A high-resolution fMRI investigation of BNST and centromedial amygdala activity as a function of affective stimulus predictability, anticipation, and duration. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci 2019 Nov 01;14(11):1167-1177
Date
12/11/2019Pubmed ID
31820811Pubmed Central ID
PMC7057282DOI
10.1093/scan/nsz095Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85081945230 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 9 CitationsAbstract
Relative to the centromedial amygdala (CM), the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) may exhibit more sustained activation toward threat, sensitivity to unpredictability and activation during anxious anticipation. These factors are often intertwined. For example, greater BNST (vs CM) activation during a block of aversive stimuli may reflect either more sustained activation to the stimuli or greater activation due to the anticipation of upcoming stimuli. To further investigate these questions, we had participants (19 females, 9 males) complete a task adapted from a study conducted by Somerville, Whalen and Kelly in 2013, during high-resolution 7-Tesla fMRI BOLD acquisition. We found a larger response to negative vs neutral blocks (sustained threat) than to images (transient) in the BNST, but not the CM. However, in an additional analysis, we also found BNST, but not CM, activation to the onset of the anticipation period on negative vs neutral trials, possibly contributing to BNST activation across negative blocks. Predictability did not affect CM or BNST activation. These results suggest a BNST role in anxious anticipation and highlight the need for further research clarifying the temporal response characteristics of these regions.
Author List
Pedersen WS, Muftuler LT, Larson CLAuthor
Lutfi Tugan Muftuler PhD Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdultAmygdala
Animals
Anticipation, Psychological
Anxiety
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Septal Nuclei
Young Adult
