Response properties of human amygdala subregions: evidence based on functional MRI combined with probabilistic anatomical maps
Open accessAbstract
The human amygdala is thought to play a pivotal role in the processing of emotionally significant sensory information. The major subdivisions of the human amygdala-the laterobasal group (LB), the superficial group (SF), and the centromedial group (CM)-have been anatomically delineated, but the functional response properties of these amygdala subregions in humans are still unclear. We combined functional MRI with cyto-architectonically defined probabilistic maps to analyze the response characteristics of amygdala subregions in subjects presented with auditory stimuli. We found positive auditory stimulation-related signal changes predominantly in probabilistically defined LB, and negative responses predominantly in SF and CM. In the left amygdala, mean response magnitude in the core area of LB with 90-100% assignment probability was significantly larger than in the core areas of SF and CM. These differences were observed for pleasant and unpleasant stimuli. Our findings reveal that the probabilistically defined anatomical subregions of the human amygdala show distinctive fMRI response patterns. The stronger auditory responses in LB as compared with SF and CM may reflect a predominance of auditory inputs to human LB, similar to many animal species in which the majority of sensory, including auditory, afferents project to this subdivision of the amygdala. Our study indicates that the intrinsic functional differentiation of the human amygdala may be probed using fMRI combined with probabilistic anatomical maps.
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Males with positive resting-state functional connectivity between parieto-occipital regions and the basolateral amygdala may have memory problems, because the basolateral amygdala is important for memory in addition to emotional processing.
“Although all sub-regions are relevant for emotional processing (Ball et al., 2007, Hurlemann et al., 2008, Bzdok et al., 2013a), BLA is additionally important for memory function (Bzdok et al., 2013a); therefore, males demonstrating positive RSFC between parieto-occipital and BLA may report problems with memory functions.”
From Developmental sex differences in resting state functional connectivity of amygdala sub-regions (2015) · cites this paper as Ball et al., 2007
The AM is thought to automatically extract biological significance from the environment.
“This brain region is thought to automatically extract biological significance from the environment (Ball et al. 2007; Sander et al. 2003; Bzdok et al. 2011; Müller et al. 2011).”
From Parsing the neural correlates of moral cognition: ALE meta-analysis on morality, theory of mind, and empathy (2012) · cites this paper as Ball et al. 2007
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- Authors
- Ball, T., Rahm, B., Eickhoff, S. B., Schulze-Bonhage, A., Speck, O., & Mutschler, I.
- Affiliations
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Forschungszentrum Jülich (DE)
- University Medical Center Freiburg (DE)
- Venue
- PLoS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2007-03-21
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e307
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC1819558
- OpenAlex
- W1998410431
- Cited by
- 176
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 5.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- edoc (University of Basel) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- JuSER (Forschungszentrum Jülich) (submittedVersion)
- Publication Server of Goethe University Frankfurt am Main (Goethe University Frankfurt) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- edoc (University of Basel)
- Funders
- Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Keywords
- human amygdala, amygdala subregions, superficial amygdala, centromedial amygdala, auditory stimulation, emotional processing, cytoarchitecture, auditory afferents, emotional valence
- MeSH terms
- Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Amygdala, Anatomy, Depression, Emotions, Facial Expression, Humans, Functional Laterality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Motivation, Music, Probability, Surveys and Questionnaires, Young Adult
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