Rapid processing of fearful faces relies on the right amygdala: evidence from individuals undergoing unilateral temporal lobectomy

David Framorando,Eleanor Moses,Margitta Seeck,Alan J Pegna,Lore Legrand

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-80054-1

David Framorando, Eleanor Moses + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80054-1

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Abstract

Facial expressions of emotions have been shown to modulate early ERP components, in particular the N170. The underlying anatomical structure producing these early effects are unclear. In this study, we examined the N170 enhancement for fearful expressions in healthy controls as well as epileptic patients after unilateral left or right amygdala resection. We observed a greater N170 for fearful faces in healthy participants as well as in individuals with left amygdala resections. By contrast, the effect was not observed in patients who had undergone surgery in which the right amygdala had been removed. This result demonstrates that the amygdala produces an early brain response to fearful faces. This early response relies specifically on the right amygdala and occurs at around 170 ms. It is likely that such increases are due to a heightened response of the extrastriate cortex that occurs through rapid amygdalofugal projections to the visual areas.

Highlights

Facial expressions of emotions have been shown to modulate early event-related potential (ERP) components, in particular the N170
The results of this study reveal that, in healthy controls, fearful faces produce an enhanced N170 component compared to neutral faces, corroborating a number of previous reports[21,24,25,26,27,32]
This enhancement continued to be observed in a group of patients who had undergone left temporal resection, but not those whose resection had been on the right, suggesting that the N170 enhancement requires a functional right amygdala

Summary

Introduction

Facial expressions of emotions have been shown to modulate early ERP components, in particular the N170. The current investigation aimed to determine the timing of amygdala involvement in the visual processing of emotional (fearful) facial expressions by examining ERP responses in patients following right or left anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) that included the amygdala. We recorded EEG in patients with left and right ATL and a group of healthy controls who were presented with fearful, happy and neutral faces, as well as a control category (vegetables; 300 ms) during a 1-back task.

Results

Conclusion