The Journal of Neuroscience, July 2, 2003, 23(13):5627-5633
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Neural Correlates of the Automatic Processing of Threat Facial Signals
Adam K. Anderson,1
Kalina Christoff,1
David Panitz,1
Eve De Rosa,2 and
John D. E. Gabrieli1,3
Departments of 1Psychology,
2Psychiatry, and
3Neuroscience, Stanford University, Stanford,
California 94305
 |
Abstract
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|---|
The present study examined whether automaticity, defined here as
independence from attentional modulation, is a fundamental principle of the
neural systems specialized for processing social signals of environmental
threat. Attention was focused on either scenes or faces presented in a single
overlapping display. Facial expressions were neutral, fearful, or disgusted.
Amygdala responses to facial expressions of fear, a signifier of potential
physical attack, were not reduced with reduced attention to faces. In
contrast, anterior insular responses to facial expressions of disgust, a
signifier of potential physical contamination, were reduced with reduced
attention. However, reduced attention enhanced the amygdala response to
disgust expressions; this enhanced amygdala response to disgust correlated
with the magnitude of attentional reduction in the anterior insular response
to disgust. These results suggest that automaticity is not fundamental to the
processing of all facial signals of threat, but is unique to amygdala
processing of fear. Furthermore, amygdala processing of fear was not entirely
automatic, coming at the expense of specificity of response. Amygdala
processing is thus specific to fear only during attended processing, when
cortical processing is undiminished, and more broadly tuned to threat during
unattended processing, when cortical processing is diminished.
Key words: amygdala; insula; fear; disgust; attention; emotion; faces; fMRI
 |
Introduction
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Facial expressions serve as important social signals of imminent
environmental conditions. It is now known that distinct expressions signaling
environmental threat draw on distinct neural substrates specialized for their
evaluation. Patient and neuroimaging studies suggest that the amygdala is
critical for evaluating fearful facial expressions
(Adolphs et al., 1994
;
Breiter et al., 1996
;
Morris et al., 1996
;
Whalen et al., 1998
). Similar
evidence indicates that the anterior insula, a region of primary gustatory
cortex substantially connected with the amygdala
(Mesulam and Mufson, 1982
), is
specialized for evaluating facial expressions of disgust (Phillips et al.,
1997
,
1998
;
Calder et al., 2000
). The
evidence that expressions of fear, a form of threat related to physical attack
(Gray, 1987
), and expressions
of disgust, a form of threat related to physical contamination and disease
(Rozin and Fallon, 1987
), draw
on specialized brain substrates is one measure of the special informational
status the human brain places on social signals of potential environmental
threats. Another measure of the special status of social signals of threat is
the proposal that their processing occurs automatically, proceeding largely
independently of attention (Ohman et al.,
2001
) and awareness (Esteves
et al., 1994
). Evidence for such automaticity has been shown by
how the amygdala responds to fearful faces during diminished attention
(Vuilleumier et al., 2001
,
2002
) and awareness
(Whalen et al., 1998
).
Amygdala activation to fearful faces has also been shown in patients with
visual neglect (Vuilleumier et al.,
2002
) and in patients with cortical blindness
(Morris et al., 2001
).
However, it is unknown whether automaticity is unique to amygdala fear
processing or whether it is a fundamental principle of neural systems
dedicated to threat signals. There is little, if any, evidence about the
attentional properties of the neural processing of disgust, or any facial
expression other than fear. Furthermore, recent challenges to the preattentive
nature of amygdala processing (Pessoa et al.,
2002a
,b
)
suggest that the precise nature of automatic processing in the amygdala is
unknown. For instance, it has been proposed that fear responses draw on two
distinct pathways to the amygdala: one pathway cortically and another
subcortically mediated (LeDoux,
1996
; Morris et al.,
1999
,
2001
). By circumventing the
cortex, the subcortical pathway may be more rapid and automatic, but should be
at the expense of a more detailed cortical analysis of the stimulus
(Jarrell et al., 1987
;
LeDoux, 1995
). Thus, amygdala
automatic processing may be qualitatively distinct from processing under
conditions of full awareness, occurring at the expense of its specificity for
fear.
To address these issues, the present study used event-related functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine how attention influences amygdala
and anterior insular processing of fear and disgust. Manipulations of visual
attention result in a pronounced modulation of extrastriate responses
(Corbetta et al., 1990
;
Haxby et al., 1994
;
Wojciulik et al., 1998
;
O'Craven et al., 1999
). If
automaticity, defined here as the lack of reduction in activation with reduced
attention, is a fundamental principle of the neural processing of social
signals of environmental threat, then lack of attentional modulation should
extend to both amygdala processing of fear and anterior insular processing of
disgust. Furthermore, if automatic processing is qualitatively similar to
processing taking place during full attention, then reduced attention should
not influence the response specificity in the amygdala and/or anterior
insula.
 |
Materials and Methods
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Participants. Informed consent to take part in a study approved by
the Stanford University Panel on Human Subjects in Medical Research was
obtained from each subject (three men, nine women; mean age, 22.1 years;
range, 1829).
Stimuli. Stimuli consisted of photographs either of fearful,
disgusted, or neutral faces superimposed on pictures of places (see
Fig. 1a). For the
purposes of decreasing stimulus repetition, which is thought to relate to
pronounced amygdala habituation (Breiter et
al., 1996
), increasing the number of unique facial exemplars was
emphasized. Facial expression stimuli were taken from the Facial Affect Series
and supplemented by additional appropriately normed exemplars, resulting in
three facial expression types for 18 distinct individuals (9 male, 9 female).
Place stimuli consisted of photos of 18 interiors and 18 exteriors of
buildings. Super-imposition was achieved by rendering each of the faces and
places semitransparent. All stimuli were standardized for luminosity,
contrast, and transparency. All background place stimuli were 300 x 300
pixels in size (at 72 dpi) with faces presented in an oval aperture
200
x 250 in size, which occluded gender stereotypic features such as hair
and facial shape. Stimuli were created such that face gender, expression, and
underlying place (interior and exterior) were completely crossed, yielding 108
independent stimuli. Across the course of scanning, each of these stimuli were
presented once during attended and once during unattended conditions for a
total of 216 trials. Stimuli were presented using a magnet-compatible
back-projector (Resonance Technology, Van Nuys, CA).

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Figure 1. Faceplace object selection attention task. a, Example
stimulus. Observers were presented with color-coded superimposed faces
(disgusted, fearful, and neutral expressions in red) and places (inside and
outside of buildings in green). Before each test stimulus, observers were
presented with a color-coded prompt indicating which task they were to perform
on that trial: indicate the gender of the face (attend trials) or indicate the
location of the place (unattend trials). b, A representative subject
demonstrated a greater response when attending to places (in green) in a
bilateral region along the collateral sulcus, consistent with the PPA and a
greater response when attending to faces (in red) in the right middle fusiform
gyrus, consistent with the FFA.
|
|
Task design. We used an intermixed trial event-related design. On
each trial, participants were first presented with central fixation (1 sec),
which was replaced by a color-coded prompt (750 msec) that indicated whether
to make a male/female judgment (attend to the face) or an inside/outside
judgment (attend to the place) of a subsequently presented stimulus. After 250
msec, the superimposed face/place stimulus was presented for 750 msec.
Participants were asked to indicate, as quickly and as accurately as possible,
either the gender of the face (attend condition) or to indicate whether the
place was the inside or outside of a building (unattend condition). We opted
to use such an object attentional selection task to limit the role of eye
movements, which would be a larger concern in spatial-selection tasks. To
ensure appropriate averaging of the overlapping hemodynamic responses from
distinct trial types, trials were presented in a fixed randomized order that
counterbalanced trial type history.
After the test scans, participants took part in a fusiform face area (FFA)
and parahippocampal place area (PPA) localizer scan. On each trial, subjects
were first presented with central fixation (1 sec) and then an image of a
neutral face (12 male, 12 female) or a building (1 sec). Images were presented
in a fixed random intermixed order and participants were asked to simply
indicate whether a picture of a face or a place was presented. All stimuli
were distinct from those used in the previous test scans.
Image acquisition and analysis. Participants were scanned with a 3
tesla Signa (General Electric, Milwaukee, WI) scanner with a prototype head
coil. Foam padding placed around the head was used to minimize movement. Every
second we acquired seventeen 4 mm slices ranging from the body of the corpus
callosum to the ventral surface of the anterior temporal lobe using a
T2*-weighted spiral pulse sequence (in-plane resolution, 3.755 mm;
repetition time, 1000 msec; echo time, 30 msec; 60° flip angle, 24 cm
field of view; 64 x 64 matrix acquisition). The intertrial interval
(ITI) was 8 sec. Four separate scans collected 1728 frames (288 per
condition), with 36 repetitions for each of the six trial types. Two dummy
trials were added at the beginning of each session to avoid scanner
equilibration effects. The same slice prescription and scanning parameters
were used in the subsequent localizer scan, with the exception of an increased
ITI of 20 sec. One session collected 960 frames (480 place, 480 face),
resulting in 24 repetitions of each trial type. T1-weighted spin
echo images were acquired for all slices that received functional scans as
well as an additional T1-weighted whole-brain anatomy for the
purposes of normalization of functional data into common stereotactic
space.
Statistical analysis was performed using statistical parametric mapping
software (SPM99; Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, London, UK).
After image reconstruction, motion estimation, realignment, slice-time
correction, normalization, and spatial smoothing (full width at half-maximum,
6 mm) were performed. During normalization, voxels were resampled to 2 x
2 x 4 mm. The presentation of each face/place stimulus was modeled by a
canonical hemodynamic response function (hrf). For each individual, contrast
images were calculated by applying appropriate weights to the parameter
estimates for the regressor of each event type. Group analysis for
identification of the amygdala and anterior insular regions of interest (ROIs)
was performed on these contrast images, which were submitted to a one-sample
t test across the 12 subjects, with subjects entered as a random
effect. Group contrast images were overlaid onto the SPM99 high-resolution
T1 individual template image for viewing. Coordinates of activation
were converted from Montreal Neurological Institute to Talairach space.
ROI delineation. The first phase of analysis was to replicate four
separate findings for purposes of ROI delineation: (1) amygdala activation to
fear faces, (2) anterior insular activation to disgust faces, (3) FFA
activation to faces, and (4) PPA activation to places. Accordingly, the ROIs
were localized with relatively liberal uncorrected criterion (p <
0.01); subsequently, signals from these regions were submitted for examination
of the main hypotheses. The amygdala ROI was defined by the contrast of fear
relative to neutral faces when subjects were attending to faces (cluster
extent threshold, 10 voxels). The anterior insular ROI was defined by disgust
relative to neutral faces when subjects were attending to faces (extent
threshold, 10 voxels). Post-test localizer data were used to identify the FFA
and PPA for each subject (extent threshold, 5 voxels). Each subject's FFA and
PPA were defined by a combination of functional and structural features.
Right-hemisphere voxels confined to the middle fusiform gyrus that were more
active while viewing faces compared with places were considered to be the FFA.
In addition, voxels lateral to the occipital temporal sulcus and confined to
the inferior and middle temporal gyri that were more active while viewing
faces compared with places were considered to be face-responsive regions
within the lateral occipital complex, referred to here as the LOCf. Bilateral
voxels confined to the parahippocampal gyrus that were more active while
viewing places compared with faces were considered to be the PPA.
ROI signal analyses. For each subject, signal change indexed by
the fit of canonical hrf was extracted for each of the eight data frames for
each of the six trial types averaged across 36 trial repetitions and then
submitted to statistical analysis. The
value for analysis of ROI
signal was set at p < 0.01.
 |
Results
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Behavioral performance
Observers were less accurate in making gender judgments on faces than
location judgments on places (87.3 ± 1.1 vs 79.3 ± 1.4%;
F(1,11) = 14.07; p < 0.003). Gender judgments
were influenced by emotional expression (neutral, 75.7 ± 1.7%; disgust,
81.9 ± 2.7%; fear, 80.3 ± 2.3%; F(2,22) =
3.62; p < 0.05). Accuracy in making place judgments was not
influenced by the stimulus content of the to-be-ignored faces (neutral, 87.5
± 2.2%; disgust, 86.6 ± 1.6%; fear, 87.7 ± 2.2%;
F(2,22) = 0.24; p > 0.79). Analysis of
response latency revealed no significant difference in the times taken to make
face and place judgments (820 ± 49 vs 754 ± 46 msec;
F(1,11) = 2.58; p > 0.14). The response
latency for gender judgments was influenced by emotional expression (neutral,
786 ± 81 msec; disgust, 755 ± 69 msec; fear, 811 ± 89
msec; F(2,22) = 4.46; p < 0.03). The response
latency for making place judgments was not influenced by the stimulus content
of the to-be-ignored faces (neutral, 732 ± 81 msec; disgust, 727
± 77 msec; fear, 753 ± 86; F(2,22) = 1.60;
p > 0.23).
Although facial expression did influence gender judgment accuracy and
latency, and may have contributed to the magnitude of bloodoxygen
level-dependent (BOLD) response when faces were attended, critically,
performance on place judgments (when subjects were instructed to ignore faces)
did not differ between face types. This suggests that attention was equally
divided for unattended neutral, disgust, and fear face trials, so that
performance differences did not account for differences in BOLD responses on
unattended trials.
Effect of attention on extrastriate responses
Confirming previous results, decreased attention resulted in a substantial
reduction in cortical activations to both faces and places. A region
functionally defined as more responsive to faces than places in the right
middle fusiform gyrus, consistent with the FFA, demonstrated a greater
response (average, 47 sec from stimulus onset) when subjects were
attending to faces and not places (F(1,154) = 386.69;
p < 0.0001) (Fig.
1b). Conversely, a bilateral region functionally defined
as more responsive to places than faces along the collateral sulcus,
consistent with the PPA, demonstrated a greater response when subjects were
attending to places and not to faces (F(1,154) = 74.76;
p < 0.0001) (Fig.
1b).
Effect of attention on amygdala response
When subjects were attending to faces, a comparison of fear relative to
neutral faces resulted in a discrete activation in the right amygdala (43
voxels, at a peak height x, 22; y, 1; z, 28;
in Talairach coordinates, F(1,11) = 20.52; p <
0.0001) (Fig. 2a).
During attended conditions, the peak response in this functionally defined
amygdala ROI was greater for fearful expressions than either disgusted (fear
vs disgust, F(1,154) = 27.93; p < 0.0001) or
neutral expressions (fear vs neutral, F(1,154) = 40.22;
p < 0.0001); disgusted and neutral expressions did not differ
(F(1,154) = 1.12; p > 0.28)
(Fig. 2b). Thus, the
amygdala response was specific to fear and did not generalize to disgust. The
magnitude of the amygdala response to fearful faces was not significantly
modulated by attention (F(1,154) = 0.24; p >
0.62), remaining greater than neutral expressions (fear vs neutral,
F(1,154) = 25.58; p < 0.0001) during
inattention.

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Figure 2. Attentional dependence of amygdala and anterior insular responses to facial
expressions. a, The amygdala was functionally defined by the group
level contrast of fear relative to neutral trials when faces were attended.
This resulted in a prominent activation in the right amygdala (at a peak
height x,22; y, 1; z, 28; F(1,
11) =20.52; p < 0.0001). b, Effect of stimulus and
attention on amygdala response. Peak amygdala response is displayed for each
facial stimulus type during attended (red) and unattended (green) conditions.
Attention did not significantly reduce the magnitude of amygdala response to
fear, but the enhanced response to disgust during reduced attention suggests
attention influenced the specificity of amygdala response. c, The
insula was functionally defined by contrasting activation on disgust trials
compared with neutral trials when faces were attended. This resulted in a
prominent activation in the right anterior insula (at a peak height
x, 44; y, 5; z, 14; F(1,
11) = 32.72, p < 0.0001). d, Effect of stimulus and
attention on anterior insular response. Peak anterior insular response is
displayed for each facial stimulus type during attended (red) and unattended
(green) conditions. Reduced attention significantly reduced the magnitude of
anterior insular response to disgust.
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|
However, the amygdala demonstrated a surprising increase in response to
expressions of disgust during unattended relative to attended conditions
(F(1,154) = 48.67; p < 0.0001)
(Fig. 3). Because of this
increased response to disgust, when faces were unattended, the amygdala
response magnitude to fear was no longer significantly greater than that to
disgust, with a tendency for a greater response to disgust
(F(1,154) = 4.75; p > 0.031). Both fear
(F(1,154) = 31.89; p < 0.0001) and disgust
(F(1,154) = 54.99; p < 0.0001) resulted in
greater responses relative to neutral expressions
(Fig. 2b). Thus,
inattention did not significantly reduce the amygdala response to fear faces,
but did significantly enhance the amygdala response to disgust faces.

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Figure 3. Response to disgust faces when unattended. a, Amygdala response to
disgust relative to neutral faces when observers were attending to faces. No
significant activation was found when faces were attended. b,
Amygdala response to disgust relative to neutral faces when observers were
attending to places. Activation was present when disgust faces were
unattended. c, Time course of the disgust response difference score
(unattended minus attended). A negative deflection of time course represents a
decreased response when faces were attended. A positive deflection represents
an increased response when faces were unattended. An inverse effect of
attention on anterior insula and amygdala response to disgust faces peaked
6 sec after the stimulus onset.
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Effect of attention on anterior insular response
When subjects were attending to faces, a comparison of disgust relative to
neutral faces resulted in activation in the right anterior insula (22 voxels,
at peak height x, 44; y,6; z, 16;
F(1,11) = 32.72; p < 0.0001)
(Fig. 2c). During
attended conditions, the peak response in this insular ROI was greater for
disgusted expressions than for neutral expressions (disgust vs neutral,
F(1,154) = 117.13; p < 0.0001). Fear responses
were also greater than neutral in this region (fear vs neutral,
F(1,154) = 29.04; p < 0.0001), but there
remained a greater response to disgusted than to fearful faces
(F(1,154) = 29.53; p < 0.0001). The magnitude
of insular response to disgust (F(1,154) = 61.88;
p < 0.0001) and fear (F(1,154) = 8.64;
p < 0.004) were both significantly reduced during unattended
compared with attended conditions. During inattention, the magnitude of
insular response was no longer greater to disgust than to fear
(F(1,154) = 0.26; p > 0.6), but did remain
greater to disgust than neutral (F(1,154) = 10.58;
p < 0.002) (Fig.
2d). These results indicate that both the magnitude and
the specificity of the insular response to disgust were significantly reduced
with diminished attention.
In addition to the insula, patient and neuroimaging studies suggest a role
of the striatum in evaluating disgust expressions
(Sprengelmeyer et al., 1996
;
Phillips et al., 1997
,
1998
). When we reduced our
statistical and extent thresholds (p < 0.05 and 5 voxels),
activation in a contiguous bilateral ventral striatal region was greater for
disgust than for neutral expressions during attended conditions (peak height
on the right at x, 16; y, 18; z, 12;
F(1,11) = 25.91; p < 0.0001; peak height on
the left at x, 2; y, 10; z, 8;
F(1,11) = 32.15; p < 0.0001). Like the
anterior insular response, inattention resulted in a substantially reduced
striatal response to disgust (F(1,154) = 13.41; p
< 0.0003).
Effect of attention on cortico-amygdala interactions
The inverse relationship between cortical response to disgust (diminished
with diminished attention) and the amygdala response to disgust (enhanced with
diminished attention) is consistent with the notion that cortical processing
can influence the breadth/narrowness of the amygdala response tuning. To
examine this hypothesis more closely, we assayed the relation between the
amygdala response and how attention influences cortical responsiveness to
facial signals of threat in three functionally defined face responsive
regions: (1) within the FFA, a region specialized for face processing; (2)
within the LOCf, an area lateral to the FFA, purportedly within the lateral
occipital complex (Grill-Spector et al.,
2001
), a region specialized for shape processing; and (3) the
anterior insula, a region specialized for disgust face processing.
During attended conditions, responses were greater for fearful relative to
neutral faces in the FFA (F(1,154) = 82.94; p
< 0.0001) and LOCf (F(1,154) = 48.37; p <
0.0001). These greater responses to fear were significantly diminished under
unattended relative to attended conditions in the FFA
(F(1,154) = 168.17; p < 0.0001) and LOCf
(F(1,154) = 61.47; p < 0.0001), with response
magnitudes in the FFA (F(1,154) = 3.56; p >
0.06) and LOCf (F(1,154) = 1.67; p > 0.19) no
longer greater for fearful versus neutral expressions. During attended
conditions, responses were also greater for disgusted relative to neutral
faces in the FFA (F(1,154) = 32.96; p <
0.0001) and LOCf (F(1,154) = 32.96; p <
0.0001). These greater responses to disgust were also diminished during
unattended relative to attended conditions in the FFA
(F(1,154) = 82.94; p < 0.0001) and LOCf
(F(1,154) = 182.00; p < 0.0001), with FFA and
LOCf responses to disgust being numerically smaller than that of neutral
expressions during unattended conditions. Thus, like the anterior insula, FFA,
and LOCf responses to fear and disgust were significantly reduced with
diminished attention (Fig.
4).

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Figure 4. Effect of inattention on FFA, LOCf, anterior insula (INS), and amygdala
(AMYG) ROI responses to facial expressions. Bars represent the difference
score between attended and unattended conditions (unattend minus attend) for
each fear, disgust, and neutral face. The predominant effect of inattention
was to reduce cortical responsiveness in the FFA, LOCf, and insula. In
contrast, the amygdala demonstrated a marked increased response to
disgust.
|
|
This inverse effect of attention on cortical (FFA, LOCf, and anterior
insula) and amygdala responses to disgust suggests that the loss of fear
specificity in the amygdala is related to diminished cortical processing of
disgust during inattention. To examine such putative cortico-amygdala
interactions, we assessed individual differences in the magnitude of
attentional modulation (attended vs unattended) of the amygdala response to
disgust and its correlation with magnitude of attentional modulation of FFA,
LOCf, and the anterior insular responses to disgust. Although all three
cortical regions demonstrated substantial attentional modulation of disgust
responses, multiple regression analysis revealed that only the anterior insula
(standardized
coefficient = 0.471; F(1,93) =
19.58; p < 0.0001), and neither FFA (
= 0.17;
F(1,93) = 2.22; p > 0.13) nor LOCf (
=
0.08; F(1,93) = 0.41; p > 0.52), was
significantly negatively associated with enhanced amygdala response to
disgust. That is, subjects who demonstrated the largest attention-related
decrease in anterior insular response tended to be the same as those who
showed the largest increase in the amygdala response to disgust. This
association between attentional modulation of amygdala and insular responses
was stimulus dependent. Consistent with the attention-independent amygdala
response to fear, amygdala responses were not significantly correlated with
attention-dependent anterior insular responses to fear (r
=0.10; F(1,95) = 0.95; p > 0.33).
Responses to disgust in the FFA, LOCf, and anterior insula all demonstrated
a pronounced reduction in response with reduced attention. In addition, this
association suggests that anterior insular responses to disgust may be
critically dependent on extrastriate face processing. To examine this
possibility further, we assayed the relation between individual differences in
the magnitude of attentional modulation of FFA, LOCf, and anterior insular
responses to disgust. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the LOCf
(
= 0.53; F(1,93) = 26.23; p < 0.0001),
but not the FFA (
= 0.17; F(1,93) = 2.34;
p > 0.12), was significantly positively associated with a reduced
anterior insular response to disgust.
 |
Discussion
|
|---|
Consistent with the notion that the amygdala processes fear automatically,
the magnitude of the amygdala response to facial signals of fear was not
significantly reduced with reduced attention, despite reduced responses to
fear in multiple cortical regions. However, such automaticity did not extend
to all forms of facial threat processing: the magnitude of anterior insular
response to facial signals of disgust was substantially reduced with reduced
attention. That automatic processing did not extend to both amygdala
processing of fear and anterior insula processing of disgust demonstrates that
automaticity is not a fundamental principle of neural systems dedicated to the
processing of facial expressions more generally, and facial expressions
related to threat in particular. Automaticity appears unique to amygdala
processing of social signals of fear. However, amygdala attentional
independence may not be complete. The present study found that amygdala
processing of fear was not entirely automatic, coming at the expense of
specificity of response. During inattention, the amygdala demonstrated a
markedly enhanced response to disgust. This finding suggests there are
important limitations on what precise affective features the amygdala encodes
automatically. Thus, amygdala automatic processing is not specific to fearful
faces, but rather, may be confined to more coarse affective properties of
faces, such as their valence or arousal/intensity.
In contrast to the present and previous studies, Pessoa et al.
(2002a
) have shown abolished
cortical and amygdala responses to fear faces under conditions of extreme
attentional load. Such contradictory results can be reconciled if we consider
that different levels of attentional load will result in the modulation of
activity at different levels of the nervous system. Indeed, given similar
attentional load, there are more pronounced modulations in later visual
cortical processing stages [e.g., middle temporal (MT)] relative to earlier
stages (e.g., V1) (Kastner et al.,
1998
,
2001
). Severe attentional
depletion may then result in modulations very early in processing, before
cortical processing (O'Connor et al.,
2002
) such as in the thalamic relays to the amygdala, functionally
cutting off the sensory inputs of the amygdala. This would be consistent with
demonstrations of preserved amygdala fear responses in patients with striate
cortex lesions (Morris et al.,
2001
). In the context of the present results, the automaticity of
amygdala processing of fear is not all-or-none, but a matter of degree.
Relative to PPA processing of places, FFA processing of faces, and anterior
insula processing of disgust, the magnitude of the amygdala response to fear
demonstrates substantial attentional independence.
The pronounced reduction in extrastriate response during inattention
contrasted with the amygdala maintenance of response to fear. This is
consistent with fear processing in the amygdala occurring independently of
extrastriate face processing (Morris et
al., 2001
; Vuilleumier et al.,
2001
). Although the magnitude of the amygdala response to fear
takes place independently of extrastriate face processing, the specificity of
the amygdala response to fear may remain critically dependent on cortical
processing. The enhanced amygdala response to expressions of disgust during
decreased attention is exceptional with respect to an extensive body of
evidence showing reductions of brain response with reduced attention
(Corbetta et al., 1990
;
Haxby et al., 1994
;
Wojciulik et al., 1998
;
O'Craven et al., 1999
). This
enhanced response to disgust may be a reflection of diminished cortical
influences on the amygdala. Although previous studies have suggested that
there are significant amygdala modulatory influences on cortical perceptual
processing (Anderson and Phelps,
2001
; Morris et al.,
1998a
,
1998b
), the present findings
suggest that cortical processing can significantly modulate the amygdala
response (Phelps et al., 2001
;
Ochsner et al., 2002
).
To our knowledge, this interaction between the automaticity and the
specificity of the amygdala response provides the first human evidence
supporting an important proposed functional consequence of having two parallel
pathways to the amygdala: one subcortically mediated and one cortically
mediated (LeDoux, 1996
). As
proposed by LeDoux (1996
), by
circumventing the cortex, a shorter thalamo-amygdala pathway processes
information in a more rapid and automatic manner. By engaging the cortex, a
longer thalamo-cortico-amygdala pathway allows for more detailed processing of
the stimulus, but in a less rapid, and as we propose here, in an
attention-limited manner. An important consequence of bypassing cortical
processing is that the automaticity of the subcortical pathway should
hypothetically come with a cost, at the expense of more fine-grained cortical
analysis (Thompson, 1962
).
Indeed, studies in monkeys have shown altered amygdala discrimination of
visual stimuli after reversible cooling of the inferotemporal cortex
(Fukuda et al., 1987
). Rabbits
with lesions of the auditory cortex have demonstrated impaired stimulus
discrimination during auditory fear conditioning
(Jarrell et al., 1987
). In
addition to reduced cortical processing, decreased attention is associated
with decreased stimulus discriminability
(Yeshurun and Carrasco, 1998
).
Accordingly, reduced cortical responses during inattention can be interpreted
as reflecting diminished cortical stimulus analysis that may ultimately limit
the ability for the amygdala to resolve stimuli of specific types.
Individual differences in the degree of attentional degradation of
processing in the anterior insular cortex were particularly tied to the
amygdala loss of fear specificity, being directly related to the magnitude of
the enhanced amygdala response to disgust. With its substantial projections to
the amygdala (Mesulam and Mufson,
1982
), the anterior insula has been thought to convey cortical
processing of affective stimulus content to the amygdala
(Shi and Davis, 1999
;
Phelps et al., 2001
). The
anterior insular cortex may provide the amygdala with more detailed
information regarding stimulus affective properties when attention is focused
on the stimulus source. The result of diminished affective cortical processing
is that the amygdala may respond more liberally to potentially significant
stimulus events. In signal detection terminology, with diminished cortical
inputs the amygdala may weigh more heavily "hits" and
"misses" than "correct rejections" and "false
alarms." That is, recognizing (hits) or failing to recognize (misses) an
environmental threat (e.g., responding, or not, to a dangerous snake) should
be more critical for amygdala processing than recognizing (correct rejection)
or failing to recognize (false alarms) an event as not threatening (e.g.,
responding, or not, to snake-like objects, such as a curvy stick). This bias
toward potentially important events is not a reflection of a loss of
sensitivity to discriminate between potentially significant and neutral
events. During inattention, amygdala activation discriminated both fear and
disgust from neutral expressions. Thus, in healthy individuals the amygdala
does not "cry wolf" to all stimuli, losing its predictive
usefulness. Rather, under conditions of reduced stimulus analysis, the
amygdala appears to extend its response to a broader range of potential
threats, ensuring that potentially significant events will not be
overlooked.
However, this adaptive form of automaticity may not hold in clinical
populations in which there is substantial behavioral evidence of
overgeneralization of automatic processing to normatively more neutral events
(Williams et al., 1996
). This
overgeneralization in clinical populations has been shown with respect to
amygdala processing as well. For instance, relative to nonsocial phobic
individuals, patients with social phobia demonstrate more pronounced amygdala
response to neutral faces (Birbaumer et
al., 1998
). Broadening of the amygdala response to other facial
expressions beyond fear has also been shown in patients with major depression,
with this overgeneralization found to be reversible with treatment
(Sheline et al., 2001
). In the
context of the present results, the broadening of amygdala responsiveness in
clinical populations, and its reversibility, may reflect altered cortical
modulatory influences on the amygdala response. Evidence of gender differences
in the amygdala response also underscores the variable nature of amygdala
processing (Cahill et al.,
2001
; Canli et al.,
2002
). The subjects in the present study were mostly women, so
future studies with larger and gender-balanced samples will be needed to
examine whether the present findings apply equally to mean and women.
Why is automaticity unique to the amygdala processing of social signals of
fear and does it not extend to other brain regions specialized for social
signals of threat? Facial signals of fear, as well as disgust, may serve as
important cues for searching one's environment for the source of a potential
threat (Whalen, 1998
). Fear
expressions signal impending attack (e.g., response to a dangerous animal)
(Gray, 1987
). Disgust
expressions signal potential contamination or poisoning (e.g., rejection of
harmful food) (Rozin and Fallon,
1987
). The character of the stimulus and response for
attack-related threat (stimulus: moving target; response: immediate freezing
or flight) versus contamination-related threat (stimulus: stationary target;
response: further inspection and passive avoidance) differ significantly
(Sawchuk et al., 2002
).
Consistent with this division, predatory animals tend to evoke fear, whereas
disgust is associated with animals that do not present significant harm (e.g.,
spiders, slugs) (Ware et al.,
1994
). Similarly, fear and disgust demonstrate distinct
physiological signatures and action tendencies
(Ekman, 1992
;
Levenson, 1992
), with fear
associated with increased sympathetic activity
(Ekman et al., 1983
) and
disgust more with parasympathetic activity
(Rozin and Fallon, 1987
;
Levenson, 1992
). Commensurate
with the prerequisite rapidity of attack-related threat evaluations, the
analysis of fear content from faces may occur early on, with relative
independence from higher-order attention-limited processes. In contrast,
disgust content from faces may have the luxury of occurring later, being
dependent on more elaborative and attention-demanding processes. Thus,
although selective pressures have promoted the development of specialized
neural systems for the processing of social signals of both fear and disgust,
selection for automaticity may extend only to fear.
 |
Footnotes
|
|---|
Received Jan. 28, 2003;
revised Apr. 15, 2003;
accepted Apr. 17, 2003.
This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant
MH12829-01 and by McDonnell-Pew Program in Cognitive Neuroscience Grant
20002024.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Adam K. Anderson, Department of
Psychology, 100 St. George Street, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario,
Canada M5S3G3. E-mail:
anderson{at}psych.utoronto.ca.
Copyright © 2003 Society for Neuroscience
0270-6474/03/235627-07$15.00/0
 |
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