Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 155, Issue 2 , Pages 113-120, 15 July 2007

Visual presentation of phobic stimuli: Amygdala activation via an extrageniculostriate pathway?

  • Liesbet Goossens

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Koen Schruers

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. P.O. Box 88 6200 AB Maastricht The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 43 3685332; fax: +31 43 3685331.
    • ,
  • Ronald Peeters

      Affiliations

    • MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, University Hospitals K.U.Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
    • ,
  • Eric Griez

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
    • ,
  • Stefan Sunaert

      Affiliations

    • MR Research Center, Department of Radiology, University Hospitals K.U.Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

Received 1 June 2006; received in revised form 6 October 2006; accepted 6 December 2006.

Abstract 

In the present study, event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to examine the neural correlates of phobic fear by exposing spider phobic subjects to a visual presentation of spiders. In contrast to control subjects, spider phobics showed significantly increased activation in the amygdala and the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus on the basis of region of interest (ROI) analysis. Furthermore, voxelwise analysis revealed increased activation related to phobia-specific pictures bilaterally in the anterior cingulate cortex, the left insular cortex and bilaterally in the supplementary motor area. These findings confirm the involvement of the amygdala in the processing of phobia-relevant stimuli as found earlier in a recent study. Moreover, the thalamus findings support the involvement of an extrageniculostriate pathway in the process of phobic fear.

Keywords: Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging, Spider phobia, Fear

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PII: S0925-4927(06)00226-5

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2006.12.005

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 155, Issue 2 , Pages 113-120, 15 July 2007

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