title: A direct amygdala-motor pathway for emotional displays to influence action: A diffusion tensor imaging study.
abstract: An important evolutionary function of emotions is to prime individuals for action. Although functional neuroimaging has provided evidence for such a relationship, little is known about the anatomical substrates allowing the limbic system to influence cortical motor-related areas. Using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and probabilistic tractography on a cohort of 40 participants, we provide evidence of a structural connection between the amygdala and motor-related areas (lateral and medial precentral, motor cingulate and primary motor cortices, and postcentral gyrus) in humans. We then compare this connection with the connections of the amygdala with emotion-related brain areas (superior temporal sulcus, fusiform gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, and lateral inferior frontal gyrus) and determine which amygdala nuclei are at the origin of these projections. Beyond the well-known subcortical influences over automatic and stereotypical emotional behaviors, a direct amygdala-motor pathway might provide a mechanism by which the amygdala can influence more complex motor behaviors.
authors: Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Inserm U960, Institute for Cognitive Studies, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France; Centre de NeuroImagerie de Recherche - CENIR, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle épinière, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, UMR-S975, Inserm U975, CNRS UMR7225, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
authors: Julie
authors: J
authors: Grèzes
authors: Romain
authors: R
authors: Valabrègue
authors: Bahar
authors: B
authors: Gholipour
authors: Coralie
authors: C
authors: Chevallier
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D016208:Databases, Factual; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: amygdala; diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging; motor system; social responding