Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Neuroimage. 2018 Sep;178:562-573. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.079. Epub 2018 Jun 1.
Functional connectivity between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex is critical for socioemotional processing, particularly during face processing. Though processing others' emotions is important for a myriad of complex social behaviors, more research is needed to understand how different types of emotional facial expressions differentially elicit connectivity of the amygdala with widespread neural regions. Moreover, though prior studies have reported cross-sectional associations between altered amygdala-prefrontal cortex functional connectivity and internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression, anxiety), few studies have examined whether amygdala functional connectivity is prospectively related to changes in these symptoms, with little work focusing on low-income men living in stressful contexts. The current study used psycho-physiological interaction analyses at the within-subjects level to examine how amygdala connectivity differed while participants viewed fearful, angry, and neutral faces. We used structural equation modeling at the between-subjects level, using extracted parameter estimates, to test whether amygdala connectivity during face processing predicted increases in internalizing psychopathology over time, controlling for earlier symptoms. An urban sample of 167 young men from low-income families was employed. Results indicated that negative connectivity between the amygdala and prefrontal regions was modulated by emotional face type. Neuronal activity in the cingulate and frontal cortices was connected to amygdala reactivity during fearful and neutral, but not angry, face processing. Moreover, weaker left amygdala-left middle frontal gyrus negative connectivity when viewing fearful faces and stronger right amygdala-left inferior frontal gyrus negative connectivity when viewing neutral faces at age 20 both predicted increases in internalizing behaviors from age 20 to age 22. Our findings show that amygdala-prefrontal cortex connectivity can predict the persistence of internalizing symptoms among high-risk participants over time but suggest that these patterns may differ depending on the emotional stimuli examined.
杏仁核与前额叶皮层之间的功能连接对于社会情感处理至关重要，尤其是在处理面部时。尽管处理他人的情绪对于无数复杂的社会行为很重要，但需要更多的研究来了解不同类型的情绪面部表情如何不同地引起杏仁核与广泛的神经区域的连接。此外，尽管先前的研究报告了杏仁核-前额叶皮层功能连接与内化症状（例如抑郁、焦虑）之间的横断面关联，但很少有研究检查杏仁核功能连接是否与这些症状的变化具有前瞻性关系，并且很少有研究关注生活在紧张环境中的低收入男性。本研究在个体水平上使用心理生理交互分析来检查参与者观看恐惧、愤怒和中性面孔时杏仁核连接的差异。我们在个体间水平上使用结构方程模型，使用提取的参数估计值，来测试在面部处理过程中杏仁核的连接是否可以预测随着时间的推移内化精神病学的增加，同时控制早期症状。采用了来自低收入家庭的 167 名年轻男性的城市样本。结果表明，杏仁核与前额叶区域之间的负连接受到情绪面孔类型的调节。在观看恐惧和中性面孔时，扣带回和额皮质的神经元活动与杏仁核反应有关，但在观看愤怒面孔时则没有。此外，20 岁时观看恐惧面孔时左杏仁核-左额中回负连接较弱，以及观看中性面孔时右杏仁核-左额下回负连接较强，都预测了从 20 岁到 22 岁期间内化行为的增加。我们的研究结果表明，杏仁核-前额叶皮层的连接可以预测高危参与者随时间推移内化症状的持续存在，但表明这些模式可能因所检查的情绪刺激而异。
