Department of Comparative Study of Cognitive Development, Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Aichi 484-8506, Japan.
Brain Res. 2010 Feb 22;1315:92-9. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2009.12.003. Epub 2009 Dec 16.
Observations of dynamic facial expressions of emotion activate several brain regions, but the psychological functions of these regions remain unknown. To investigate this issue, we presented dynamic facial expressions of fear and happiness forwards or backwards, thus altering the emotional meaning of the facial expression while maintaining comparable visual properties. Thirteen subjects passively viewed the stimuli while being scanned using fMRI. After image acquisition, the subject's emotions while perceiving the stimuli were investigated using valence and intensity scales. The left amygdala showed higher activity in response to forward compared with backward presentations, for both fearful and happy expressions. Amygdala activity showed a positive relationship with the intensity of the emotion experienced. These results suggest that the amygdala is not involved in the visual but is involved in the emotional processing of dynamic facial expressions, including specifically the elicitation of subjective emotions.
观察情绪的动态面部表情会激活几个大脑区域，但这些区域的心理功能尚不清楚。为了研究这个问题，我们向前或向后呈现恐惧和快乐的动态面部表情，从而改变面部表情的情感意义，同时保持可比的视觉属性。13 名受试者在 fMRI 扫描时被动观看刺激。在图像采集后，使用效价和强度量表调查受试者感知刺激时的情绪。与向后呈现相比，左杏仁核在面对恐惧和快乐表情时对向前呈现的反应更活跃。杏仁核活动与所经历情绪的强度呈正相关。这些结果表明，杏仁核参与动态面部表情的情绪处理，而不参与视觉处理，特别是引发主观情绪。
