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The human amygdala parametrically encodes the intensity of specific facial emotions and their categorical ambiguity

Author

Listed:
  • Shuo Wang

    (Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology
    Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology)

  • Rongjun Yu

    (National University of Singapore
    School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, South China Normal University)

  • J. Michael Tyszka

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Shanshan Zhen

    (School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, South China Normal University)

  • Christopher Kovach

    (University of Iowa)

  • Sai Sun

    (School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, South China Normal University)

  • Yi Huang

    (School of Psychology, Center for Studies of Psychological Application, and Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Cognitive Science of Guangdong Province, South China Normal University)

  • Rene Hurlemann

    (University of Bonn)

  • Ian B. Ross

    (Epilepsy and Brain Mapping Program, Huntington Memorial Hospital)

  • Jeffrey M. Chung

    (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)

  • Adam N. Mamelak

    (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)

  • Ralph Adolphs

    (Computation and Neural Systems, California Institute of Technology
    Humanities and Social Sciences, California Institute of Technology
    California Institute of Technology)

  • Ueli Rutishauser

    (California Institute of Technology
    Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)

Abstract

The human amygdala is a key structure for processing emotional facial expressions, but it remains unclear what aspects of emotion are processed. We investigated this question with three different approaches: behavioural analysis of 3 amygdala lesion patients, neuroimaging of 19 healthy adults, and single-neuron recordings in 9 neurosurgical patients. The lesion patients showed a shift in behavioural sensitivity to fear, and amygdala BOLD responses were modulated by both fear and emotion ambiguity (the uncertainty that a facial expression is categorized as fearful or happy). We found two populations of neurons, one whose response correlated with increasing degree of fear, or happiness, and a second whose response primarily decreased as a linear function of emotion ambiguity. Together, our results indicate that the human amygdala processes both the degree of emotion in facial expressions and the categorical ambiguity of the emotion shown and that these two aspects of amygdala processing can be most clearly distinguished at the level of single neurons.

Suggested Citation

  • Shuo Wang & Rongjun Yu & J. Michael Tyszka & Shanshan Zhen & Christopher Kovach & Sai Sun & Yi Huang & Rene Hurlemann & Ian B. Ross & Jeffrey M. Chung & Adam N. Mamelak & Ralph Adolphs & Ueli Rutishau, 2017. "The human amygdala parametrically encodes the intensity of specific facial emotions and their categorical ambiguity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms14821
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14821
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas P. Reber & Sina Mackay & Marcel Bausch & Marcel S. Kehl & Valeri Borger & Rainer Surges & Florian Mormann, 2023. "Single-neuron mechanisms of neural adaptation in the human temporal lobe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.

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