title: Hearing emotional sounds: category representation in the human amygdala.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that the amygdala is more involved in processing animate categories, such as humans and animals, than inanimate objects, but little is known regarding whether this animate advantage applies to auditory stimuli. To address this issue, we performed a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) study with emotion and category as factors, in which subjects heard sounds from different categories (i.e., humans, animals, and objects) in negative and neutral dimensions. Emotional levels and semantic familiarity were matched across categories. The results showed that the amygdala responded more to human vocalization than to animal vocalization and sounds of inanimate objects in both negative and neutral valences, and more to animal sounds than to objects in neural condition. In addition, the amygdala, together with the insula and the right superior temporal sulcus, further distinguished human voices from animal sounds. These data indicated that the amygdala is prepared to respond to animate sources, especially human vocalizations in auditory modality.
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China.
authors.forename: Yanbing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: b Scientific and Statistical Computing Core , National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health , Bethesda , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: a School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health , Peking University , Beijing , China.
authors.forename: Jiongjiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D046709:Pattern Recognition, Physiological / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Category; amygdala; auditory; emotion