Blair R J, Morris J S, Frith C D, Perrett D I, Dolan R J
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, University College London, UK.
Brain. 1999 May;122 ( Pt 5):883-93. doi: 10.1093/brain/122.5.883.
Previous neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies have investigated the neural substrates which mediate responses to fearful, disgusted and happy expressions. No previous studies have investigated the neural substrates which mediate responses to sad and angry expressions. Using functional neuroimaging, we tested two hypotheses. First, we tested whether the amygdala has a neural response to sad and/or angry facial expressions. Secondly, we tested whether the orbitofrontal cortex has a specific neural response to angry facial expressions. Volunteer subjects were scanned, using PET, while they performed a sex discrimination task involving static grey-scale images of faces expressing varying degrees of sadness and anger. We found that increasing intensity of sad facial expression was associated with enhanced activity in the left amygdala and right temporal pole. In addition, we found that increasing intensity of angry facial expression was associated with enhanced activity in the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex. We found no support for the suggestion that angry expressions generate a signal in the amygdala. The results provide evidence for dissociable, but interlocking, systems for the processing of distinct categories of negative facial expression.
以往的神经影像学和神经心理学研究调查了介导对恐惧、厌恶和快乐表情反应的神经基质。以前没有研究调查过介导对悲伤和愤怒表情反应的神经基质。我们利用功能性神经影像学测试了两个假设。第一，我们测试了杏仁核是否对悲伤和/或愤怒的面部表情有神经反应。第二，我们测试了眶额皮质是否对愤怒的面部表情有特定的神经反应。在志愿者受试者执行一项涉及表达不同程度悲伤和愤怒的静态灰度面部图像的性别歧视任务时，用正电子发射断层扫描（PET）对他们进行扫描。我们发现，悲伤面部表情强度的增加与左侧杏仁核和右侧颞极的活动增强有关。此外，我们发现，愤怒面部表情强度的增加与眶额皮质和前扣带回皮质的活动增强有关。我们没有找到证据支持愤怒表情在杏仁核中产生信号这一观点。这些结果为处理不同类别的负面面部表情的可分离但相互关联的系统提供了证据。
