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Brain Circuits Involved in Emotion processing: Subcortical Regions BIOS E 232 Sabina Berretta, MD. Harvard Medical School McLean Hospital. Plan for today’s class.
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Brain Circuits Involved in Emotion processing: Subcortical Regions BIOS E 232 Sabina Berretta, MD Harvard Medical School McLean Hospital
Plan for today’s class • Brain circuits involved in emotion processing: amygdala, limbic thalamus and cortical circuits • Journal club presentations and discussion: Carlin Aloe: Adolphs R, 2010. What does the amygdala contribute to social cognition? Ann N Y AcadSci 1191, 42-61. Kameron Sheikh: Berridge KC, Ho CY, Richard JM, DiFeliceantonio AG, 2010. The tempted brain eats: pleasure and desire circuits in obesity and eating disorders. Brain Res 1350, 43-64.
Spinal cord Hypothalamus Pituitary gland Adrenal gland glucocorticoid Brainstem DA, 5HT, NE Midbrain Pons Medulla autonomic response motor response
Orbital and medial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC) Price, 2007
Amygdala circuitry Modulation of motivated behavior in the context of emotionally/socially significant setting
Infralimbic cx The intercalated cell masses of the amygdala
Amygdala control and modulation of visceral functions Modified from Price, 2003
The amygdala receives inputs from all sensory modalities Note that all these connections, with the exception of that from the posterior thalamus are reciprocal. They provide sensory information to the amygdala and support amygdaloid modulation on sensory processing Modified from Price, 2003
The amygdala-forebrain circuit Within the forebrain, the amygdala is part of a circuit that includes the orbital and medial prefrontal cortex, medial thalamus, ventromedial striatum and ventral pallidum Modified from Price, 2003
Sensory-related associative Cx areas: Gustatory and Visceral Insular Cx, temporal auditory and visual Cx, parietal and rhinal somatosensory Cx Basolateral complex Sensory thalamus Orbitofrontal cx Medial prefrontal cx Anterior cingulate gyrus Limbic thalamus Visceral inputs Central n. Amygdala Hormonal, autonomic, motor responses
OPFC Social behavior Representation of reinforcer values ACG Attention Motivation Response selection DLPFC Executive cognitive functions Strategy generation Working memory MD Attention Decoding of stimulus/significance relationship Amygdala Attribution of emotional value Fear/anxiety Social behavior ECx Gating of cortical and subcortical inputs to the HP Memory processing HP Context-related cognitive processing Episodic memory
The amygdala organizes multiple aspects of emotional response: • Immediate visceral response • Acquisition and response to emotional / arousing stimuli • Access to current motivational or affective value predicted by a specific stimulus • Emotional significance of social cues • Modulation of memory consolidation in response to emotion
Cortico-amygdalo-cortical circuits and emotion-related learning Berretta S., Stress, 2005
Evidence for a complex role of the amygdala in emotion processing derives from temporal lobe epilepsy Jackson reported complex auditory and visual hallucinations, memory flashbacks and emotions in patients with temporal lobe epilepsia. The work of Penfield and collaborators (1955) confirmed these observations and reported that similar phenomena could be elicited in these patients by electrical stimulation of the lateral temporal cortex and from the amygdala (but not from other lobes in the brain). Hughlings Jackson 1835 - 1911
The amygdala is activated by emotionally valenced stimuli and tracks their subjective relevance Sato et al 2004