RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Timing of Emotional Discrimination in Human Amygdala and Ventral Visual Cortex
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 14864
OP 14868
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3278-09.2009
VO 29
IS 47
A1 Sabatinelli, Dean
A1 Lang, Peter J.
A1 Bradley, Margaret M.
A1 Costa, Vincent D.
A1 Keil, Andreas
YR 2009
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/47/14864.abstract
AB Models of visual emotional perception suggest a reentrant organization of the ventral visual system with the amygdala. Using focused functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans with a sampling rate of 100 ms, here we determine the relative timing of emotional discrimination in amygdala and ventral visual cortical structures during emotional perception. Results show that amygdala and inferotemporal visual cortex differentiate emotional from nonemotional scenes ∼1 s before extrastriate occipital cortex, whereas primary occipital cortex shows consistent activity across all scenes. This pattern of discrimination is consistent with a reentrant organization of emotional perception in visual processing, in which transaction between rostral ventral visual cortex and amygdala originates the identification of emotional relevance.