Chronic Stress May Amplify Gender/Sex Differences in Amygdala Reactivity to Ambiguous Emotional Stimuli.

ABSTRACT: Heightened reactivity to ambiguous emotional stimuli, such as surprized faces, is a transdiagnostic psychopathology risk factor. Women show elevated amygdala activation to ambiguous emotional stimuli relative to men, which may underlie their significantly higher risk for mood disorders. Moreover, there are sex/gender differences in the effects of stress on both emotion processing and emotion regulation, with greater impact of stress on negative emotionality in females. We predicted that chronic stress would be associated with stronger amygdala activation to surprized faces, and these effects would be amplified in girls/women. We tested the interactions of chronic stress and gender/sex on amygdala activity in a sample of 297 healthy participants (59% girls/women, age range 6-75 years) who p

SUBMITTER: Lorenz T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12007074 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature