Morris J S, Friston K J, Büchel C, Frith C D, Young A W, Calder A J, Dolan R J
Wellcome Department of Cognitive Neurology, London, UK.
Brain. 1998 Jan;121 ( Pt 1):47-57. doi: 10.1093/brain/121.1.47.
Localized amygdalar lesions in humans produce deficits in the recognition of fearful facial expressions. We used functional neuroimaging to test two hypotheses: (i) that the amygdala and some of its functionally connected structures mediate specific neural responses to fearful expressions; (ii) that the early visual processing of emotional faces can be influenced by amygdalar activity. Normal subjects were scanned using PET while they performed a gender discrimination task involving static grey-scale images of faces expressing varying degrees of fear or happiness. In support of the first hypothesis, enhanced activity in the left amygdala, left pulvinar, left anterior insula and bilateral anterior cingulate gyri was observed during the processing of fearful faces. Evidence consistent with the second hypothesis was obtained by a demonstration that amygdalar responses predict expression-specific neural activity in extrastriate cortex.
人类杏仁核局部损伤会导致恐惧面部表情识别能力缺陷。我们运用功能神经成像技术来检验两个假设：（i）杏仁核及其一些功能相连的结构介导对恐惧表情的特定神经反应；（ii）杏仁核活动可影响情绪面孔的早期视觉处理。在正常受试者执行一项性别辨别任务时，使用正电子发射断层扫描（PET）对其进行扫描，该任务涉及表达不同程度恐惧或快乐的静态灰度面部图像。为支持第一个假设，在处理恐惧面孔时，观察到左侧杏仁核、左侧丘脑枕、左侧前脑岛及双侧前扣带回的活动增强。通过证明杏仁核反应可预测纹外皮层中特定表情的神经活动，获得了与第二个假设一致的证据。
