Repetition Suppression of Faces Is Modulated by Emotion

Single-unit recordings and functional brain imaging studies have shown reduced neural responses to repeated stimuli in the visual cortex. By using event-related functional MRI, we compared the activation evoked by repetitions of neutral and fearful faces, which were either task relevant (targets) or...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 101; no. 26; pp. 9827 - 9832
Main Authors Ishai, Alumit, Pessoa, Luiz, Bikle, Philip C., Ungerleider, Leslie G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 29.06.2004
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Adult
Amygdala
Anatomy
Behavioral neuroscience
Biological Sciences
Brain - physiology
Cognition - physiology
Emotional expression
Emotional suppression
Emotions
Face
Face - physiology
Fear - physiology
Female
Habituation, Psychophysiologic - physiology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Memory - physiology
Mental stimulation
Neurology
Neurons
Reaction Time
Visual cortex
Visual Perception - physiology
Visual task performance
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Summary:Single-unit recordings and functional brain imaging studies have shown reduced neural responses to repeated stimuli in the visual cortex. By using event-related functional MRI, we compared the activation evoked by repetitions of neutral and fearful faces, which were either task relevant (targets) or irrelevant (distracters). We found that within the inferior occipital gyri, lateral fusiform gyri, superior temporal sulci, amygdala, and the inferior frontal gyri/insula, targets evoked stronger responses than distracters and their repetition was associated with significantly reduced responses. Repetition suppression, as manifested by the difference in response amplitude between the first and third repetitions of a target, was stronger for fearful than neutral faces. Distracter faces, regardless of their repetition or valence, evoked negligible activation, indicating top-down attenuation of behaviorally irrelevant stimuli. Our findings demonstrate a three-way interaction between emotional valence, repetition, and task relevance and suggest that repetition suppression is influenced by high-level cognitive processes in the human brain.
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Abbreviations: fMRI, functional MRI; IOG, inferior occipital gyrus; FG, fusiform gyrus; STS, superior temporal sulcus; IFG, inferior frontal gyrus.
To whom correspondence should be sent at the present address: Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. E-mail: ishai@hifo.unizh.ch.
Contributed by Leslie G. Ungerleider, May 20, 2004
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0403559101