Wang Li, Zhang Bo, Lu Xiqian, Wang Ruidi, Ma Jian, Chen Yujie, Zhou Yuan, Dai Ji, Jiang Yi
State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Department of Psychology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
Natl Sci Rev. 2024 Nov 8;11(11):nwae381. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwae381. eCollection 2024 Nov.
The ability to rapidly recognize basic facial emotions (e.g. fear) is crucial for social interactions and adaptive functioning. To date, the origin of facial-emotion-recognition ability remains equivocal. Using a classical twin design in humans, we found a clear dissection of low and high spatial frequencies (LSF and HSF) in facial emotion perception: whereas genetic factors contributed to individual variation in LSF processing, HSF processing is largely shaped by environmental effects. Furthermore, the ability to recognize facial emotions of LSF content genetically correlated with the function of the amygdala. Crucially, single-unit recording of the amygdala in macaques further revealed the dissociation between LSF and HSF processing in facial emotion perception, indicating the existence of an evolutionarily conserved mechanism. This cross-species study enhances insights into the neurobiological dual-route model (subcortical vs. cortical) of emotion perception and illuminates the origin and the functional development of the emotional brain in primates.
快速识别基本面部情绪（如恐惧）的能力对于社交互动和适应性功能至关重要。迄今为止，面部情绪识别能力的起源仍不明确。通过在人类中采用经典双生子设计，我们发现面部情绪感知中低空间频率和高空间频率（LSF和HSF）存在明显分化：遗传因素导致了LSF处理过程中的个体差异，而HSF处理在很大程度上受环境影响塑造。此外，识别LSF内容面部情绪的能力与杏仁核功能存在遗传相关性。至关重要的是，对猕猴杏仁核的单神经元记录进一步揭示了面部情绪感知中LSF和HSF处理的分离，表明存在一种进化上保守的机制。这项跨物种研究增进了对情绪感知的神经生物学双通路模型（皮层下与皮层）的理解，并阐明了灵长类动物情绪大脑的起源和功能发展。
