Neural Encoding of Emotion in the Primate Amygdala

灵长类杏仁核情绪的神经编码

• 批准号: 7002317
• 负责人: Katalin M Gothard
• 金额: $ 25.85万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-01-01 至 2009-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7002317
• 关键词: Macaca mulatta; amygdala; association learning; autonomic nervous system; brain electrical activity; brain imaging /visualization /scanning; electrodes; emotions; face expression; neural information processing; neuroanatomy; reinforcer; social behavior; visual stimulus

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The neural substrate of emotion encompasses a large brain circuit in which the amygdala plays a key role. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to determine how specific functions attributed to the amygdala are carried out at the neural level. One of the functions of the amygdala is to select from the environment stimuli with inherent emotional value and respond to them adequately, e.g., withdraw or fight when threatened. This process might rely on innately programmed and relatively inflexible pathways to ensure enduring and reliable reactions in response to objects and events of survival value. In parallel, the amygdala is required to update the reinforcing value of many stimuli that gain or lose emotional significance through learning and experience. Both functions are used for social behavior. The intricacy of primate societies requires that humans and monkeys respond reliably to facial expressions and other signals with emotional significance but also to adjust responses to social context or to the history of interactions between individuals. The neural basis of these complex and diverse functions are largely unknown. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that the lateral, basal, and central amygdaloid nuclei carry out a sequence of dissociable but complementary functions. The objective of the proposed studies is to identify in the amygdala the neural signature of stimulus differentiation, evaluation, and the initiation of emotional responses. This will be achieved by relating autonomic, behavioral, and neural ensemble responses to manipulations of the reinforcing value of face and non-face stimuli. This approach will determine (1) whether negative or positive stimuli are processed preferentially or differentially in the amygdala, (2) whether facial expressions that carry inherent positive or negative valence engage the same neuronal processes as neutral objects paired with reward or punishment, (3) whether neural activity in the amygdale predicts the autonomic and somatic expressions of emotion. These studies will determine the neural mechanism by which the amygdala evaluates stimuli of significance and relays the results of this process to a complex brain circuits that control emotional and social behavior. Understanding the neural processes carried out at each level of this circuit holds promise for more effective interventions in emotional disorders.

描述（由申请人提供）：情绪的神经基材包括大脑回路，其中杏仁核起着关键作用。拟议的研究的长期目标是确定如何在神经层进行归因于杏仁核的特定功能。杏仁核的功能之一是从固有的情感价值中从环境刺激中进行选择，并对它们进行充分反应，例如在威胁时撤回或战斗。此过程可能依赖于天生编程和相对僵化的途径，以确保响应生存价值的对象和事件的持久和可靠的反应。同时，需要杏仁核来更新许多通过学习和经验而获得或失去情感意义的许多刺激的增强价值。这两个功能都用于社会行为。灵长类动物社会的复杂性要求人类和猴子对面部表情和其他具有情感意义的信号的反应可靠，也可以调整对社会环境的反应或对个人之间互动历史的反应。这些复杂和多样化功能的神经基础在很大程度上是未知的。该提议的中心假设是侧面，基底和中央杏仁核核进行了一系列可分离但互补的功能。拟议的研究的目的是在杏仁核中识别刺激分化，评估和情绪反应的启动的神经特征。这将通过将自主，行为和神经合奏的响应与对面部和非面刺激的增强价值的操纵有关。这种方法将确定（1）在杏仁核中优先还是差异化处理负面刺激或阳性刺激，（2）（2）带有固有正价或负面价的面部表情是否具有与奖励或惩罚相同的中性物体与中性对象相同的神经元过程，（3）杏仁核中的神经活动是否能够预测自主和体现的情感。这些研究将确定杏仁核评估重要性刺激的神经机制，并将该过程的结果转移到控制情绪和社会行为的复杂大脑回路上。了解该电路每个级别上进行的神经过程有望在情绪障碍中进行更有效的干预措施。