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A direct amygdala-motor pathway for emotional displays to influence action: A diffusion tensor imaging study.

ABSTRACT: An important evolutionary function of emotions is to prime individuals for action. Although functional neuroimaging has provided evidence for such a relationship, little is known about the anatomical substrates allowing the limbic system to influence cortical motor-related areas. Using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and probabilistic tractography on a cohort of 40 participants, we provide evidence of a structural connection between the amygdala and motor-related areas (lateral and medial precentral, motor cingulate and primary motor cortices, and postcentral gyrus) in humans. We then compare this connection with the connections of the amygdala with emotion-related brain areas (superior temporal sulcus, fusiform gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, and lateral inferior frontal gyrus) and determine which amygdala nuclei are at the origin of these projections. Beyond the well-known subcortical influences over automatic and stereotypical emotional behaviors, a direct amygdala-motor pathway might provide a mechanism by which the amygdala can influence more complex motor behaviors.

SUBMITTER: Grezes J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6869045 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A direct amygdala-motor pathway for emotional displays to influence action: A diffusion tensor imaging study.

Grèzes Julie J Valabrègue Romain R Gholipour Bahar B Chevallier Coralie C

Human brain mapping 20140723 12

An important evolutionary function of emotions is to prime individuals for action. Although functional neuroimaging has provided evidence for such a relationship, little is known about the anatomical substrates allowing the limbic system to influence cortical motor-related areas. Using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and probabilistic tractography on a cohort of 40 participants, we provide evidence of a structural connection between the amygdala and motor-related areas (lateral and ...[more]

PMID: 25053375

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Dataset Information

A direct amygdala-motor pathway for emotional displays to influence action: A diffusion tensor imaging study.

Publications

A direct amygdala-motor pathway for emotional displays to influence action: A diffusion tensor imaging study.

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