Amygdala volume predicts inter-individual differences in fearful face recognition

PLoS One. 2013 Aug 29;8(8):e74096. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074096. eCollection 2013.

Abstract

The present study investigates the relationship between inter-individual differences in fearful face recognition and amygdala volume. Thirty normal adults were recruited and each completed two identical facial expression recognition tests offline and two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Linear regression indicated that the left amygdala volume negatively correlated with the accuracy of recognizing fearful facial expressions and positively correlated with the probability of misrecognizing fear as surprise. Further exploratory analyses revealed that this relationship did not exist for any other subcortical or cortical regions. Nor did such a relationship exist between the left amygdala volume and performance recognizing the other five facial expressions. These mind-brain associations highlight the importance of the amygdala in recognizing fearful faces and provide insights regarding inter-individual differences in sensitivity toward fear-relevant stimuli.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Amygdala / anatomy & histology*
  • Amygdala / physiology*
  • Brain Mapping
  • Discrimination, Psychological
  • Facial Expression*
  • Fear*
  • Female
  • Hippocampus / anatomy & histology
  • Hippocampus / physiology
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Organ Size
  • Recognition, Psychology*
  • Young Adult

Grants and funding

This research was supported in part by grants from 973 Program (No. 2011CB302201) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61075042, 81171409, 81220108014). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.