The interplay of attention and emotion: top-down attention modulates amygdala activation in psychopathy.

ABSTRACT: Psychopathic behavior has long been attributed to a fundamental deficit in fear that arises from impaired amygdala function. Growing evidence has demonstrated that fear-potentiated startle (FPS) and other psychopathy-related deficits are moderated by focus of attention, but to date, no work on adult psychopathy has examined attentional modulation of the amygdala or concomitant recruitment of relevant attention-related circuitry. Consistent with previous FPS findings, here we report that psychopathy-related differences in amygdala activation appear and disappear as a function of goal-directed attention. Specifically, decreased amygdala activity was observed in psychopathic offenders only when attention was engaged in an alternative goal-relevant task prior to presenting threat-relevant info

SUBMITTER: Larson CL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3806893 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature