Blind rage? Heightened anger is associated with altered amygdala responses to masked and unmasked fearful faces.
We investigated anger-related variability in the BOLD fMRI response to crude/masked and detailed/unmasked fearful faces. Anger expression positively covaried with amygdala activation to crude fear, while trait anger negatively covaried with amygdala responses to detailed fear. This differential processing may trigger aggression without the subsequent inhibition associated with distress cues.
Carlson
Joshua Michael
JM
Laboratory for the Study of Emotion and Cognition, Department of Biomedical Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. carlsonjm79@gmail.com
Greenberg
Tsafrir
T
Mujica-Parodi
Lilianne R
LR
D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010470:Perceptual Masking / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
D010100:Oxygen