Amygdala-hippocampal dynamics during salient information processing.
Recognizing motivationally salient information is critical to guiding behaviour. The amygdala and hippocampus are thought to support this operation, but the circuit-level mechanism of this interaction is unclear. We used direct recordings in the amygdala and hippocampus from human epilepsy patients to examine oscillatory activity during processing of fearful faces compared with neutral landscapes. We report high gamma (70-180 Hz) activation for fearful faces with earlier stimulus evoked onset in the amygdala compared with the hippocampus. Attending to fearful faces compared with neutral landscape stimuli enhances low-frequency coupling between the amygdala and the hippocampus. The interaction between the amygdala and hippocampus is largely unidirectional, with theta/alpha oscillations in the amygdala modulating hippocampal gamma activity. Granger prediction, phase slope index and phase lag analysis corroborate this directional coupling. These results demonstrate that processing emotionally salient events in humans engages an amygdala-hippocampal network, with the amygdala influencing hippocampal dynamics during fear processing.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
Jie
J
Zheng
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.|Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Kristopher L
KL
Anderson
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
Stephanie L
SL
Leal
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Avgusta
A
Shestyuk
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
Gultekin
G
Gulsen
Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, California 92868, USA.
Lilit
L
Mnatsakanyan
Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, Irvine, California 92868, USA.
Sumeet
S
Vadera
Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, Irvine, California 92868, USA.
Frank P K
FP
Hsu
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California 92697, USA.|Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, California 92868, USA.
Michael A
0000-0002-8635-1498
MA
Yassa
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.|Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
Robert T
RT
Knight
Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, California 92868, USA.
Jack J
JJ
Lin
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D000679:Amygdala / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D004566:Electrodes; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology