Article

Previous research has indicated that the amygdala is a critical neural substrate
of the emotional modulation of attention. However, a recent case study suggests
that the amygdala may not be essential for all types of emotion-attention
interactions. In order to test this hypothesis, we assessed the visual-search
performance of patients with unilateral amygdala lesions, matched controls, and
medication-matched epilepsy patients with intact amygdalae.
All participants
completed a visual-search task consisting of trials in which (1)
an emotional
target was embedded among neutral distractors, (2) a neutral target was embedded
among emotional distractors, or (3) a neutral target was embedded among neutral
distractors. All participant groups, including those with amygdala lesions,
detected emotional targets more efficiently than neutral targets. These data
indicate that the amygdala is not necessary for emotion-guided visual search and
suggest that other mechanisms beyond the amygdala help guide attention toward
threatening stimuli.
CI - Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Langue : ANGLAIS