Emotional arousal and activation of the visual cortex: An fMRI analysis

Lang, Peter; Bradley, Margaret M.; Fitzsimmons, Jeffrey R.; Cuthbert, Bruce N.; Scott, James; Moulder, Bradley; Nangia, Vijay

doi:10.1111/1469-8986.3520199

Cited by 632 publications

(254 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…For instance, the need for additional time to initially identify negative images might explain why negative images tend to hold attention longer than positive images (Amir et al, 2003;Fox, Russo, & Dutton, 2002;Koster et al, 2004). In addition, the finding that negative images require more time to identify may suggest that the increased cortical activity for negative stimuli found with fMRI (Lang et al, 1998;LeDoux, 2000;Phelps & LeDoux, 2005;Sergerie, Chochol, & Armony, 2008;Vuilleumier, 2005) and ERP (Olofsson, Nordin, Sequeira, & Polich, 2008) reflects the increased time and effort required to complete identification rather than a more extensive processing of those stimuli. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative emotional photographs are identified more slowly than positive photographs

Becker

2012

Atten Percept Psychophys

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In three experiments, we investigated whether the emotional valence of a photograph influenced the amount of time required to initially identify the contents of the image. In Experiment 1, participants saw a slideshow consisting of positive, neutral, and negative photographs that were balanced for arousal. During the slideshow, presentation time was substantially limited (60 ms), and the images were followed by masks. Immediately following the slideshows, participants were given a recognition memory test. Memory performance was best for positive images and worst for negative images (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, two simultaneous photographs were briefly presented and masked. On a trial-by-trial basis, participants indicated whether the two images were identical or not, thus removing the need for memory storage and retrieval. Again, performance was worst for negative images. The results of Experiment 3 suggested that these valence-based differences were not related attentional effects (Experiment 3). We argue that the valence of an image is detected rapidly and, in the case of negative images, interferes with processing the identity of the scene.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Negative emotional photographs are identified more slowly than positive photographs

Becker

2012

Atten Percept Psychophys

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“…It is therefore possible that like the findings of Holmes, et al (2008), high-anxious individuals in the current study showed an enhanced P1 and a reduced N1, a pattern similar to the P1 and EPN findings in the Holmes, et al study. The enhanced P1 seen in high-anxious individuals may be taken as a sign of increased sensory processing of the faces, most likely due to projections from the amygdala or other motivational centers to the visual cortex (Lang, Bradley, et al, 1998;Pourtois, Grandjean, Sander, and Vuilleumier, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Affective primes suppress attention bias to threat in socially anxious individuals

Helfinstein

White

Bar‐Haim

2008

Behaviour Research and Therapy

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Anxious individuals show an attention bias towards threatening information. However, under conditions of sustained environmental threat this otherwise-present attention bias disappears. It remains unclear whether this suppression of attention bias can be caused by a transient activation of the fear system. In the present experiment, high socially-anxious and low socially-anxious individuals (HSA group, n = 12; LSA group, n = 12) performed a modified dot-probe task in which they were shown either a neutral or socially threatening prime word prior to each trial. EEG was collected and ERP components to the prime and faces displays were computed. The behavioral results indicated that HSA individuals show an attention bias to threat after a neutral prime, but no attention bias after a threatening prime, demonstrating that suppression of attention bias can occur after a transient activation of the fear system. Low Socially Anxious individuals showed an opposite pattern: no evidence of a bias to threat with neutral primes but induction of an attention bias to threat following threat primes. ERP results suggested differential processing of the primes and faces displays by HSA and LSA individuals. However, no group by prime interaction was found for any of ERP components.

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“…Theoretically, the sensitivity can be improved by longer task durations and by individually tuning the set of presented pictures, based on individual subject emotional responses before imaging sessions (Lang, et al 1998). In the later case, subjects would have to be scanned after a sufficiently long period of time to preserve novelty and to produce a high emotional response.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A rapid fMRI task battery for mapping of visual, motor, cognitive, and emotional function

2006

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A set of sensory, motor, cognitive and emotional tasks were combined in a simple, rapid-presentation task battery and tested on a group of 31, normal, healthy subjects aged 22 to 76. Five tasks were selected on the basis of widespread use in fMRI and their ability to produce robust and reliable regional activations. They were: 1) a visual task designed to activate the occipital cortex; 2) a bimanual motor task designed to activate motor areas; 3) a verb generation task designed to activate speech processing areas; 4) an n-back task designed to activate areas associated with working memory and executive function; and 5) an emotional pictures task designed to provoke strong emotional responses that typically activate limbic structures. Most of the tasks produced reliable activations in individual subjects, and assessments of the distribution and reliability of individual subject activations in each targeted area are provided. The emotional pictures task did not demonstrate adequate sensitivity in a priori target regions, only in the a posteriori defined inferior temporal region. Age and gender specific differences were found in the activation patterns for both the cognitive and emotional tasks. The battery provides a prescribed means for researchers to obtain reliable functional localizers within 20-25 minutes of scanning, which can be used to support more elaborate mapping studies of brain function. The dataset can also serve as reliability metric for new fMRI labs and novice investigators seeking to test their acquisition and analysis techniques with minimal time investment and expense.

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Emotional arousal and activation of the visual cortex: An fMRI analysis

Cited by 632 publications

References 12 publications

Negative emotional photographs are identified more slowly than positive photographs

Negative emotional photographs are identified more slowly than positive photographs

Affective primes suppress attention bias to threat in socially anxious individuals

A rapid fMRI task battery for mapping of visual, motor, cognitive, and emotional function

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