Work

Looming animate and inanimate threats: The response of the amygdala and periaqueductal gray

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: Looming stimuli are processed as threatening and activate basic neural defense systems. However, it is unclear how animacy information modulates this response. Participants (N = 25) viewed threatening or neutral images that were either animate (animals) or inanimate (objects) and which either approached (loomed) or receded from the participant. The amygdala was responsive to emotional, animacy, and looming information (particularly to looming threats and looming animate stimuli). Periaqueductal gray was also sensitive to emotional information and particularly responsive to looming threats. The data are interpreted within category-specific models of the amygdala and temporal cortex.

Source: Social Neuroscience

DOI: 10.1080/17470919.2013.839480

Authors: Dionne S. Coker-Appiah, Stuart F. White, Roberta Clanton, Jiongjong Yang, Alex Martin, R. J. R. Blair

Institutions: National Institutes of Health, Georgetown University, National Institute of Mental Health, Peking University

Language: English

Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health

Awards: G4241660064, Emotional Dysfunction and Childhood Behavioral Disturbance