Pathways for Emotions: Specializations in the Amygdalar, Mediodorsal Thalamic, and Posterior Orbitofrontal Network

Timbie, Clare; Barbas, Helen

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.2157-15.2015

Cited by 79 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This finding may partially explain the observed sleeping SGTC seizures, because the amygdala was involved in most of our patients. Additionally, the amygdala had cortical and subcortical connections with the posterior orbitofrontal cortex 22, 23. Therefore, seizures originating from the amygdala often spread via the orbitofrontal pathway with seizure semiology similar to frontal lobe seizure,24 which were short, frequent, and nocturnal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seizure semiology: an important clinical clue to the diagnosis of autoimmune epilepsy

Ren

Guan

et al. 2018

Ann Clin Transl Neurol

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ObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to analyze the seizure semiologic characteristics of patients with autoimmune epilepsy (AE) and describe the investigation characteristics of AE using a larger sample size.MethodsThis observational retrospective case series study was conducted from a tertiary epilepsy center between May 2014 and March 2017. Cases of new‐onset seizures were selected based on laboratory evidence of autoimmunity. At the same time, typical mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) were recruited as the control group from the subjects who underwent presurgical evaluation during the same period.ResultsA total of 61 patients with AE were identified. Specific autoimmune antibodies were detected in 39 patients (63.93%), including anti‐VGKC in 23 patients (37.70%), anti‐NMDA‐R in 9 patients (14.75%), anti‐GABAB‐R in 6 patients (9.84%), and anti‐amphiphysin in 1 patient (1.64%). Regarding the seizure semiology, no significant differences were noted between AE patients with autoantibody and patients with suspected AE without antibody. Compared to typical MTLE patients with HS, both AE patients with autoantibody and patients with suspected AE without antibody had the same seizure semiologic characteristics, including more frequent SPS or CPS, shorter seizure duration, rare postictal confusion, and common sleeping SGTC seizures.SignificanceThis study highlights important seizure semiologic characteristics of AE. Patients with autoimmune epilepsy had special seizure semiologic characteristics. For patients with autoimmune epilepsy presenting with new‐onset seizures in isolation or with a seizure‐predominant neurological disorder, the special seizure semiologic characteristics may remind us to test neuronal nuclear/cytoplasmic antibodies early and initiate immunomodulatory therapies as soon as possible. Furthermore, the absence of neural‐specific autoantibodies does not rule out AE.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seizure semiology: an important clinical clue to the diagnosis of autoimmune epilepsy

Ren

Guan

et al. 2018

Ann Clin Transl Neurol

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“…Our data show that such “adaptive” communication between amygdala and thalamus might decrease over time in individuals who exhibit a dysfunctional physiological threat response (exaggerated parasympathetic withdrawal) during perseverative cognition. It is noteworthy that a GABAergic pathway from the amygdala to thalamus projects directly onto orbital cortex, forming a tight tripartite system that shapes the formation of emotions, and tempers the impact of direct amygdala-orbital projections to influence the neuronal representations through which emotions bias affective reasoning (Timbie and Barbas, 2015). Correspondingly, HRV represents a potential biomarker of progressive functional alterations between structures involved in both autonomic responses and anxiety symptoms in GAD.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Amygdala functional connectivity as a longitudinal biomarker of symptom changes in generalized anxiety

Makovac

Watson

Meeten

et al. 2016

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

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Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is characterized by excessive worry, autonomic dysregulation and functional amygdala dysconnectivity, yet these illness markers have rarely been considered together, nor their interrelationship tested longitudinally. We hypothesized that an individual’s capacity for emotion regulation predicts longer-term changes in amygdala functional connectivity, supporting the modification of GAD core symptoms. Sixteen patients with GAD (14 women) and individually matched controls were studied at two time points separated by 1 year. Resting-state fMRI data and concurrent measurement of vagally mediated heart rate variability were obtained before and after the induction of perseverative cognition. A greater rise in levels of worry following the induction predicted a stronger reduction in connectivity between right amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and enhanced coupling between left amygdala and ventral tegmental area at follow-up. Similarly, amplified physiological responses to the induction predicted increased connectivity between right amygdala and thalamus. Longitudinal shifts in a distinct set of functional connectivity scores were associated with concomitant changes in GAD symptomatology over the course of the year. Results highlight the prognostic value of indices of emotional dysregulation and emphasize the integral role of the amygdala as a critical hub in functional neural circuitry underlying the progression of GAD symptomatology.

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“…Observations that compared to neutral words, emotional words are more likely to be attended (Williams et al, 1996; Mogg et al, 1997; Anderson and Phelps, 2001), are better remembered (Kensinger and Corkin, 2004; Krolak-Salmon et al, 2004; Strange and Dolan, 2004; Vuilleumier et al, 2004; Kissler et al, 2006), and are also more quickly detected in a lexical decision task (Kanske and Kotz, 2007; Kousta et al, 2009; Scott et al, 2009; Vigliocco et al, 2014), have led to the suggestion that analysis of some emotional linguistic content (in particular, salience and emotional category) could be facilitated at a subcortical level. Connections from the amygdala to visual cortex (Amaral et al, 2003) and to the orbitofrontal cortex (Timbie and Barbas, 2015) could mediate the enhanced cortical processing of emotional words detected subliminally in the amygdala.…”

Section: Perception Of Emotional Written-wordsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Language, Tone and Prosody of Emotions: Neural Substrates and Dynamics of Spoken-Word Emotion Perception

2016

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Rapid assessment of emotions is important for detecting and prioritizing salient input. Emotions are conveyed in spoken words via verbal and non-verbal channels that are mutually informative and unveil in parallel over time, but the neural dynamics and interactions of these processes are not well understood. In this paper, we review the literature on emotion perception in faces, written words, and voices, as a basis for understanding the functional organization of emotion perception in spoken words. The characteristics of visual and auditory routes to the amygdala—a subcortical center for emotion perception—are compared across these stimulus classes in terms of neural dynamics, hemispheric lateralization, and functionality. Converging results from neuroimaging, electrophysiological, and lesion studies suggest the existence of an afferent route to the amygdala and primary visual cortex for fast and subliminal processing of coarse emotional face cues. We suggest that a fast route to the amygdala may also function for brief non-verbal vocalizations (e.g., laugh, cry), in which emotional category is conveyed effectively by voice tone and intensity. However, emotional prosody which evolves on longer time scales and is conveyed by fine-grained spectral cues appears to be processed via a slower, indirect cortical route. For verbal emotional content, the bulk of current evidence, indicating predominant left lateralization of the amygdala response and timing of emotional effects attributable to speeded lexical access, is more consistent with an indirect cortical route to the amygdala. Top-down linguistic modulation may play an important role for prioritized perception of emotions in words. Understanding the neural dynamics and interactions of emotion and language perception is important for selecting potent stimuli and devising effective training and/or treatment approaches for the alleviation of emotional dysfunction across a range of neuropsychiatric states.

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Pathways for Emotions: Specializations in the Amygdalar, Mediodorsal Thalamic, and Posterior Orbitofrontal Network

Cited by 79 publications

References 52 publications

Seizure semiology: an important clinical clue to the diagnosis of autoimmune epilepsy

Seizure semiology: an important clinical clue to the diagnosis of autoimmune epilepsy

Amygdala functional connectivity as a longitudinal biomarker of symptom changes in generalized anxiety

The Language, Tone and Prosody of Emotions: Neural Substrates and Dynamics of Spoken-Word Emotion Perception

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