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Single-unit responses selective for whole faces in the human amygdala.

ABSTRACT: The human amygdala is critical for social cognition from faces, as borne out by impairments in recognizing facial emotion following amygdala lesions [1] and differential activation of the amygdala by faces [2-5]. Single-unit recordings in the primate amygdala have documented responses selective for faces, their identity, or emotional expression [6, 7], yet how the amygdala represents face information remains unknown. Does it encode specific features of faces that are particularly critical for recognizing emotions (such as the eyes), or does it encode the whole face, a level of representation that might be the proximal substrate for subsequent social cognition? We investigated this question by recording from over 200 single neurons in the amygdalae of seven neurosurgical patients with implanted depth electrodes [8]. We found that approximately half of all neurons responded to faces or parts of faces. Approximately 20% of all neurons responded selectively only to the whole face. Although responding most to whole faces, these neurons paradoxically responded more when only a small part of the face was shown compared to when almost the entire face was shown. We suggest that the human amygdala plays a predominant role in representing global information about faces, possibly achieved through inhibition between individual facial features.

SUBMITTER: Rutishauser U

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4574690 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Single-unit responses selective for whole faces in the human amygdala.

Rutishauser Ueli U Tudusciuc Oana O Neumann Dirk D Mamelak Adam N AN Heller A Christopher AC Ross Ian B IB Philpott Linda L Sutherling William W WW Adolphs Ralph R

Current biology : CB 20110929 19

The human amygdala is critical for social cognition from faces, as borne out by impairments in recognizing facial emotion following amygdala lesions [1] and differential activation of the amygdala by faces [2-5]. Single-unit recordings in the primate amygdala have documented responses selective for faces, their identity, or emotional expression [6, 7], yet how the amygdala represents face information remains unknown. Does it encode specific features of faces that are particularly critical for re ...[more]

PMID: 21962712

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Project description:ContextMajor depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with behavioral and neurophysiological evidence of mood-congruent processing biases toward explicitly presented, emotionally valenced stimuli. However, few studies have investigated such biases toward implicitly presented stimuli.ObjectiveTo investigate differential amygdala responses to sad, happy, and neutral faces presented below the level of explicit conscious awareness using a backward masking task in unmedicated participants with MDD and healthy controls (HCs).DesignInitial cross-sectional design followed by a longitudinal treatment trial using functional magnetic resonance imaging.SettingPsychiatric outpatient clinic at the National Institute of Mental Health.ParticipantsWe studied 22 unmedicated, currently depressed people with MDD (dMDD), 16 unmedicated individuals with MDD in full remission (rMDD), and 25 HCs.InterventionTen dMDD participants underwent 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor sertraline hydrochloride.Main outcome measuresAmygdala region-of-interest and whole-brain analyses evaluated the hemodynamic response during exposure to masked sad vs masked happy faces, to masked sad vs neutral faces, and to masked happy vs neutral faces.ResultsThe dMDD participants showed greater amygdala responses than HCs to masked sad faces, whereas HCs showed greater amygdala responses to masked happy faces. The bias toward sad faces also was evident in rMDD participants relative to HCs and did not differ between dMDD and rMDD participants. This processing bias reversed toward the normative pattern in dMDD participants after sertraline treatment.ConclusionsEmotional-processing biases occur in amygdala responses to sad faces presented below the level of conscious awareness in dMDD or rMDD individuals and to happy faces in HCs. By influencing the salience of social stimuli, mood-congruent processing biases in the amygdala may contribute to dysfunction in conscious perceptions and social interactions in MDD. Our data suggest, however, that the negative bias resolves and a positive bias develops in patients with MDD during selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor treatment.

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Single-unit responses selective for whole faces in the human amygdala.

Publications

Single-unit responses selective for whole faces in the human amygdala.

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