Individual Differences in Amygdala and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity are Associated with Evaluation Speed and Psychological Well-being

Van Reekum, C. M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1516-1101, Urry, H. L., Johnstone, T., Thurow, M. E., Frye, C. J., Jackson, C. A., Schaefer, H. S., Alexander, A. L. and Davidson, R. J. (2007) Individual Differences in Amygdala and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity are Associated with Evaluation Speed and Psychological Well-being. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19 (2). pp. 237-248. ISSN 0898-929X doi: 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.2.237

Abstract/Summary

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined whether individual differences in amygdala activation in response to negative relative to neutral information are related to differences in the speed with which such information is evaluated, the extent to which such differences are associated with medial prefrontal cortex function, and their relationship with measures of trait anxiety and psychological well-being (PWB). Results indicated that faster judgments of negative relative to neutral information were associated with increased left and right amygdala activation. In the prefrontal cortex, faster judgment time was associated with relative decreased activation in a cluster in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA 24). Furthermore, people who were slower to evaluate negative versus neutral information reported higher PWB. Importantly, higher PWB was strongly associated with increased activation in the ventral ACC for negative relative to neutral information. Individual differences in trait anxiety did not predict variation in judgment time or in amygdala or ventral ACC activity. These findings suggest that people high in PWB effectively recruit the ventral ACC when confronted with potentially aversive stimuli, manifest reduced activity in subcortical regions such as the amygdala, and appraise such information as less salient as reflected in slower evaluative speed.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/4382
Identification Number/DOI	10.1162/jocn.2007.19.2.237
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience No Reading authors. Back catalogue items
Uncontrolled Keywords	threat-related stimuli; brain activation; decision-making; surprised faces; cerebral-cortex; affective style; anxiety; emotion; fear; modulation
Publisher	M I T Press
Publisher Statement	©2005 by The University of Chicago and The MIT Press. No permission is needed for noncommercial use or redistribution of any part of this publication as long as a complete citation is provided.
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