Human Amygdala Responsivity to Masked Fearful Eye Whites
Paul J. Whalen,1*
Jerome Kagan,2
Robert G. Cook,3
F. Caroline Davis,1
Hackjin Kim,1
Sara Polis,1
Donald G. McLaren,1
Leah H. Somerville,4
Ashly A. McLean,1
Jeffrey S. Maxwell,1
Tom Johnstone1
The amygdala was more responsive to fearful (larger) eye whites than to happy (smaller) eye whites presented in a masking paradigm that mitigated subjects' awareness of their presence and aberrant nature. These data demonstrate that the amygdala is responsive to elements of biologically relevant configural stimuli.
1 Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology and The Waisman Center, W. M. Keck Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA.
2 Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
3 Department of Psychology, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.
4 Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pwhalen{at}wisc.edu
