title: Awareness of Emotional Stimuli Determines the Behavioral Consequences of Amygdala Activation and Amygdala-Prefrontal Connectivity.
abstract: Conscious awareness of negative cues is thought to enhance emotion-regulatory capacity, but the neural mechanisms underlying this effect are unknown. Using continuous flash suppression (CFS) in the MRI scanner, we manipulated visual awareness of fearful faces during an affect misattribution paradigm, in which preferences for neutral objects can be biased by the valence of a previously presented stimulus. The amygdala responded to fearful faces independently of awareness. However, when awareness of fearful faces was prevented, individuals with greater amygdala responses displayed a negative bias toward unrelated novel neutral faces. In contrast, during the aware condition, inverse coupling between the amygdala and prefrontal cortex reduced this bias, particularly among individuals with higher structural connectivity in the major white matter pathway connecting the prefrontal cortex and amygdala. Collectively, these results indicate that awareness promotes the function of a critical emotion-regulatory network targeting the amygdala, providing a mechanistic account for the role of awareness in emotion regulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging &Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Lapate
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging &Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, Heidelberglaan 2, 3584 CS, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rokers
authors.affiliation: Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging &Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, Wisconsin 53719, USA.
authors.forename: D P M
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Tromp
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging &Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.
authors.forename: N S
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Orfali
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, Wisconsin 53719, USA.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Oler
authors.affiliation: Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging &Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.
authors.forename: S T
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Doran
authors.affiliation: Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging &Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Adluru
authors.affiliation: Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging &Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, Wisconsin 53719, USA.|Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Alexander
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging &Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 1500 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705, USA.|Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 6001 Research Park Boulevard, Madison, Wisconsin 53719, USA.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Davidson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000502:physiology*; D001364:Awareness / Q000502:physiology*; D001519:Behavior; D003243:Consciousness / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005145:Face; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen