Bi-Directional Tuning of Amygdala Sensitivity in Combat Veterans Investigated with fMRI.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Combat stress can be followed by persistent emotional consequences. It is thought that these emotional consequences are caused in part by increased amygdala reactivity. It is also thought that amygdala hyper-reactivity results from decreased inhibition from portions of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in which activity is negatively correlated with activity in the amygdala. However, experimental support for these proposals has been inconsistent.

Methods

We showed movies of combat and civilian scenes during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session to 50 veterans of recent combat. We collected skin conductance responses (SCRs) as measures of emotional arousal. We examined the relation of blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) signal in the amygdal

SUBMITTER: Brashers-Krug T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4488265 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature