Brain activation to phobia-related words in phobic subjects.
Behavioural studies suggest that phobic subjects are hypersensitive in the processing of phobia-related linguistic stimuli. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) brain activation to phobia-relevant words in spider phobic and non-phobic subjects. Phobia-related versus phobia-unrelated words elicited increased activation in prefrontal cortex, insula, and posterior cingulate cortex in spider phobics, while these effects were absent in controls. Furthermore, between-group comparisons confirmed that differential activations within these brain regions were specifically due to increased responses to phobia-related stimuli in phobics. Our results provide first insights into brain activation patterns when phobics are confronted with phobia-specific linguistic information und suggest a neural network for the processing of these threatening stimuli.
Straube
Thomas
T
Department of Biological and Clinical Psychology, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany. straube@biopsy.uni-jena.de
Mentzel
Hans J
HJ
Glauer
Madlen
M
Miltner
Wolfgang H R
WH
D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology; D000818:Animals; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D013112:Spiders
D010100:Oxygen