Kotkowski Baca Eithan, García Velázquez Sandra Azareli, Fox Selby Peter T
Research Imaging Institute, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, USA.
Departamento de Neurología, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229-3900, USA.
Rev Neurol. 2025 Aug 26;80(7):46063. doi: 10.31083/RN46063.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies examining emotional memory encoding often use event-related designs with stimuli in the form of words or pictures. Prior research has suggested differential hemispheric specialization for these stimulus types, yet no meta-analysis has directly compared the neural systems involved in each.
A meta-analysis was conducted using peer-reviewed, event-related fMRI studies. The Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) method was applied via GingerALE software to compare brain activations associated with the encoding of affective visual stimuli presented as either words or photographs. Three contrasts were assessed: pictures > neutral + control, words > neutral + control, and overlap between both.
Picture stimuli elicited bilateral activation in the medial parahippocampus, while word stimuli produced left-lateralized activation in the lateral parahippocampus. The overlap analysis identified a shared region in the parahippocampal amygdala. All three contrasts revealed significant activations in key medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions involved in emotional memory, including the hippocampus and amygdala.
Both stimulus types engaged medial temporal networks specialized in emotional memory encoding. Word stimuli selectively activated regions lateralized to the left hemisphere, whereas picture stimuli produced bilateral activation with a leftward bias. This study provides the first meta-analytic evidence of a medial-lateral differentiation in the parahippocampal gyrus based on emotional stimulus type.
功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究在检测情绪记忆编码时，通常采用事件相关设计，使用单词或图片形式的刺激。先前的研究表明，对于这些刺激类型存在半球差异特化，但尚无荟萃分析直接比较其中涉及的神经系统。
使用同行评审的事件相关fMRI研究进行荟萃分析。通过GingerALE软件应用激活可能性估计（ALE）方法，比较与以单词或照片形式呈现的情感视觉刺激编码相关的脑激活。评估了三个对比：图片>中性+对照、单词>中性+对照以及两者之间的重叠。
图片刺激在内侧海马旁回引发双侧激活，而单词刺激在外侧海马旁回产生左侧化激活。重叠分析确定了海马旁杏仁核中的一个共享区域。所有三个对比在参与情绪记忆的关键内侧颞叶（MTL）区域均显示出显著激活，包括海马体和杏仁核。
两种刺激类型均激活了专门用于情绪记忆编码的内侧颞叶网络。单词刺激选择性地激活了左侧半球侧化的区域，而图片刺激产生了带有向左偏倚的双侧激活。本研究提供了基于情绪刺激类型的海马旁回内侧 - 外侧分化的首个荟萃分析证据。
