Greater left and right amygdala

responses to P-direct and M-averted gaze fear, respectively.

C

A

++ ++

Correct!

Parvo (P) biased

Magno (M) biased Unbiased

Fearful or Neutral?

Ready!

200-400ms

Stimulus 1000 ms

Blank 1100-1300 ms

Feedback

++Ready!

Stimulus 500 ms

+What was emotion of the face?1) Neutral 2) Angry 3) Fearful 4) Couldn’t

recognize

Contrast was varied on each trial, depending on participant’s response. ++

Ready!

Single Trial

12 cycles

+Make the stimulus:1) Redder2) Greener3) Done

Stimulus 32 ms

Stimulus 32 ms

Pretest 1 Pretest 2B

Main experiment

• M and P pathways are geared towards processing

clear threat and ambiguous threat cues in facial

fear (reflexive vs. reflective processing),

respectively.

• Observers’ trait anxiety specifically modulates

these two major visual streams, both facilitating

processing of M-biased clear threat cues and

interfering with processing of P-biased ambiguous

threat cues.

•Trait anxiety also differentially modulates the left

and right amygdala reactivity to P-biased

ambiguous and M-biased clear threat cues,

respectively.

Trait anxiety moderates visual pathway contributions to the processing of clear versus ambiguous threatReginald B. Adams, Jr.1, Hee Yeon Im2,3, Noreen Ward2, Jasmine Boshyan2,3, Cody Cushing2, and Kestutis Kveraga2,3

References

Funding: NIH R01MH101194 to K.K. and R.B.A., Jr.

Conclusion

1. Adams, R. B., Jr., Franklin, R. G., Jr., Kveraga, K., Ambady, N., Kleck, R. E., Whalen, P. J., Hadjikhani, N. & Nelson, A. J. (2012). Amygdala responses to averted versus direct gaze fear vary as a function of presentation speed. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 7, 568-577. 2. Ewbank, M. P., Fox, E., & Calder, A. J. (2010). The interaction between gaze and facial expression in the amygdala and extended amygdala is modulated by anxiety. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 4, 56. 3. Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Lushene, R., Vagg, P. R., & Jacobs, G. A. (1983). Manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.

#43.4023

www.#kveragalab.org# 1Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, 2Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 3Department of Radiology, Harvard University

• 108 subjects (age: 18-70; mean = 37.05; SD = 14.7)

• Anxiety measurement: Spielberger State-Trait

Anxiety Inventory (STAI; 1983)

• Multi-echo fMRI: 1.5T, TR: 2.5s, TE: 34ms

• Customized, manual shimming

Method

• Understanding differential contributions of the magnocellular (M) and parvocellular (P) pathways to processing facial threat cues.

• Understanding the moderating role of trait anxiety on neural responses to threat.

• Fear expressions combined with averted gaze clearly signal where threat resides. Fear expressions

coupled with direct gaze, however, are more ambiguous.

• Amygdalar responses have been found to be greater to clear threat when rapidly presented (300 ms)

and to ambiguous threat for more sustained presentations (1 s; Adams et al., 2012). Similar flips have

been reported as a function of anxiety (Ewbank et al., 2010).

Background

Research objectives M-biased

P-biased

Trait anxiety

Resp

ons

e tim

e (s

ec)

Direct-gaze fear

Behavioral results

Trait anxiety

Resp

ons

e tim

e (s

ec)

Averted-gaze fear

Faster RT with higher anxiety for M- and P-averted fear

Trait anxiety

Pro

po

rtio

n co

rrec

t

Averted-gaze fear

Better accuracy with anxiety for M-averted fear

Trait anxiety

Pro

po

rtio

n co

rrec

t

Direct-gaze fear

Accuracy decreased with anxiety for P-direct fear

✓ Direct-gaze fear ✓Ambiguous threat

e.g. “where is the source of threat?”

✓Averted-gaze fear ✓Clear threat

L RL

2.6 4P direct - P averted

M averted - M direct2.6 42.6 4

RL

2.6 4P direct - P averted

M averted - M direct2.6 4

P direct - P averted

M averted - M direct

• N = 108 • Covariates: age and anxiety

fMRI results: group analysis fMRI results: ROI analysis • Amygdala coordinates: x=±18, y=-2, y=16; Ewbank et al., (2010)

% s

igna

l cha

nge

Trait anxiety

% s

igna

l cha

nge

Trait anxiety

Averted-gaze fear

Direct-gaze fearTrait anxiety

% s

igna

l cha

nge

% s

igna

l cha

nge

Trait anxiety

Averted-gaze fear

Direct-gaze fear

Left amygdala Right amygdala Laterality effect (R-L)

High trait anxiety was associated with increased right amygdala for M-averted gaze fear and increased left

amygdala for P-direct gaze fear.

Trait anxiety

% s

igna

l cha

nge

% s

igna

l cha

nge

Trait anxiety

Rig

ht -L

eft

amyg

dal

aRi

ght

-Le

ft a

myg

dal

a

Averted-gaze fear

Direct-gaze fear

RH dominant

LH dominant

RH dominant

LH dominant

Magnitude of laterality effects for M-averted and P-direct gaze fear increased with higher trait anxiety.

L R