , 2012 ; Toki et al , 2013 ; Binelli et al , 2014 ; Hilbert et al , 2014 ), this result suggests that the amygdala reactivity phenotype is less influenced by the participant’s current anxiety state (but see ( Bishop et al , 2004 ; Somerville et al , 2004 ) for counter examples in smaller samples).…”