title: Altered affective processing in bipolar disorder: an fMRI study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies have reported that patients with bipolar disorder (BPD) exhibit altered emotional processing and regulation. However, results remain largely inconsistent across studies. The aim of the current study was to further examine affective processing in patients with bipolar disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-three patients diagnosed with BPD (Type I) and 18 healthy matched controls completed a backward-masked affect paradigm while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Participants also completed a computerized, overt task of facial emotional discrimination after scanning.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results demonstrated altered affective processing of happy and fearful stimuli in bipolar participants in the amygdala, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) relative to controls. BPD participants also displayed significant deficits in identifying fearful facial affect.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has a moderate sample size, and the patients with BPD were significantly older than the healthy control participants; this did not appear to impact results, and although statistically significant, it is not likely biologically significant.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings may have implications for patients with BPD, as altered affective processing could result in deficits in reading social cues.
authors.affiliation: Cognitive and Clinical Neuroimaging Core, Brain Imaging Center, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Sagar
authors.forename: Mary Kathryn
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Dahlgren
authors.forename: Atilla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gönenç
authors.forename: Staci A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Gruber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D000679:Amygdala / Q000503:physiopathology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005145:Face; D005149:Facial Expression; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: Affective processing; Amygdala; Bipolar disorder; Cingulate; Emotion; fMRI