Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 182, Issue 3 , Pages 200-206, 30 June 2010

Increased amygdala activation during automatic processing of facial emotion in schizophrenia

  • Astrid Veronika Rauch

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • IZKF-Research Group 4, IZKF Muenster, University of Muenster, Domagkstr.3, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding authors. Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany. Tel.: +49 251 8356601; fax: +49 251 8356612.
    • This is to indicate that Astrid Veronika Rauch and Maraike Reker contributed equally to this work and should, therefore, both be considered first authors.
    • ,
  • Maraike Reker

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • This is to indicate that Astrid Veronika Rauch and Maraike Reker contributed equally to this work and should, therefore, both be considered first authors.
    • ,
  • Patricia Ohrmann

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Anya Pedersen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Jochen Bauer

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Udo Dannlowski

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • IZKF-Research Group 4, IZKF Muenster, University of Muenster, Domagkstr.3, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Liv Harding

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Katja Koelkebeck

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Carsten Konrad

      Affiliations

    • IZKF-Research Group 4, IZKF Muenster, University of Muenster, Domagkstr.3, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Str. 8, 35039 Marburg, Germany
    • ,
  • Harald Kugel

      Affiliations

    • Department of Clinical Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 33, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Volker Arolt

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Walter Heindel

      Affiliations

    • Department of Clinical Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 33, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • ,
  • Thomas Suslow

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding authors. Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48149 Muenster, Germany. Tel.: +49 251 8356601; fax: +49 251 8356612.

Received 5 June 2008; received in revised form 17 February 2010; accepted 11 March 2010.

Abstract 

Schizophrenia patients show abnormalities in the processing of facial emotion. The amygdala is a central part of a brain network that is involved in the perception of facial emotions. Previous functional neuroimaging studies on the perception of facial emotion in schizophrenia have focused almost exclusively on controlled processing. In the present study, we investigated the automatic responsivity of the amygdala to emotional faces in schizophrenia and its relationship to clinical symptomatology by applying an affective priming task. 3-T fMRI was utilized to examine amygdala responses to sad and happy faces masked by neutral faces in 12 schizophrenia patients and 12 healthy controls. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was administered to assess current symptomatology. Schizophrenia patients exhibited greater automatic amygdala responses to sad and happy faces relative to controls. Amygdala responses to masked sad and happy expressions were positively correlated with the negative subscale of the PANSS. Schizophrenia patients appear to be characterized by amygdalar hyperresponsiveness to negative and positive facial expressions on an automatic processing level. Heightened automatic amygdala responsivity could be involved in the development and maintenance of negative symptoms in schizophrenia.

Keywords: fMRI, Automatic emotion processing, Limbic system, Psychopathology, Neuroimaging

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PII: S0925-4927(10)00106-X

doi:10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.03.005

Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging
Volume 182, Issue 3 , Pages 200-206, 30 June 2010

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