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The Journal of Neuroscience, October 4, 2006, 26(40):10120-10128; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2567-06.2006

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Individual Differences in Amygdala Activity Predict Response Speed during Working Memory

Alexandre Schaefer,¹ Todd S. Braver,² Jeremy R. Reynolds,² Gregory C. Burgess,² Tal Yarkoni,² and Jeremy R. Gray¹

¹Psychology Department, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, and ²Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130

Correspondence should be addressed to Jeremy R. Gray, Yale University, Psychology Department, Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520. Email: Jeremy.Gray{at}yale.edu

The human amygdala has classically been viewed as a brain structure primarily related to emotions and dissociated from higher cognition. We report here findings suggesting that the human amygdala also has a role in supporting working memory (WM), a canonical higher cognitive function. In a first functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study (n = 53), individual differences in amygdala activity predicted behavioral performance in a 3-back WM task. Specifically, higher event-related amygdala amplitude predicted faster response time (RT; r = –0.64), with no loss of accuracy. This relationship was not contingent on mood state, task content, or personality variables. In a second fMRI study (n = 21), we replicated the key finding (r = –0.47) and further showed that the correlation between the amygdala and faster RT was specific to a high working memory load condition (3-back) compared with a low working memory load condition (1-back). These results support models of amygdala function that can account for its involvement not only in emotion but also higher cognition.

Key words: amygdala; working memory; emotion; cognitive control; goal-relevance; fMRI

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Received June 19, 2006; revised Aug. 15, 2006; accepted Aug. 22, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Jeremy R. Gray, Yale University, Psychology Department, Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520. Email: Jeremy.Gray{at}yale.edu

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