Individual Differences in Amygdala and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity are Associated with Evaluation Speed and Psychological Well-being
Open accessAbstract
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined whether individual differences in amygdala activation in response to negative relative to neutral information are related to differences in the speed with which such information is evaluated, the extent to which such differences are associated with medial prefrontal cortex function, and their relationship with measures of trait anxiety and psychological well-being (PWB). Results indicated that faster judgments of negative relative to neutral information were associated with increased left and right amygdala activation. In the prefrontal cortex, faster judgment time was associated with relative decreased activation in a cluster in the ventral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC, BA 24). Furthermore, people who were slower to evaluate negative versus neutral information reported higher PWB. Importantly, higher PWB was strongly associated with increased activation in the ventral ACC for negative relative to neutral information. Individual differences in trait anxiety did not predict variation in judgment time or in amygdala or ventral ACC activity. These findings suggest that people high in PWB effectively recruit the ventral ACC when confronted with potentially aversive stimuli, manifest reduced activity in subcortical regions such as the amygdala, and appraise such information as less salient as reflected in slower evaluative speed.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Further work has linked purpose to better regulation of physiological systems (e.g., reduced inflammatory markers and cardiovascular risk factors) as well as brain-based mechanisms (e.g., insular cortex volume, reduced amygdala activation, sustained ventral striatum activation).
“Further work has linked purpose to better regulation of physiological systems (e.g., reduced inflammatory markers and cardiovascular risk factors) as well as brain-based mechanisms (e.g., insular cortex volume, reduced amygdala activation, sustained ventral striatum activation) (22 -30).”
From Purpose in life and use of preventive health care services (2014) · cites this paper as [26]
Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being.
Ryff, C. D. (1989) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.57.6.1069 · Cited by 14,847 · see citing works
A comparison of methods to test mediation and other intervening variable effects
MacKinnon, D. P., Lockwood, C. M., Hoffman, J. M., West, S. G., & Sheets, V. (2002) · Psychological Methods · doi:10.1037/1082-989x.7.1.83 · Cited by 9,406 · see citing works
The amygdala: vigilance and emotion
Davis, M., & Whalen, P. J. (2001) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4000812 · Cited by 2,882 · see citing works
Emotion drives attention: Detecting the snake in the grass.
Öhman, A., Flykt, A., & Esteves, F. (2001) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: General · doi:10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.466 · Cited by 2,542 · see citing works
Different contributions of the human amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex to decision-making
Bechara, A., Damasio, H., Damasio, A. R., & Lee, G. P. (1999) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.19-13-05473.1999 · Cited by 2,001 · see citing works
Neurons in medial prefrontal cortex signal memory for fear extinction
Milad, M. R., & Quirk, G. J. (2002) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature01138 · Cited by 1,836 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Given the role of the vmPFC in integrating cognitive and emotional information (Bechara et al., 1999) and in modulating amygdalar activity (Milad & Quirk, 2002), and the empirical findings summarized above, we propose that higher levels of adaptive emotional behavior, as reflected in greater PWB in…”
Phelps, E. A., Delgado, M. R., Nearing, K. I., & LeDoux, J. E. (2004) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2004.08.042 · Cited by 1,753 · see citing works
Prefrontal cortical function and anxiety: Controlling attention to threat-related stimuli
Bishop, S., Duncan, J., Brett, M., & Lawrence, A. D. (2004) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1173 · Cited by 940 · see citing works
Positive health: connecting well–being with biology
Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. H., & Dienberg Love, G. (2004) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1521 · Cited by 916 · see citing works
Affective style, psychopathology, and resilience: Brain mechanisms and plasticity
Davidson, R. J. (2000) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.11.1196 · Cited by 890 · cited 1× · see citing works
“Variable recruitment of activation in amygdala and regions in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which are part of the circuitry important to emotional and social behavior, likely mediates such individual differences in emotion reactivity (Davidson, 2000).”
Self-citationPsychological well-being and ill-Being: do they have distinct or mirrored biological correlates?
Ryff, C. D., Dienberg Love, G., Urry, H. L., Muller, D., Rosenkranz, M. A., Friedman, E. M., Davidson, R. J., & Singer, B. (2006) · Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics · doi:10.1159/000090892 · Cited by 672 · see citing works
Self-citationWell–being and affective style: neural substrates and biobehavioural correlates
Davidson, R. J. (2004) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2004.1510 · Cited by 446 · cited 2× · see citing works
“…of association between age and brain structure/ function being variable across brain regions and task type: Across two studies, Raz et al. (1997, 2004) demonstrate the lateral PFC to be most vulnerable to the effects of aging, with decline also being observed for the hippocampus and areas in…”
Self-citationContextual modulation of amygdala responsivity to surprised faces
Kim, H., Somerville, L. H., Johnstone, T., Polis, S., Alexander, A. L., Shin, L. M., & Whalen, P. J. (2004) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/0898929042947865 · Cited by 389 · see citing works
Self-citationInverse amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex responses to surprised faces
Kim, H., Somerville, L. H., Johnstone, T., Alexander, A. L., & Whalen, P. J. (2003) · NeuroReport · doi:10.1097/00001756-200312190-00006 · Cited by 359 · see citing works
Self-citationModulation of Amygdalar Activity by the Conscious Regulation of Negative Emotion
Schaefer, S. M., Jackson, D. C., Davidson, R. J., Aguirre, G. K., Kimberg, D. Y., & Thompson-Schill, S. L. (2002) · Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience · doi:10.1162/089892902760191135 · Cited by 306 · see citing works
Self-citationWilliams, L. M., Phillips, M. L., Brammer, M. J., Skerrett, D., Lagopoulos, J., Rennie, C., Bahramali, H., Olivieri, G., David, A. S., Peduto, A., et al. (2001) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1006/nimg.2001.0904 · Cited by 300 · see citing works
Whalen, P. J. (2007) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.016 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
Pardo, J. V., Sheikh, S. A., Schwindt, G. C., Lee, J. T., Kuskowski, M. A., Surerus, C., Lewis, S. M., Abuzzahab, F. S., Adson, D. E., & Rittberg, B. R. (2008) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.04.267 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 20
- Amaral, D. G., Price, J. L., Pitkanen, A., & Carmichael, S. T. (1992). Anatomical organization of the primate amygdaloid complex. In J. P. Aggleton (Ed.), The amygdala: Neurobiological aspects of emotion, memory and mental dysfunction (pp. 1-66). New York: Wiley-Liss.
- Baas, D., Aleman, A., & Kahn, R. S. (2004). Lateralization of amygdala activation: A systematic review of functional neuroimaging studies. Brain Research Reviews, 45, 96-103.
- Bishop, S. J., Duncan, J., & Lawrence, A. D. (2004). State anxiety modulation of the amygdala response to unattended threat-related stimuli. Journal of Neuroscience, 24, 10364-10368.
- Cacioppo, J. T., & Gardner, W. L. (1999). Emotion. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 191-214.
- Clogg, C. C., Petkova, E., & Shihadeh, E. S. (1992). Statistical-methods for analyzing collapsibility in regression-models. Journal of Educational Statistics, 17, 51-74.
- Dalton, K. M., Kalin, N. H., Grist, T. M., & Davidson, R. J. (2005). Neural-cardiac coupling in threat-evoked anxiety. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17, 969-980.
- Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Gusnard, D. A., Ollinger, J. M., Shulman, G. L., Cloninger, C. R., Price, J. L., Van Essen, D. C., et al. (2003). Persistence and brain circuitry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 100, 3479-3484.
- Mathews, A., & McLeod, C. (2005). Cognitive vulnerability to emotional disorders. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 1, 167-195.
- Mathews, A., Yiend, J., & Lawrence, A. D. (2004). Individual differences in the modulation of fear-related brain activation by attentional control. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16, 1683-1694.
- Mayberg, H. S. (1997). Limbic-cortical dysregulation: A proposed model of depression. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 9, 471-481.
- Miller, E. K., & Cohen, J. D. (2001). An integrative theory of prefrontal cortex function. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 24, 167-202.
- Robinson, M. D., Storbeck, J., Meier, B. P., & Kirkeby, B. S. (2004). Watch out! That could be dangerous: Valence- arousal interactions in evaluative processing. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1472-1484.
- Rolls, E. T. (1999). The brain and emotion. New York: Oxford University Press.
- Simpson, J. R. J., Drevets, W. C., Snyder, A. Z., Gusnard, D. A., & Raichle, M. E. (2001). Emotion-induced changes in human medial prefrontal cortex: II. During anticipatory anxiety. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A., 98, 688-693.
- Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. L., Lushene, R. E., Vagg, P. R., & Jacobs, G. A. (1983). Manual for the state-trait anxiety inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
- Taylor, S. E. (1991). Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: The mobilization-minimization hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 67-85.
- Urry, H. L., van Reekum, C. M., Johnstone, T., Kalin, N. H., Thurow, M. E., Schaefer, H. S., et al. (2006). Amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex are inversely coupled during regulation of negative affect and predict the diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion among older adults. Journal of Neuroscience, 26, 4415-4425.
- Watson, D., & Clark, L. A. (1991). Self-versus peer ratings of specific emotional traits: Evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 927-940.
- Williams, J. M., Mathews, A., & MacLeod, C. (1996). The emotional Stroop task and psychopathology. Psychological Bulletin, 120, 3-24.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Thayer, J. F., Åhs, F., Fredrikson, M., Sollers, J. J., & Wager, T. D. (2012) · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2011.11.009 · Cited by 3,224 · see citing works
Psychological Well-Being Revisited: Advances in the Science and Practice of Eudaimonia
Ryff, C. D. (2014) · Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics · doi:10.1159/000353263 · Cited by 2,976 · see citing works
Neural mechanisms of the cognitive model of depression.
Disner, S. G., Beevers, C. G., Haigh, E. A. P., & Beck, A. T. (2011) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn3027 · Cited by 1,718 · see citing works
Regulatory Flexibility: An Individual Differences Perspective on Coping and Emotion Regulation
Bonanno, G. A., & Burton, C. L. (2013) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691613504116 · Cited by 1,676 · see citing works
Fixing our focus: Training attention to regulate emotion
Wadlinger, H. A., & Isaacowitz, D. M. (2011) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868310365565 · Cited by 396 · see citing works
Kim, M. J., Gee, D. G., Loucks, R. A., Davis, F. C., & Whalen, P. J. (2011) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhq237 · Cited by 388 · see citing works
Purpose in life and use of preventive health care services
Kim, E. S., Strecher, V. J., & Ryff, C. D. (2014) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1414826111 · Cited by 332 · see citing works
van Reekum, C. M., Johnstone, T., Urry, H. L., Thurow, M. E., Schaefer, H. S., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2007) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.03.052 · Cited by 271 · see citing works
Self-citationPurpose in Life Predicts Better Emotional Recovery from Negative Stimuli
Schaefer, S. M., Morozink Boylan, J., van Reekum, C. M., Lapate, R. C., Norris, C. J., Ryff, C. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080329 · Cited by 249 · see citing works
Self-citationModinos, G., Ormel, J., & Aleman, A. (2010) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsq006 · Cited by 233 · see citing works
Building a neuroscience of pleasure and well-being
Berridge, K. C., & Kringelbach, M. L. (2011) · Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice · doi:10.1186/2211-1522-1-3 · Cited by 229 · see citing works
Whalen, P. J. (2007) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.016 · Cited by 198 · see citing works
Sustained striatal activity predicts eudaimonic well-being and cortisol output
Heller, A. S., van Reekum, C. M., Schaefer, S. M., Lapate, R. C., Radler, B. T., Ryff, C. D., & Davidson, R. J. (2013) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0956797613490744 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Self-citationAppetitive motivation predicts the neural response to facial signals of aggression.
Beaver, J. D., Lawrence, A. D., Passamonti, L., & Calder, A. J. (2008) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0033-08.2008 · Cited by 152 · see citing works
Purpose in life and incidence of sleep disturbances
Kim, E. S., Hershner, S. D., & Strecher, V. J. (2015) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-015-9635-4 · Cited by 132 · see citing works
Pardo, J. V., Sheikh, S. A., Schwindt, G. C., Lee, J. T., Kuskowski, M. A., Surerus, C., Lewis, S. M., Abuzzahab, F. S., Adson, D. E., & Rittberg, B. R. (2008) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.04.267 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
The Relationship between Mindful Attention Awareness, Perceived Stress and Subjective Wellbeing
Hepburn, S.-J., Carroll, A., & McCuaig, L. (2021) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph182312290 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
Calvo, V., D’Aquila, C., Rocco, D., & Carraro, E. (2022) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-020-00820-2 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
Wonderlich, J. A., Breithaupt, L., Thompson, J. C., Crosby, R. D., Engel, S. G., & Fischer, S. (2018) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.03.005 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
Dang, K., Kirk, M. A., Monette, G., Katz, J., & Ritvo, P. (2021) · International Journal of Psychophysiology · doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2021.03.001 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- van Reekum, C. M., Urry, H. L., Johnstone, T., Thurow, M. E., Frye, C. J., Jackson, C. A., Schaefer, H. S., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J.
- Affiliations
- Tufts University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Publisher
- MIT Press - Journals
- Published
- 2007-02-01
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 237-248
- ISSN
- 0898-929X (ISSN-L)
- 1530-8898
- OpenAlex
- W2134929000
- Cited by
- 188
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 23 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 4.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CentAUR (University of Reading) (submittedVersion)
- Swinburne figshare (Swinburne University of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- National Institutes of Health (5p01ag021079-08, MH069315, MH43454, RR 03186)
- National Institute on Aging (P01-AG021079)
- National Institute of Mental Health (P50-MH 52354, R37-MH-43454, P50MH052354, P50MH069315, R37MH043454)
- National Center for Research Resources (M01RR003186, RR03186, M01 RR-03186)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Keywords
- amygdala, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, ventral anterior cingulate cortex, individual differences, psychological well-being, trait anxiety, emotional salience, emotional appraisal, aversive stimuli
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Amygdala, Brain Mapping, Female, Humans, Individuality, Judgment, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Mental Processes, Middle Aged, Photic Stimulation, Reaction Time, Regression Analysis, Prefrontal Cortex
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
