Background
Two core characteristics of pathologic fear are its rapid onset and resistance to
cognitive regulation. We hypothesized that activation of the amygdala early in the
presentation of fear-relevant visual stimuli would distinguish phobics from nonphobics.
Methods
Chronometry of amygdala activation to phobia-relevant pictures was assessed in 13
spider phobics and 14 nonphobics using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Results
Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) responses in the amygdala early in picture processing
consistently differentiated between phobic and nonphobic subjects, as well as between
phobogenic and nonphobogenic stimuli among phobics. Furthermore, amygdalar BOLD responses
associated with timing but not magnitude of activation predicted affective responses
to phobogenic stimuli. Computational modeling procedures were used to identify patterns
of neural activation in the amygdala that could yield the observed BOLD data. These
data suggest that phobic responses were characterized by strong but brief amygdala
responses, whereas nonphobic responses were weaker and more sustained.
Conclusions
Results are discussed in the context of the amygdala’s role in rapid threat detection
and the vigilance-avoidance hypothesis of anxiety. These data highlight the importance
of examining the neural substrates of the immediate impact of phobogenic stimuli for
understanding pathological fear.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
March 28,
2006
Received in revised form:
March 23,
2006
Received:
October 3,
2005
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
