RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Features versus Feelings: Dissociable Representations of the Acoustic Features and Valence of Aversive Sounds
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 14184
OP 14192
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1759-12.2012
VO 32
IS 41
A1 Kumar, Sukhbinder
A1 von Kriegstein, Katharina
A1 Friston, Karl
A1 Griffiths, Timothy D.
YR 2012
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/41/14184.abstract
AB This study addresses the neuronal representation of aversive sounds that are perceived as unpleasant. Functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans demonstrated responses in the amygdala and auditory cortex to aversive sounds. We show that the amygdala encodes both the acoustic features of a stimulus and its valence (perceived unpleasantness). Dynamic causal modeling of this system revealed that evoked responses to sounds are relayed to the amygdala via auditory cortex. While acoustic features modulate effective connectivity from auditory cortex to the amygdala, the valence modulates the effective connectivity from amygdala to the auditory cortex. These results support a complex (recurrent) interaction between the auditory cortex and amygdala based on object-level analysis in the auditory cortex that portends the assignment of emotional valence in amygdala that in turn influences the representation of salient information in auditory cortex.